Executive assistants are the behind-the-scenes gurus of the executive world. You help a company run smoothly, taking care of everything that helps executives be as productive as possible. You must be exceptionally organized, detail-oriented, and effective at communication, as well as fantastic at organizing meetings and making flawless travel arrangements. You enjoy wearing many different hats throughout the day as you support various needs and requests that may come up at a moment’s notice.

In the past months, as most companies continue to work remotely during the Covid-19 lockdown, executive assistants find themselves in a pivotal moment. Many administrative duties have been pared down significantly and travel has all but paused, bringing an end to many traditional administrative duties.

But in a changing environment, executive assistants are needed more than ever. Business leaders across all industries are facing new challenges and tackling new problems, and they need executive assistants who can help -- who can think on their feet, take initiative in uncertain situations, and get creative with solving unprecedented problems. Candidates who have strong business sense, technical savvy, and great emotional intelligence will be high in demand in the upcoming years.

What should an executive assistant resume look like in 2021? Continue reading below to view examples of effectively written executive assistant resumes that will help you land your next role.

Executive Assistant Resume Templates

Executive Assistant Resume Sample

Executive assistants with a few years of experience should craft a resume that highlights their accomplishments in previous assistant roles. You should include a logical path of your work history that demonstrates growth, as well as a capacity for increasing responsibility. This resume has a strong work history section that shows their experience in previous positions as an executive assistant, and the candidate uses numbers and metrics to support their accomplishments.

Executive assistants with a few years of experience should highlight their abilities and extensive work history in their resume.

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Recruiter Insight: Why this resume works in 2021

Demonstrate your growth with senior administrative tasks

If you have several years of experience working as an executive assistant, it is important to showcase this clearly and effectively on your resume. Recruiting managers like to see that candidates have dedicated time towards developing their skills in relevant roles and that they have extensive experience working in assistant positions. For example, this candidate clearly states in their summary that they have worked in the administrative department for five years, exhibiting their career journey from when they started out as an administrative manager.

Also see: How to Show Promotions on Your Resume

Use numbers and metrics to describe your accomplishments

This resume uses numbers and metrics to back up their work experience -- highlighting not just their responsibilities, but their accomplishments in their roles. When writing your bullet points for your work experience section, include quantitative evidence of what your impact was in the work history section -- specifically in areas such as efficiency, productivity, and organization. This template includes such details as “increased office efficiency by 25%” and “facilitated...savings over $5,000 in the first year”.

Also see: How to Write Resume Bullets That Get Interviews

Executive Administrative Assistant Resume Sample

An executive assistant works closely with a high-level executive or a small group of high-level executives in overseeing projects and anticipating business needs. On the other hand, an executive administrative assistant tends to focus more on task management and administrative duties, such as calendar scheduling, data entry, and handling calls. In your executive administrative assistant resume, make sure to highlight your experience and relevant skills accordingly.

When writing your Executive Administrative Assistant Resume, make sure to include bullet points that emphasize your administrative skills.

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Recruiter Insight: Why this resume works in 2021

Highlight relevant executive administrative skills

When writing your executive administrative assistant resume, make sure to demonstrate your proven ability to carry out administrative tasks. You should highlight relevant skills you have in these capacities, and include skills that pertain to the job description. This candidate includes a list of administrative capacities in their skills section, such as Calendar Management, Travel Arrangements, and Organization Skills, and expands upon them in their work experience.

Use strong action verbs and numeric metrics to describe your administrative accomplishments/responsibilities

In your work experience section, make sure to use strong action verbs and to quantify your positive impact to the company. Executive administrative assistants should be experts at performing administrative duties, especially in areas of facilitating smooth operation and in catalyzing productivity. Use words such as “streamlined”, “orchestrated”, or “facilitated” to describe your contributions, and make sure to accompany them with tangible quantitative metrics.

Also see: Effective Action Verbs for your Resume

C-Level Executive Assistant Resume Sample

Providing assistance at the C-suite level (CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, etc.) requires a deeper level of expertise in the given industry, as well as the ability to work cross-functionally or technically. You must know how to skillfully interface with various departments, uncover potential bottlenecks, and facilitate improvements that help the C-suite function at its highest efficiency. When applying to a C-level executive assistant role, make sure to include evidence of past experience in relevant roles and to demonstrate your ability to catalyze efficient operations.

