2021 Administrative Assistant Resume Example & Tips

So you want to get hired as an Administrative Assistant?

That means that you’re the type of person who people trust to solve the problems other will run from. 

You are the glue that holds an office together. You have the power to coordinate people’s schedules while juggling a smartphone and laptop. 

You’re the one that everyone relies on to get the job done. 

Wow, sounds like an important role – is your resume up to the task? 

Don’t worry – we’re going to help you make it stand out from the competition. 

3 Tips To Writing The Best Administrative Assistant Resume

The best Administrative Assistants have the a combination of organization, communication and discretion.

You need to highlight these skills on your resume in a way that not only stands out but demonstrates your admin assistant skills are like no other.

After all, what will make the best Administrative Assistant resume stand out is your experience and your hard and soft skills.

TIP #1: How To List Skills On Your Resume

Did you know there are different types of skills to use on your resume?

Hard Skills are skills that demonstrate technical knowledge or training. These are skills like being trained in certain office software or having certification in different types of work.

Hard Skill Example: “An expert in Microsoft Office“

Soft Skills are skills that can’t be measured or quantified but are essential in demonstrating what makes you who you are in the workplace.

Soft Skill Example: “An incredibly organized worker who brings energy and integrity to my job”

Listing skills on an administrative assistant resume can either be worked into the descriptive text of your education or experience or listed as a featured section. It’s important that the experience summary on a resume includes both hard and soft skills. Try to have each descriptive bullet to include one skill that is relevant to the job your applying for. 

TOP 5 ADMINSTRATIVE ASSISTANT SKILLS

1. Communication
2. Multi-tasking
3. Office software
4. Problem solving
5. Confidentiality  

What will make your administrative assistant resume stand out is the skills you use. If you want to get called for an interview, then you need your resume to show you can do the job. Don’t be afraid to customize your administrative skills on your resume to match what their looking for in a candidate. 

TIP #2: LEARN HOW TO WRITE A RESUME OBJECTIVE

An administrative assistant resume objective is the first thing a hiring manager will read after your name – so it’s important that it makes a great impression.

A good resume objective is more than simply stating goals like “To get a job as an administrative assistant” or “Get hired as an administrative assistant”. It’s your chance to tell your future employer who you are and why you’re going to be a great person to hire. 

You want to keep your object to 1 sentence in length if possible – this isn’t a place to tell your story as an employee. It’s meant to be a quick and powerful headline to get the hiring manager interested enough to read more of your resume. 

So, how do you write a resume objective?

It helps to imagine your resume objective having 3 parts.

In the first part you are going to proudly state what kind of person or employee you are. This will immediately give your future employer a strong idea of who you are. Key words to include could be “energetic”, “self-starter”, or “experienced”.

In the second part you focus on things you value as an employee. This is where your resume objective includes elements that demonstrate your integrity as a person. Key words to include could be “honesty”, “confidentiality”, or “dedication”.

Lastly, you want your resume objective to express what your employment goals are. This shows the hiring manager that you’re looking for more out of your work than just a paycheck. Key phrases to include could be “grow as a part of team” or “become a valuable member of a company”.

 ADMINSTRATIVE ASSISTANT RESUME OBJECTIVE EXAMPLE:

An energetic self-starter who values honesty and confidentiality and is looking to grow as a part of dedicated team to become a valuable member of an organization. 

TIP #3: KNOW HOW TO INCLUDE EXPERIENCE ON YOUR ADMINSTRATIVE ASSISTANT RESUME

You might think that work experience on your resume is just proof that you’ve had a job before, but it’s much more important that that.

This is the section of your resume that will either get you the interview or not. 

So now that you know how important writing your resume work experience properly is, you can put that extra effort in to make it perfect!

First, don’t take for granted how much you did at your last job. This leads to writing your work experience on your resume as a simplified and boring list of tasks. Instead take a look at what your potential employer is looking for in this role. What type of work are they expecting you to do? Next, go through your memory of your previous work experience and find similar situations that you can use to highlight that you’ve done something similar before. 

Second, put emphasis on innovations you had in your previous employment. Did you create a new process that made things more effective? Did you design a new document that solved a previous problem? If so, then this is what to include in your resume work experience.  

Lastly, make sure you use numbers in your work experience as much as possible. Nothing demonstrates success like numbers! 

If you did something that improved efficiency, then ask yourself “by how much?”. If work you did saved the company money, how much did it save? Did you manage a team of administrative assistants? How big was that team? 

Bad example:

• Was responsible for other administrative assistants in several departments

Good example:

• Successfully lead a team of 4 administrative assistants across 3 different departments