Administrative Assistant Resume Guide + Tips + Example

Nilda Melissa Diaz By Nilda Melissa Diaz, Career Advice Contributor
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Advance your career with a professional administrative assistant resume. With our guide, you can create an effective administrative assistant resume to highlight your skills and showcase you as a desirable candidate.

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Administrative assistant resume example (text version)

Joey Watts

Houston, TX 77095
(555) 555-5555
example@example.com

Professional Summary

Efficient, accuracy-driven administrative assistant successful at delivering key clerical support to internal teams, customers, vendors and other stakeholders. Demonstrated success in analytical problem-solving, decision-making and boosting operational efficiency. Bringing 10 years of superior performance in related roles.

Work History

November 2016 – Current
TrueNet – Houston, TX
Administrative Assistant

  • Support efficient meetings by organizing spaces and materials, documenting discussions and distributing meeting notes for a company with over 500 staff members.
  • Interact with over 12 vendors, contractors and professional services personnel to establish procedures, receive orders, direct activities and communicate instructions.
  • Compose internal memos and external correspondence for three senior management professionals and review all documentation to eliminate errors.

April 2013 – October 2016
Inogen – Houston, TX
Secretary

  • Organized weekly staff meetings and logged minutes for corporate records.
  • Coordinated domestic and international travel arrangements, including booking airfare, hotel and ground transportation for an office with 50 staff members.
  • Coordinated bookkeeping activities in QuickBooks and Lawson, including invoicing and accounts payable.

July 2012 – March 2013
J. Diamond & Associates – Houston, TX
Receptionist

  • Provided clerical support to 25 company employees by copying, faxing and filing documents.
  • Answered central telephone system and sorted and distributed mail correspondence between departments and personnel, including parcel packaging, preparation and efficient shipping.
  • Oversaw monthly inventory activities, including materials monitoring, ordering or requisition and supply stocking or restocking.

Skills

  • Writing reports
  • Meeting arrangements
  • Travel coordination
  • Accounting familiarity
  • Spreadsheet management
  • Documentation and control
  • MS Suite
  • Time management

Education

University of St. Thomas Houston, TX
Bachelor of Arts Business Administration

5 essentials of a top administrative assistant resume

  1. Contact details

    The contact section of your administrative assistant resume will have all the information needed to get in touch with you for an interview. Include your full name, city, state and ZIP code, followed by a phone number and email address. Finally, include a professional website, LinkedIn profile or any other professional networking profile.

  2. Personal statement

    The personal statement or professional summary is your introduction to the hiring manager. This is where you display your best skills and related work experience as an administrative assistant resume. In no more than five sentences, let the recruiter know: how long you have been in the industry, one or two professional accomplishments and your job-relevant skills. Pick your best to grab the hiring manager’s attention.

  3. Skills

    The skills section of your administrative assistant resume showcases your abilities to perform a job. Grab the recruiter’s attention by creating a skills section that matches the job description. Create a bulleted list of hard skills, like office management, scheduling and Microsoft Office, and soft skills, such as attention to detail and time management.  

    If this is your first job, include transferable skills from other employment.

  4. Work history

    Build the work history section of your administrative assistant resume in reverse-chronological order. Add the company names, locations and dates of employment and, for every job, include a bulleted list of three measurable accomplishments. For example, amount of organized meetings per week or per day, amount of employees assisted and successful relationship building that benefited your department. 

    If this is your first job as an administrative assistant, you can include other relevant work experience, like volunteer experiences, community services, professional projects and more. 

  5. Education

    Use bullet points to create the education section of your administrative assistant resume. Include the educational institution’s name, the degree conferred and graduation year. Skip your graduation date if it has been over 10 years. If you did not attend college, list your high school and any other post-high school course or training you’ve completed.

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Action words for a stand-out administrative assistant resume

Present yourself as a strong candidate using action words. These verbs highlight your strength by directly and confidently showcasing your achievements. Combine these words with your quantifiable accomplishments to make a great impression. 

These are a few examples of actions words for your administrative assistant resume:

  • Assist
  • Manage
  • Organize
  • Review 
  • Prepare
  • Provide
  • Assist
  • Execute
  • Coordinate
  • Handle
  • Produce
  • Answer
  • Distribute

Building a professional administrative assistant resume is quick and easy with our Resume Builder. It has all the tools you need, from editing to step-by-step guidance. Consider the expert suggestions and download the product once you’re satisfied with it. We have 800+ resume examples to help you create the perfect administrative assistant resume.

Top skills for an administrative assistant resume

Your administrative assistant resume needs a balanced skills section. To create it, review the job description and carefully match the required skills to the skills and traits that fit you. 

