A few economic downturns ago, in an effort to cut down on administrative costs, a lot of employers started eliminating many of the support positions that included responsibilities such as document preparation, writing, transcription and reproduction. At larger firms and for many senior executives, these admin tasks are still handled by assistants, but in many other cases the positions have been eliminated almost entirely. Middle management and upper level managers and administrators have found themselves responsible for completing their own administrative needs. So, a question like this will most likely not be asked of a younger candidate who has never known the luxury of having an assistant. The question is more likely to be asked of those with longer work histories applying for mid and upper level positions who may have had secretaries and administrative assistants at their disposal to fulfill these duties. Today, for a majority of all office workers no matter what the position, performing these tasks is usually a necessity. The employer wants to know if you feel it beneath your dignity to perform such tasks. But if the job you are applying for might have support staff for such tasks, express that you are still willing to do them, particularly if the person who usually does those tasks is occupied doing other work. You must seem willing to do all the tasks involved with a job, even the ones you don’t like and don’t really want to do.