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No office can function effectively without an office manager, administrative assistant or executive assistant. We’ll help you land your next administrative position by showcasing your organizational, managerial, and social skills with career-specific resume examples, downloadable templates, and our list of top administrative skills.
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Not all resumes are made equal, nor can they accomplish the same goals. Most resumes follow three well-known formats; chronological, combination, and functional formats. Each of these layouts can serve you and highlight different aspects of your administrative skills and knowledge.
We created administrative resume examples for each one. Let’s walk through them and explain the pros and cons.
The chronological resume is the most well-known format and is the ideal format for candidates with over 10 years of experience. We strongly recommend that your use this format for the following administrative job openings:
Executive assistants, office managers, and secretaries spend years honing their skills and streamlining office operations. A chronological administrative resume helps you demonstrate those skills and accomplishments in the following manners:
The combination borrows many of the same sections as the chronological resume, but it switches the placement of the skills section to place equal importance on professional abilities and accomplishments. This allows you to play up your organizational, social, and administrative skills first followed by quantifiable proof of your previous accomplishments.
A combination administrative resume is ideal for younger candidates with ample training and education, but limited practical experience in the administrative field. We strongly recommend this format if you’re applying for the following job opportunities:
The functional resume is the least familiar resume but can be beneficial under specific circumstances. This resume is also known as a skills-based resume and creates specialized sections to focus on responsibilities and accomplishments based on abilities, not work history.
Unlike the previously mentioned resumes, the functional resume is not applicant tracking systems (ATS) friendly and should be used under specific circumstances. Use this resume with small family-owned businesses, offices of 10 or fewer employees, or direct referral applications. It’s ideal for career changers, recent graduates, or relocating applicants.
Although this format has some risks, we strongly recommend that you use this resume to showcase your applicable organization and management skills for the following job openings:
If you’re curious about this career tract or planning your next steps, you may wonder how much you can earn as an administrative professional. Your potential administrative earnings may vary according to your specialization, location and employer.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these are average national wages for the following administrative branches.
Skills are the understated heroes of your resume. You’ll showcase your soft, hard, and technical skills across the following resume sections:
To help you bolster your resume and accurately demonstrate your qualifications, we compiled a list of the frequently requested administrative skills found on active job boards.
Soft skills are also known as the skills that enable you to be a communicative team member and functional employee. As an administrative professional, you’ll want to showcase the following interpersonal skills:
Hard skills are learned and practiced skills that require specific knowledge related to a job or task. As an administrative professional, these learned skills often include familiarity with time management programs, spreadsheets, and schedules. We share a few skills that might strengthen your administrative resume:
Technical skills are highly specialized abilities or knowledge used to perform practical tasks:
Although you can learn on the job, you may find help finding a specialized or high-paying position by studying and registering for specialized administrative courses. You can feature these additional courses on your education sections underneath your degrees.
Lend yourself an extra hand by using our specialized program. Our Resume Builder features job-specific content suggestions, section-by-section writing advice, professionally designed templates, and unlimited online storage to accommodate each tailored resume. Build your resume and cover letter in less time than the average job seeker.
This simple layout features a traditional font and the clever use of section borders to help each section of your resume stand out.
This distinctive two-column resume template identifies your name and professional experience in a bold color and clean presentation.
A clever design that breaks each of your professional accomplishments into distinct sections while following a format that will pass applicant tracking systems.
The elegant initials, simple header and strategic use of bullet points in this template help keep your professional accomplishments well-organized.
The bold use of a colorblocked heading paired with an elegant resume layout helps your name and contact information stand out.
This structured design combines a two-column approach with bullet points to highlight your key accomplishments and professional history.
A traditional template uses a crisp combination of dark text and thin borders to radiate professionalism. Your name sits prominently above your professional history.
This template’s design features plenty of whitespace neatly divided by gray bars to make the information on your resume easy to read for employers.
This two-column resume conveys a very clear breakdown of its sections that allows a hiring manager to quickly scan your resume.
The subtle color accents in this template add visual pizzazz in a classy way, a great option for most traditional industries.
This resume’s modern design and bold use of color make it pop. Its uniqueness is well-suited to those seeking jobs in creative industries.
Everything about this template is assertive from the boxy layout to its all-caps heading text that gives the impression that you’re all about business.
The understated contact information at the top puts attention front and center on your professional summary, skills, work experience and education sections.
The subtle use of red alongside black gives this template a bold feel while still featuring plenty of white space to make it easy to read.
Your top 3 skills will vary depending on the administrative role you’re applying for. Administrative assistants should feature the following top 3 requested skills on their resume.
Your summary statement, also known as the professional summary we mentioned before, needs to showcase one or two skills mentioned on the job advertisement. An interview-winning statement will accomplish the following goals
If you’re interested in pursuing an administrative career, you’re probably curious about your potential daily responsibilities. Most administratives duties fall into the following examples:
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