How to tailor an administrative assistant resume to the job
Administrative assistant posts list tasks: calendars, travel, documents, the office. The resume that stands out says for how many people, and how well.
What administrative assistant posts usually ask for
Not every post asks for all of these, and the order changes. Check which ones the post you're applying to lists first or repeats.
- Calendar and travel. For whom and how many.
- Microsoft Office or Google Workspace. Name the tools, and what you did with them beyond typing.
- Office operations. Supplies, vendors, facilities, visitors.
- Communication. Phones, email, being the first point of contact.
- Confidentiality and judgement. Posts often say "discretion". One line on what you handled covers it.
What to put first
Lead with how many people you supported and at what level, then the work that's closest to the post.
A tailored line, before and after
Before: Supported the office. Did scheduling, travel and ordering supplies.
After: Supported a 40-person office and its three directors, managing their calendars and travel and the office's supply budget.
The office size and the directors were in the person's original job description. The rewrite says it plainly in the first line. This is an invented example.
Gaps, and how to handle them honestly
- Bookkeeping or invoicing. If you've done some, say what. If not, don't add it.
- A specific system such as SAP or Concur. Name the system you used for the same task.
Posts often list more than the job needs. If you clearly show most of the main requirements, it's usually worth applying.
Wording that often appears in these posts
Use these where they describe what you've actually done, in sentences about that work. A list of terms you can't back up reads badly to recruiters, and they ask about every line in an interview.
calendar managementtravel arrangementsMicrosoft OfficeExceldata entryoffice managementschedulingfront deskconfidentialityvendor management
Tailor yours to a real post
Paste the post you're applying to, and cvagent.ai lists what it asks for, marks which of those your resume shows, and rewrites your resume for it using only what's in your resume. Every change is shown next to your original, and anything it can't trace back to your resume is flagged. Or start with the free resume check, which needs no account and saves nothing.