Administrative assistant resume example
An administrative assistant resume is read for scope and reliability: who you supported, how many, which systems you ran, and what you were trusted to decide. Replace task lists with the scale and the outcome — calendars managed, budgets handled, processes you introduced that the team kept.
Summary section
Administrative assistant with five years supporting a 40-person commercial team and two directors. Manage complex multi-timezone diaries, own a £120K departmental budget for travel and events, and rebuilt the onboarding process new starters now follow.
Achievement bullets that work
Written to show the result first and the method second. Adapt the structure — never copy the numbers.
- Manage diaries for two directors across four time zones, including a rolling programme of client travel, with no double-bookings in three years.
- Own a £120K annual budget for team travel and events; came in under budget in each of the last three years by renegotiating two supplier agreements.
- Rebuilt the new-starter onboarding process into a checklist and shared drive that the whole department now uses, cutting first-week questions substantially.
- Coordinated a 180-attendee annual conference end to end — venue, catering, AV, travel for 40 remote staff — delivered on budget.
- Introduced a shared inbox triage system that cut average response time to client queries from two days to four hours.
ATS keywords for Administrative Assistant roles
Terms that postings for this role commonly contain. Use the ones that are true of you, in the posting’s own wording.
- administrative assistant
- calendar management
- diary management
- Microsoft Office
- Outlook
- Excel
- travel coordination
- expense management
- minute taking
- office management
- data entry
- stakeholder communication
- event coordination
- confidentiality
Scope beats task lists
Nearly every administrative resume lists the same tasks: scheduling, correspondence, filing, travel booking. They describe the category of work, not the level, and they make a highly capable candidate indistinguishable from an entry-level one.
Scope separates them. Two directors and a 40-person team, four time zones, a £120K budget — these numbers place you instantly. Someone coordinating executive travel across continents is doing a materially different job from someone booking a meeting room, and only the numbers show it.
Show something you were trusted to decide
The strongest administrative bullets show judgement rather than execution: a supplier you renegotiated, a process you introduced that outlived you, a triage system the team kept. These prove you improve how the office runs rather than only absorbing its workload.
Discretion is worth evidencing carefully. Handling confidential material, board papers or personnel matters is a genuine differentiator — describe the category of responsibility, never the content.
Which template suits a administrative assistant
A clean single column suited to the high-volume corporate screening these roles almost always pass through first.
Questions
- Should I list typing speed?
- Only if the posting asks. It is largely obsolete as a signal and takes space from something that distinguishes you.
- How do I move toward an executive assistant role?
- Lead with seniority supported, autonomy exercised, and confidential or budget responsibility. Those are the differences between the two roles, so make them the first things visible.
- Are software skills worth a separate section?
- Yes. Outlook, Excel, SharePoint, Concur and similar are matched literally and appear in most postings. A plain-text block near the top matches reliably.