Administrative Assistant Resume Writing Guide
Administrative Assistant? Congrats – you’re a total office hero.
A recent survey of more than 600 managers in the U.S. and Canada revealed that administrative assistants save their managers eight hours of work time each week.
With this kind of impact, it’s no wonder that 75 percent of managers told that same survey the responsibilities of administrative assistants have increased in the past five years.
The beauty of these roles is how they give you a chance to work with almost every part of a business and build relationships with colleagues across teams and departments.
In many senses, they act as a career stepping stone within that company and beyond.
Sounds great right, but what exactly do administrative assistants do?
- Doing administrative and clerical tasks (such as scanning or printing)
- Preparing and editing letters, reports, memos, and emails
- Running errands to the post office or supply store
- Arranging meetings, appointments, and executive travel
- Answering phone calls and taking messages
- Maintaining folders on servers
- Recording meeting minutes
- Liaising with teams and units
- Tracking petty cash
- Covering reception
You can use the list above to help you brainstorm duties and tasks for the Work Experiences section of your resume (more on that – and our tip to reframe tasks as achievements – soon).
A great Administrative Assistant is a little like a Swiss Army Knife; able to solve a range of problems with the right tool at the right moment.
Does that sound like you?
If you need to create a modern and professional resume to showcase your skills for a role like this, this guide will take you through:
- How to present your contact information
- How to write a strong resume summary
- The 23 hard and soft skills hiring managers want
- Highlighting administrative assistant achievements
Let’s delve into why Jeremy’s resume works so well and how you can use the same features to make your own resume shine too.
Looking for a resume example for a different position? Check out this list:
- Office Assistant Resume
- Executive Assistant Resume
- Consultant Resume
- Accountant Resume
- Bookkeeper Resume
- Business Analyst Resume
- Financial Analyst Resume
- Bank Teller Resume
- Banking Resume
- MBA Resume
- Career Change Resume
1. How to present your contact information
Let's get this out of the way quickly, because you know your own contact information better than we do.
Include your email address, phone number, and location in the header of your resume.
Drop the street address and city info, though. If you have a professional website, blog, or well-maintained LinkedIn profile, add them to showcase your skills and experience.
2. How to Write a Strong Administrative Assistant Resume Summary
Let’s start with a really important part of all resumes – the summary.
Your summary is where you highlight your skills and how they can bring value to the employer.
Let’s look at Jeremy’s resume.
See how he describes himself as ‘technologically savvy’ and ‘goal-oriented?
This lets employers know he will be able to get up to speed quickly on any special technology they use and that he’s committed to getting tasks finished.
Jeremy also writes that he’s ‘driven’, ‘motivated’ and ‘skilled in prioritizing tasks independently’.
It’s great that he’s highlighted his ability to complete tasks without supervision, because administrative assistants are regularly delegated tasks by supervisors and managers across different teams.
Above all, Jeremy’s summary is specific.
If you compare the specific and vague summaries below, you can see immediately which one is more appealing.
Emotionally intelligent and computer-savvy Administrative Assistant with an Associate’s degree in Business Administration. Strong interpersonal skills and a lifelong focus on supporting others and helping them shine.
Administrative Assistant seeking to use her skills and experience to benefit an organization that is making the world a better place.
Check out our writing a resume summary guide, if you want more help with this part.
3. The 23 Hard and Soft Skills That Hiring Managers Want
What about your skills?
Our editor has three different Skills sections to choose from: Skills, Hard (Technical) Skills, and Soft Skills.
Note: By clicking on Layout in the top menu, you can choose the “Custom Layout” and have a drag & drop feature to adjust the sections as you need.
It’s best to include a general Skills section and then choose between Hard or Soft Skills based on the needs of the job.
Administrative assistants need a lot of soft skills to shine in these roles. Here’s some that you may want to highlight on your own resume.
- Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, SharePoint
- Database management
- Calendar management
- Quickbooks and Xero
- Proficiency with photocopiers, scanners, and projectors
- Accurate data entry
- Inventory and supply management
- Editing and Proofreading
- Billing and record-keeping
- Business Knowledge
- Communication (written and verbal)
- Prioritization and problem-solving
- Organization and planning
- Research and analysis
- Attention to detail
- Customer service
- Phone Etiquette
- Discretion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Responsibility
- Teamwork and delegation
- Management and training
- Flexibility and efficiency
4. Highlighting Administrative Assistant Achievements
When you're customizing your resume to best fit a company and its job advertisement, it can become easy to slip into using the listed tasks and responsibilities to summarise your own past duties. Avoid this – because it’s a missed opportunity.
Think of your work experience section as less of a list of ‘things you did’ for a past employer and more like a summary of your biggest achievements and contributions while at that employer.
Look at how Jeremy does this.
He highlights how he managed a senior HR director’s schedule, planned company events, and even designed surveys while he was working at Melmark.
Note: If you are looking for inspiration or need help, you can click on “Tips” in the left menu of our editor.
Here’s some better (and bad) examples to help you craft your own:
- Developed policies that saved the company 500 hours a year.
- Trained two interns in office tasks which later became full-time employees.
- Maintained appointment calendar for 12 conference rooms.
- Unlocked the office each morning.
- Made travel arrangements.
- Wrote letters and emails.
Ready to create your administrative assistant resume now?
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