These are a few skills you could include in your resume: 

  • Microsoft Office
  • Bookkeeping
  • Record keeping
  • Spreadsheet management
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • Foreign languages with a level of proficiency
  • Data entry
  • Time management
  • Database management
  • Excellent verbal and written communication
  • Office inventory management
  • Flexibility
  • Customer service
  • QuickBooks
  • Attention to detail

Certifications for administrative assistant resume

Certifications can help you stand out from the crowd by showcasing your commitment to the craft and interest in improving your skills. Add value to your administrative assistant resume by including relevant certifications. 

These are a few certifications to consider for your administrative assistant resume:

Remember to include the expiry date, when applicable. If you’re still working toward a certification, you can include it with the expected finishing date.

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Administrative assistant resume FAQ

  1. 1. What is a good objective for an administrative assistant resume?

    The resume objective has evolved into a professional summary. Like the rest of your resume, it should be tailored to the job position. Include your strongest job-relevant qualifications, years of experience and important achievements.

    For example: 

    Dedicated administrative assistant with five years of experience in the finance industry. Strategic planner with database management experience and data entry expertise. Discreet, organized and excellent communicator. Basic Mandarin speaker.

  2. 2. What skills to put on a resume for an administrative assistant?

    Grab the hiring manager’s attention by matching your skills to those in the job description. This section must be balanced between hard skills, which are the technical skills that help you perform your job, and soft skills, which are your natural abilities and work habits. 

    For example, soft skills like time management, organizing, and attention to detail are key to performing as an administrative assistant. These skills are also transferable, which helps candidates switch careers. Your hard skills could include Microsoft Office, bookkeeping knowledge and data processing. Feel free to include other skills helpful to your industry.

  3. 3. What to put on a resume for an administrative assistant?

    Your resume should always be customized to the role you’re applying for. The first step should always be to save the job description; this way you can return to it even if it’s taken down. 

    Match their skills and requirements to your own. Then, from your employer research and industry knowledge, includes other skills that would be beneficial to the role and help you stand out from the candidate pool. Write a resume with the help of this guide and our Resume Builder, which provides step-by-step guidance and expert suggestions. 

Do’s and don’ts for building an administrative assistant resume

  • Use measurable achievements to describe your abilities and experience as an administrative assistant. 
  • Use action words to make an impact on your administrative assistant resume.
  • Tailor your resume to your target administrative assistant job.
  • Use keywords from the job description throughout your administrative assistant resume.
  • Format your administrative assistant resume so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
  • Lie about your administrative assistant experience and skills.
  • Boast that you’re the “best administrative assistant ever.”
  • Add skills and experience not pertaining to an administrative assistant.
  • Forget to proofread. An administrative assistant resume with errors is unprofessional.

Top 4 tips for acing an administrative assistant interview

  1. Research the prospective employer.

    Take the time to learn about the employer’s history, goals, values and people before your fashion model interview. Your knowledge about a potential employer shows interest, dedication and commitment — traits that create a desirable candidate. Plus, having a glimpse of the company culture before you arrive will give you an idea of what to expect on arrival so that you can feel confident.

  2. Practice at home.

    The best way to prepare for your interview is by practicing at home. Start by reviewing the most common interview questions, such as: 

    Ask a trusted person to perform a mock interview. Search for possible interview questions, write down the answers and then practice with your interview partner. Once you’re done, ask them for feedback and work with them to improve. Preparation will boost your confidence, allowing you to perform better during your administrative assistant interview. 

    Pro tip: Practice in front of a mirror. Look at your facial expressions and body language, which hiring managers will notice.

  3. Ask questions in your interview

    You’re interviewing this employer as much as they’re interviewing you. Prepare questions to help determine if this employer is the right fit for you. Arrive with at least three questions to learn more and show your enthusiasm and interest in the role. 

    Here are a few examples of questions to get you started:

    • What do you enjoy most about working for this employer?
    • Why did you choose to work for this employer? 
    • What’s the career path for this role?
    • What are you looking for now that your previous employee couldn’t provide?
    • What are your expectations for this position? 
    • How do you measure performance?

    Ask open-ended questions and allow the interviewer to answer before moving on to the next. 

  4. Round up your references.

    Contact former managers and colleagues to be potential references. These individuals should be able to vouch for your work ethic and skills. Explain to them where you are in the process and when they could expect to be reached. Don’t forget to ask if they could write a letter of recommendation for you. 

    If this is your first full-time job as an administrative assistant, you can request a reference from a mentor, professor, community leader, volunteer coordinator or classmate that can vouch for your skills.

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Nilda Melissa Diaz

Nilda Melissa Diaz

Career Advice Contributor

Nilda Melissa Díaz is a Career Advice Writer. She has worked for the Washington Post, Stringr, and Latina Style Magazine. She has a master's in journalism from Columbia University and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

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