Administrative Assistant Cover Letter Example

If you’re a friendly, highly organised problem solver with strong written and oral communication skills, an administrative assistant role is perfect for you.

But to land the best admin opportunities, you’ll need to craft an administrative assistant cover letter that gets the employer’s attention and emphasises your organisational skills.

Here are four tips to craft an exceptional administrative assistant cover letter to give you an edge over other candidates:

1. Familiarise yourself with the company and its needs

Showing employers that you’re well informed about their company is essential. Researching their company demonstrates that you’re interested in working with them as you’ve taken the time to read up on their history, products, and goals.

Include some of these facts in your cover letter to increase your chances of impressing employers. If you notice any challenges they may be facing, explain how you can help them address these challenges as an administrative assistant:

Example: Addressing a specific company problem

During your company research you notice that the employer’s onboarding processes can be improved.

Accordingly you mention in that in your previous position you applied your organisational skills and proficiency in a scheduling software (Monday) to develop a well-structured onboarding process for entry-level employees.

In doing so, you demonstrate specialised knowledge and a detailed understanding of the employers needs — and employer immediately wants to set up a job interview with you.

2. Highlight your admin expertise with a compelling opening statement

You already know that first impressions are everything — and that certainly doesn’t change with your cover letter.

Your opening statement sets the tone for the rest of your letter. In 2–3 sentences, you should introduce yourself professionally, outline your expertise and most noteworthy skills, and specify why you’re applying for the specific job.

In doing so, you should also identify the employer’s needs and relate your skills and experience to those needs.

How do you identify the employer’s needs? Take another look at the job description. The employer will have specified what they’re looking for under the job summary, job requirements, and tasks and responsibilities headers.

Here’s an example administrative assistant job description with a few of the employer’s needs underlined in yellow and red:

The job description is your blueprint for writing your opening statement. You now know that the employer is looking for a candidate with practical experience onboarding (or training) new employees and providing team support.

Therefore, it’s also clear that any applicant who (truthfully) highlights these attributes early on in their cover letter will instantly have the employer’s interest.

Here’s what those skills might look like in a well-written opening statement, with attributes that match the job description highlighted in red and yellow:

Administrative assistant cover letter opening statement

I’m excited to apply for the Administrative Assistant position at Hunter Recruiting. As a personable and energetic professional with 2 years’ experience onboarding new employees, organising events, and leveraging HR software to provide team support, I’d be a perfect fit for your team.

When writing your opening statement, think about the language the employer used in the job ad and what that suggests about their company. You can use this information to make the tone of your letter match the company culture.

For example, the ad above described a ‘bubbly office atmosphere’ and mentioned they were looking for a ‘genuine people person.’ Both of these qualities suggest that the company is laid-back and team oriented, so matching that energy in your cover letter will show the employer you’re a natural fit for the job.

3. Highlight your administrative assistant skills

An administrative assistant executes routine admin tasks to bridge the gap between employers and co-workers.

Tasks of an administrative assistant include:

• scheduling appointments
• organising filing systems
• answering telephone calls
• performing bookkeeping
• drafting correspondence

So when writing your cover letter, bring your administrative experience, digital and information literacy, and complementary soft skills to the fore.

Because the responsibilities of an administrative assistant change depending on the industry, your cover letter should highlight the technical skills particular to your organisation’s line of business.

For instance, when applying to an accounting company, knowledge of Intuit QuickBooks and Sage 50 Accounting is a good asset.

These administrative assistant hard skills show employers you’re the right person for the job, so add them to your cover letter:

Great hard skills for an administrative assistant:

• Desktop publishing software (Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign)
• Account management and bookkeeping
• Phone etiquette
• Office suite software (Microsoft Office)
• Data entry
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software (Salesforce)
• Scheduling software
• Human resources software

As most admin jobs are team support roles, a friendly and professional attitude, strong organisational skills, and other personal traits are highly sought after. Emphasise these soft skills to highlight your personality and work ethic on your letter:

Show these soft skills on your administrative assistant cover letter:

• Interpersonal skills
• Communication skills
• Multitasking
• Socialising skills
• Prioritisation
• Organisation skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Customer service skills

4. End with a convincing closing statement

After crafting an excellent cover letter highlighting your skills, experience, and qualifications, don’t undermine your efforts with a generic closing statement.

You should close your cover letter with a memorable statement that encourages your potential future manager to take action and reach out to you for an interview.

Summarise the specific value you offer the hiring team or explain why you’re applying for this specific opportunity. Here are some questions to answer in your closing statement:

• Why are you passionate about this job opportunity?
• What does the company stand to gain from hiring you?
• Why did you pick the company in the first place?

Ensure you follow this up with a call to action (CTA) to prompt employers to reach out to you about the role. Also, repeat your phone number and email address to make it easy for the company to contact you.

Here’s an example of a great closing paragraph with the CTA highlighted in green and contact information highlighted in yellow:

Admin cover letter closing statement

I’d be thrilled to bring my experience and diligence to Scrilla Inc. Feel free to contact me for an interview at your convenience. You may reach me on 07555 555 555 or at your.name@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to review my application.