Here are the keywords and skills that appear most frequently on recent Administrative Associate job postings. In other words, these are the most sought after skills by recruiters and hiring managers. Go to Sample Templates ↓ below to see how to include them on your resume.
Remember that every job is different. Instead of including all keywords on your resume, identify those that are most relevant to the job you're applying to. Use the free Targeted Resume tool to help with this.
Does your resume contain all the right skills? Paste in your resume in the AI Resume Scan ↓ section below and get an instant score.
Paste your resume below and our AI will identify which keywords are missing from your resume from the list above (and what you need to include). Including the right keywords will help you get past Applicant Tracking Systems (i.e. resume screeners) which may scan your resume for keywords to see if you're a match for the job.
Go through the Administrative Associate posting you're applying to, and identify hard skills the company is looking for. For example, skills like Customer Service, Sales and Microsoft Access are possible skills. These are skills you should try to include on your resume.
The following word cloud highlights the most popular keywords that appear on Administrative Associate job descriptions. The bigger the word, the more frequently it shows up on employer's job postings. If you have experience with these keywords, include them on your resume.
Here are common soft skills that appear on Administrative Associate job postings. Unlike hard skills, which refer to tools, software or techniques, soft skills focus on character traits and interpersonal skills. Instead of listing these phrases on your resume, try to show them through your bullet points like in the examples below.
Tip: Do not list these words or phrases on your resume, and instead focus on the hard skills we described above.
Here are examples of proven resumes in related jobs and industries, approved by experienced hiring managers. Use them as inspiration when you're writing your own resume. You can even download and edit the resume template in Google Docs.
Operations associates can learn about business operations as they work to support the day-to-day functioning of a company. While you do need to be organized and conscientious for this type of role, you don’t need management experience for this entry-level role -- so use your resume to underscore your education and internship history, as shown in this resume.
As an entry-level applicant, you won’t have a lot of work history to discuss -- so start your resume off with what you have accomplished in school and internship experience. If you’ve done coursework in relevant areas such as data analytics or operating systems, it’s great to mention that up-front.
This resume points out accomplishments at internships that directly relate to being an operations associate. The bullet points show that even though you’re early in your career, you’ve already made an impact with your work.
A senior administrative assistant is a position that highlights your extensive experience supporting higher management and overseeing other employees in the department. Since you’ll have plenty of experience to share, you’ll want to detail your accomplishments with specific numbers and highlight your transferable skills from previous roles. This template will show you how to combine both to create a lasting impression on the recruiter.
Since this role is a senior position, you’ll be expected to train new employees per the company’s needs and support senior management. This resume template uses examples like “managed administrative staff of 15 personnel,” “hired, trained, and managed over 355 part-time workers per year,” and “supported Senior Vice President of Manufacturing.” Make sure to emphasize your relevant senior experience.
Besides just your education, you’ll want to spotlight any relevant certifications that you have to demonstrate your fluency in this role. This senior administrative assistant resume template uses the example of Administrative Assistant Certificate Series from the Growthsi Business School. Additional certificates show your dedication to additional training for the position.
As an executive administrative assistant, you will be supporting one or multiple executives in the company. A high-level of discretion and anticipation of what your executives need is a must. To tailor a resume for this position, you’ll want to focus on your experience supporting previous executives and how you resolved pain points for them.
In this role, you’ll have familiarity with streamlining and implementing processes. This resume uses great examples like “reduced cell phone expenses, resulting in savings of $5,000+” and “organized new office and designed systems to maximize office function efficiency by 30%.” Make sure to showcase what you did to make the office better for the team. Numbers talk!
This template demonstrates a promotion from an administrative assistant to an executive assistant. Growth shows that your previous company was impressed with your work and trusted you with more responsibilities, like supporting five executives. You should also highlight why you were promoted. If you took on additional work, became a mentor to others, or more, make sure to share it.
Just like senior and executive-level administrative assistants, there are also entry-levels administrative assistant positions out there. Don’t worry if you don’t have administrative assistant work experience or if you’re looking to change careers — you should use your education and other related administrative experience to supplement it. You should also highlight relevant skills that are transferable to showcase previous experience with them in different environments.
Action verbs are important tools and phrasing is everything. Your resume should have powerful action verbs to bolster your accomplishments. Some excellent examples of action verbs in this resume template are “directed,” “oversaw,” “generated,” and “drafted.” We’ll also go into more detail about action verbs down below for more ideas.
You typically want to emphasize technical skills but that can be difficult for an administrative assistant position compared to a role like a project manager. In this resume, skills such as “customer service, “telephone reception,” and “data entry” are listed. The skills are implied in experience like “answered an average of 35 calls per day by addressing customer inquiries.”
Sales are a key function to any business. Without the sales team, the company would probably have a hard time earning revenue for their products or services. As a sales administrative assistant, you’ll want to spotlight your related sales and administrative experience to demonstrate that you can do both. You may not only just support the sales team, but also contribute to sales pitches, presentations, and generating leads as well.
Since this role requires familiarity with selling, make sure to showcase your previous sales experience. This template uses related positions such as sales clerk and sales coordinator. If you’ve worked in retail or similar roles before, mention it with examples like “managed $300,000 monthly sales figures operating at an average of 30% profit margin” and “conducted 50+ sales presentations.”
Sales is all about numbers. This resume template specifically mentions a project of “creat[ing] sales tracking database in Access that decreased overall deficiencies by 20%.” Recruiters want to see hard numbers of how you contributed to increasing sales and generating leads. Emphasize what you did in past roles to show what you could do for your potential employer.
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 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.
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.
On top Administrative Associate resumes, skills like Customer Service, Administrative Assistance, Administration, Microsoft Access, Office Administration, Management, Sales and Strategic Planning appear most often.
Depending on the exact role you're applying to, skills like Data Entry, Expense Reports, Calendaring, Community Outreach and Social Media can also be effective keywords to include on your resume.
Examples of Administrative Associate soft skills include Leadership, Teamwork, Negotiation, Public Speaking and Team Building.
While the keywords above are a good indication of what skills you need on your resume, you should try to find additional keywords that are specific to the job. To do this, use the free Targeted Resume tool. It analyzes the job you are applying to and finds the most important keywords you need on your resume.
It is personalized to your resume, and is the best way to ensure your resume will pass the automated resume filters.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