When writing your C-Level Executive Assistant Resume, emphasize your accomplishments in the past with working for other C-suite executives.

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Recruiter Insight: Why this resume works in 2021

Demonstrated experience with C-suite individuals

It takes a special type of person to operate calmly and effectively in the high-pressure, fast-paced world of C-level executives. Many individuals at this level have big personalities and urgent needs, and hiring managers want to see that you understand what it takes to work in such an environment. When writing your C-level executive assistant resume, make sure to include work experience that shows you have experience providing direct support to a CEO or other C-level executive.

Also see: How To Write Your Resume's Work Experience Section

Highlight your capacity for growth

The various needs and requests from a C-suite executive can evolve rapidly within a matter of days or weeks. It’s important to show that you are flexible and quick to learn in new environments. To demonstrate that you can adapt to new situations, make sure to highlight instances where you’ve been promoted in an organization or when you have taken on more responsibility than your role entailed. This candidate includes an experience where they were promoted from lead administrative assistant to executive assistant to the CEO.

Also see: How to Show Promotions on Your Resume

Executive Assistant to CEO Resume Sample

Sometimes a CEO may require more personal assistance and will want to hire an executive assistant to directly support their needs. This position is the CEO’s primary resource, and must demonstrate deep administrative and organizational expertise to support the demands of the highest position in the company. When writing your CEO executive assistant resume, make sure to showcase your mastery of relevant skills, such as calendar management, hiring logistics, and event operations.

When writing your resume to be an executive assistant to the CEO, include skills that tailor to the job posting.

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Recruiter Insight: Why this resume works in 2021

Showcase skills relevant to support C-levels

Different CEOs have different needs - for this position in particular, it’s important to read the job description carefully and even do some research of your own into the company’s CEO, given that their information is included. Make sure to include skills that tailor to the job posting. For example, if the executive travels often, emphasize your experience in making travel arrangements or serving as a travel assistant.

Senior Executive Assistant Resume Sample

A senior executive assistant is an executive assistant with senior responsibilities. This means that they typically do fewer administrative tasks and tackle more hands-on operations work such as managing projects, creating and implementing processes, etc. When crafting your senior executive assistant resume, keep this in mind as you write out your bullet points and curate the skills you want to showcase.

When applying to be a senior executive assistant, tailor your work experience to more operations type duties than administrative duties.

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Recruiter Insight: Why this resume works in 2021

Tailored work experience to the executive assistant role

As mentioned above, the senior executive assistant role takes on more operations and logistics type work than administrative work - make sure you tailor your resume accordingly. When possible, include bullet points that detail your experience with overseeing processes and managing projects. It’s okay to include administrative duties, but try to include as many experiences as you can that emphasize your ability for operations and logistics work.

Also see: How To Write Your Resume's Work Experience Section

Demonstrated career growth

A senior executive assistant should know the executive assistant world inside and out. It takes time and experience to understand the subtleties of the executive world and the different responsibilities that the role entails. In your professional experience section, showcase your growth throughout your career by including promotions and detailing your years of experience, working your way up through roles that demand more and more responsibility.

Also see: How to Show Promotions on Your Resume

Skills For Executive Assistant Resumes

To ensure that your executive assistant resume stands out from the crowd, you’ll want to demonstrate that you have the skills and relevant experience to excel.

When crafting your executive assistant resume, make sure to carefully read through the job description. Executive assistant roles often vary considerably across industries -- or even between different types of executives. Different individuals have different needs, and it’s important to make sure that you choose to highlight skills that the hiring manager is looking for.

In addition, make sure to go beyond listing skills in your resume’s Skills section. You can expand on what you did in your work experience by describing your expertise in the bullet points of your work experience.

Executive Administrative Assistance
Administrative Assistance
Executive Calendar Management
Office Administration
Travel Arrangements
Executive Support
Expense Reports
Calendaring
Event Planning
Concur
Confidentiality
Travel Management
Event Management
Administration
Meeting Scheduling
Calendars
Human Resources (HR)
Time Management
Coordinate Meetings
Social Media

Executive Assistant Resume Tips

It’s not easy to excel as an executive assistant. The role demands a high level of emotional intelligence, the knowhow to wear many different hats, and the ability to maintain your composure in high-stress situations. In addition, busy executives often need their assistants to quickly understand them and their working styles on a deeply personal level, picking up on subtle body language and unspoken cues that many others would completely overlook.

