Administrative Assistant CV: Examples & Tips

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General assistant CV example

Here’s an additional example of a general assistant CV:

How to write your administrative assistant CV

Administrative assistants support their teams by doing tasks like managing files, planning trips, and serving clients. Although barriers to becoming an administrative assistant are low and administrative assistant skills are highly transferable, you’ll still need a compelling CV to compete with other qualified candidates.

1. Use an employer-friendly CV structure

The most effective CV format focuses on your experience and training. This layout is widely recognisable and makes your application easy to scan so employers can quickly check for relevant achievements and qualifications.

Lay out the sections of your administrative assistant CV sections in this order:

1. Contact information
2. Profile (a summary of your main achievements)
3. Experience
4. Education
5. Key skills

2. Write a clear, role-focused personal profile

Administrative work covers a wide range of tasks. Including a personal profile at the top of your CV helps employers connect your skills and background to the requirements of the role.

If you don’t have previous admin experience, writing a personal profile offers the chance to highlight your transferable skills and the type of support you’re ready to provide.

A strong profile should:

• Be around 50–70 words
• State your job title and level of experience
• Highlight 2–3 core strengths relevant to the role
• Avoid clichés and first-person pronouns
• Reflect the language used in the job description

Example personal profile for an administrative assistant

Administrative assistant with 2 years of experience supporting busy office teams at a fast-paced tech start-up. Skilled in event coordination, document preparation, and internal communications, with a proven ability to improve processes and maintain accurate records. Known for reliability, attention to detail, and a proactive approach to supporting managers and wider business operations.

3. Focus on any administrative experience you have — paid or unpaid

The most detailed section of your CV should be your experience section. You can use this section to list work experience from paid jobs, volunteer roles, or internships — any roles that involved skills or responsibilities relevant to your target job.

List your experiences in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent job and working backwards.

Follow these formatting guidelines for each entry you include:

• Include the job title, employer name, and employment dates
• Make a short bulleted list of your most relevant responsibilities and achievements
• Start each bullet with an action verb (e.g., ‘spearheaded’ or ‘launched’) to highlight your individual contributions
• Measure your achievements with numbers — especially if they positively impacted team costs or revenue (e.g., a 20% cost reduction from vendor negotiation)
• List 3–5 bullets per entry to give the employer enough context

Administrative assistant work experience entry

Administrative Assistant
PC Home | London | 20XX–20XX

• Provided comprehensive administrative support to a busy office team, ensuring smooth day-to-day operations
• Managed diaries and scheduled meetings for 5 senior staff, coordinating up to 35 meetings per week
• Spearheaded the reorganisation of digital and paper filing systems, reducing document retrieval time by 30%
• Acted as the first point of contact for clients and suppliers, responding to 50+ enquiries per week



4. Optimise your CV for ATS systems

Corporate employers often use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter CVs to sort through and process CVs. These tracking systems look for keywords and recruitment details to assess whether a CV is a potential match for the job.

For the best chance of passing these filters, your CV will need to use ATS-friendly formatting

• Standard section headings (Profile, Work Experience, Skills, Education)
• Match keywords from the job advert (e.g., software, tasks, qualifications)
• Avoid including tables, text boxes, graphics, and unusual fonts (most ATS struggle to read them)
• Save and submit your CV as a Word document unless told otherwise

5. Highlight the right skills for an administrative assistant job

Your skills section should highlight up to 10 skills that are highly relevant to the job.

These may be hard skills that the employer explicitly asked for in the job description or unique transferable skills that you can carry over from other roles.

Typical administrative assistant hard skills include:

• Diary and calendar management
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)
• Minute taking and document preparation
• Data entry and database management
• Customer and stakeholder communication

Your skills section should also have certifications that relate closely to the job, such as the following:

• CAP (Certified Administrative Professional)
• MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist)
• Level 3 Award in Professional PA & Administration Skills

Do not list any degree or school qualifications in your skills section. List your formal education separately to make it easy to review at a glance.

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More CV & Cover Letter Examples:

CVs:

• Administrator CV
• Data Entry CV
• Executive Assistant CV
• Health & Safety OfficerCV
• HR Administrator CV
• HR Advisor CV
• HR Assistant CV
• HR Manager CV
• Human Resources (HR) CV
• Office Manager CV

Cover Letters:

• HR Administrator Cover Letter
• HR Assistant Cover Letter
• Office Assistant Cover Letter
• Operations Manager Cover Letter