Administrative Assistant Skills for a Resume
Offices hire administrative assistants who keep everything running smoothly and accurately. Show who you support, the tools you use and the volume you handle, with the improvements you made.
Updated
13 skills at a glance
Hard skills
What the work takes, how a hiring manager judges each skill, and a bullet point that shows it.
Calendar and meeting management
Show how many people you support and how complex it gets.
Example bullet pointScheduled weekly meetings for a 12-person leadership team, finding times across very full calendars.
Travel booking
Show the volume, the policy you follow and any savings.
Example bullet pointBooked trips for a sales team of 15, saving about 10% by booking early within policy.
Office software (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint)
Mention advanced work, such as mail merges, spreadsheets or templates.
Example bullet pointBuilt Excel trackers and mail merge templates that halved the time to send client letters.
Google Workspace
Show the shared drives, forms or calendars you set up.
Example bullet pointSet up shared drives and Google Forms for team requests, replacing scattered email threads.
Invoice and expense processing
Give the monthly volume, and show that what you passed to finance rarely came back.
Example bullet pointChecked and coded expense reports for 30 employees each month before they went to finance.
Records management
Show systems that made records easy to find and kept them compliant.
Example bullet pointMoved 15 years of paper files into a searchable digital system with a retention schedule.
Minute-taking
Show accurate minutes and follow-up.
Example bullet pointTook minutes at monthly board meetings and sent them for approval within two days.
Data entry
Give the volume and the system, and show that people could rely on the records you kept.
Example bullet pointEntered and updated 500 customer records a week in the CRM with very few errors.
Soft skills
Shown through what you did, never claimed as adjectives.
Organization
Show systems that kept work on track.
Example bullet pointCreated a shared list for office requests, so nothing was forgotten while I was away.
Discretion
Mention the confidential information you handle.
Example bullet pointHandled salary letters and personnel files for the HR director in confidence.
Friendly professionalism
Show how you represent the office to visitors and callers.
Example bullet pointGreeted clients and partners as their first point of contact, and was thanked by name in client feedback.
Prioritizing
Show how you handle many requests at once.
Example bullet pointSorted competing requests from four managers by deadline and impact, agreeing priorities each Monday.
Reliability
Show the responsibilities you were given over time, such as covering for managers.
Example bullet pointBecame the person managers relied on to keep the office running while they were away.
Licenses and certifications
Give them a section of their own, with who issued each one and the year or expiry date.
- Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
- Certified Administrative Professional (CAP)
Keywords from administrative assistant job postings
Use the ones that are true for you, in your bullet points as well as your skills list.
- calendars
- travel
- invoices
- meetings
- Microsoft 365
- filing
- phone
- scheduled
- supplies
Each posting has its own words. Our guide to tailoring your resume to a job description shows how to find them and where to put them.
Where to put your skills
- In a skills section: a short list of the hard skills the posting names, in its words.
- In your bullet points: every skill that matters should show up in something you did, with a result. That is where a hiring manager believes it.
- In your summary: two or three of the skills the job asks for most.
More on choosing them in how to choose and prove the skills on your resume.
Questions
What skills should an administrative assistant put on a resume?
Calendar management, travel booking, Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, invoices and expenses, records management, minute-taking and data entry, plus organization, discretion and reliability.
Should I list my typing speed?
Yes, if it is strong and the job involves a lot of typing. Put it in your skills section, for example 70 words per minute.
How do I make administrative work stand out?
Use numbers and improvements: how many people you supported, how much you processed and what you made faster or simpler.
Put them to work
Start from an administrative assistant resume that already uses these skills, for an invented person, and make it yours in the builder.