However, once you figure out the nuances of the individual you support and grow familiar with the industry they operate in, you become an indispensable part of their workflow. It can be extremely rewarding to find a good match between an executive and an assistant, and many executives will even take a stellar executive assistant along with them if they switch companies.

Want to find your dream executive assistant role? Follow these curated tips for executive assistant resumes:

Create a tailored skill pool

As mentioned above, the skills required from an executive assistant often vary widely from role to role. These can even change depending on the executive you are applying to, despite them being in the same company!

To increase your efficiency as you apply to different positions, create a pool of bullet points for each of your work experience entries, categorized by the type of skill. Then, decide which bullet points you want to include depending on the job description, and swap them in and out to quickly tailor your resume each time.

A few examples of skill categories you can brainstorm bullets for are: travel and calendar scheduling, project management, interviewing and hiring processes, and office logistics.

Get creative with your bullet points

Depending on the position you’re applying for, there may be specific qualities that a hiring manager wants that they may not have listed. An essential part of being a good executive assistant is knowing how to read between the lines and think critically -- even anticipating what the executive needs before they know they need it -- and your application is a great place to start practicing this skill.

For example, think about what a CEO needs in their day to day life. While their executive assistant job listing may not directly mention it, an important need is for someone to be discreet with sensitive information. A CEO often works with confidential financial data, corporate communications, and other sensitive information that can’t be leaked. A good way to make your resume stand out from the crowd for such a role is to include your experience with maintaining confidence and secrecy.

Use strong action verbs to showcase relevant skills

Use your skills section to highlight areas of expertise you have for assisting executives. To back up your skills, add bullets to your work experience to show recruiters that you have successfully applied those skills to the workplace.

Think about the most important skills needed for an executive assistant -- you must be extremely organized, a quick problem solver, and able to communicate and work with a variety of different types of people across different departments. Use verbs that emphasize your abilities in these skills. For example, if you’re an expert at fostering collaboration and at working across different functions, use words such as “liaised”, “collaborated”, or “managed” to emphasize your expertise at managing teams.

Action Verbs For Executive Assistant Resumes

Executive assistants are masters of reading between the lines and understanding the unspoken needs of their executive. They must be versatile and quick to anticipate potential problems, and smoothly juggle the often chaotic schedule of high-level individuals.

When writing your resume, it’s important to emphasize these types of skills with strong action verbs. For example, use words like “oversaw”, “organized”, or “planned” to highlight your ability to smoothly and efficiently handle a variety of tasks.

It can be helpful to review the job description and see what types of action verbs they use. However, don’t copy every single one-- try to be creative and find words with similar meanings to tailor your resume to the job.

Simplified
Increased
Revamped
Ordered
Purchased
Processed
Screened
Systematized
Catalogued
Monitored
Recorded
Classified
Implemented
Generated

For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.

Resume Bullet Points From Executive Assistant Resumes

You should use bullet points to describe your achievements in your Executive Assistant resume. Here are sample bullet points to help you get started:

Analyzed $800K of monthly marketing spend data to optimize audience, creative and copy of campaigns; increased conversion by 12% MoM and decreased cost per acquisition by 35%

Recommended multi-brand strategy for a leading restaurant chain company to enter fast casual market by evaluating core competencies and performing market analysis

Analyzed fundamental growth drivers via top-down (macro/sector trends, competition) and bottom-up (growth strategy, revenue forecast, cost allocation) approaches, and analysis of senior management and shareholding structure.

Analyzed data from 25000 monthly active users and used outputs to guide marketing and product strategies; increased average app engagement time by 2x, decrease drop off rate by 30%, and increased shares on social media by 3x over 6 months

Doubled new user acquisition from 10-15 users to 20-25 through the implementation of new marketing strategies focused on online advertising and improving the company's web presence, social media, and search engine optimization.

For more sample bullet points and details on how to write effective bullet points, see our articles on resume bullet points, how to quantify your resume and resume accomplishments.