An administrative assistant resume description doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult to create. Here’s how you can explain your administrative assistant job.
How to Write an Administrative Assistant Resume
Administrative Assistant Job Description Resume
There are many unique jobs out there that draw on a desire to help people stay organized and provide administrative support. Possibly none of them are as fast-paced and interestingly designed as the administrative assistant job. This job relies on both work experience and skills. And by giving the other people who work in the office more time to do their jobs, the administrative assistant ensures that the office works more effectively overall. Here’s how you can write a great job description for your resume and get your next administrative assistant position.
What Is an Administrative Assistant Resume Job Description?
The job description is a section below each piece of work experience that describes a bit more about what you did at that job. To write the perfect resume, especially if you’re trying to get past an applicant tracking system (ATS), you need to ensure you’re going all-out on discussing exactly how your skills and experience relate to the job at hand. That means perfecting your job descriptions so that you’re showing off what makes you perfect for the administrative assistant role.
How to Structure Your Administrative Assistant Resume
An administrative assistant resume doesn’t just stop at the job descriptions, of course. To create your professional resume, you need an administrative assistant resume sample to build from. Here are the sections you should include in your resume:
Contact information
The resume header is part of the resume design. It’s where you put your contact information with your full name, phone number, location, email address and your job networking profile links such as LinkedIn. It’s the first part of your resume that a recruiter sees, so you need to make it eye-catching.
Resume summary or objective
Next is the resume summary or resume objective. This is a 2-3 sentence paragraph at the very top of a resume. In the resume summary, you will highlight your most important skills and accomplishments. However, if you have limited work experience, the resume objective would be a better choice. In a resume objective, you state your overall career goals.
Skills
Showcasing relevant skills is incredibly important to show that you meet all the requirements for this job. Here are a few bullet points you might want to include in your skills section:
- Make travel arrangements
- Create a filing system
- Write memos and organize spreadsheets
- Teamwork
- Microsoft Office Suite (PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel)
- General office management and clerical duties
- Order office supplies
- Take phone calls
- Problem-solving
- Proofreading
- Time management
- Data entry
- Manage office equipment
- Maintain expense reports with QuickBooks
- Work with human resources
- Interpersonal skills
- Multitasking
- General record-keeping
- Good verbal and written communication
This list includes both hard skills and soft skills. Although administrative assistants can be entry-level jobs, they’re not unskilled. You need lots of skills to make it as an administrative assistant.
Work history
Next is your work history section. If you have any other jobs where you had administrative duties, you can list them in the work experience section. List up to 10 years of experience. Be sure to include the company name, your job title and the dates of employment for each job you list in this section.
Education
Many administrative assistant jobs only require a high school diploma. However, it’s common for job seekers pursuing a career as an administrative assistant to go to school and get a business administration degree. Any education or certifications you have can be listed in the education section.
Administrative Assistant Resume Tips
Here are some additional tips to keep in mind as you prepare your administrative assistant resume:
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Use the ResumeNerd resume builder to create your administrative assistant resume. You can find templates and designs that help you craft a resume.
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If you have more than 10 years of experience, don’t list it on your resume. Instead, put it on your LinkedIn profile.
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If you’ve been an office assistant elsewhere, secure references from the people you helped. This can showcase that you’re a benefit to an office overall.
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In your job description, highlight specific duties you were responsible for. This is the best way to draw attention to your skillset.
FAQ: Administrative Assistant Job Description Resume
Yes. You should always write a cover letter for any job you apply to, no matter what the job is. Cover letters allow you to talk directly to the hiring manager, which you don’t get to do in your resume. And in the cover letter, you can elaborate on any information from the resume. Plus, it allows you to ask directly for a job interview. You can use the cover letter builder from ResumeNerd to create an administrative assistant cover letter that works for your application.
This depends more on what’s in your resume and less on the fact that you’re applying to be an administrative assistant. Different resume formats will typically work better for different job applicants. The chronological resume format, for example, is usually best for those who have lots of experience, while the functional resume format may be best for those with very little experience. If you want the best resume format that fits your situation, you’ll want to look at what you’re showing off in your resume.
Yes. You don’t need lots of experience to become an administrative assistant, and it’s often considered an entry-level job. If you don’t have much professional experience, you’ll want to rely on your skills and certifications. Additionally, show off any experience with office administration that you have in other job titles.