Here are the keywords and skills that appear most frequently on recent Office Assistant 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 Office Assistant posting you're applying to, and identify hard skills the company is looking for. For example, skills like Microsoft Access, Receptionist Duties and Administration 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 Office Assistant 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 Office Assistant 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.
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.
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.
Use strong action verbs, accompanied with relevant metrics, to demonstrate skills that are relevant to supporting a CEO. Executive assistants to CEOs must wear a variety of hats and be quick on their feet. Use such verbs as “liaised”, “collaborated”, and “oversaw” to demonstrate such abilities.
As the name indicates, dental office managers are specifically experienced with working in a dental office setting. Like medical office managers, they’ll be accustomed to handling patient information and administering paperwork. You should demonstrate your experience with the work by emphasizing appropriate office manager skills and starting each bullet point with a strong action verb.
Hiring managers will be looking for experience with overseeing dental offices, insurance verification processes, and working with patient charts. Each one of your accomplishments as an office manager should be directly related to the position. If you have worked in other industries or fields, try to tie in your past work with the duties of an office manager whenever possible.
By starting each one of your accomplishments with a powerful action verb, you’ll be relating that you have familiarity with the office manager position. Your bullet points should lead with words like “organized”, “conducted”, “managed”, or “calculated” (see below for more examples) to hit home that you’re right for the position.
Medical office managers will have experience working with patient records, patient scheduling, office finances, and insurance verification, along with a host of other specialized tasks. Accuracy and attention to detail are more important than ever in this role, and so it helps to provide the scope and scale of your background in the medical industry with quantifiable data points and specific skills.
To indicate the impact you were able to make at your previous employers, or to relate how many patients or staff you’ve worked with, you’ll want to include numerical values in every accomplishment. It makes a much bigger impression to say that you handled payroll for 500 staff members than to state that your responsibilities included timely payroll management.
While you may have experience in other fields, you should keep the hiring manager focused on your medical office manager background. You can do this by ensuring that your accomplishments consistently reference working with patients and physicians. If you have worked in other fields, aim to reference the transferable skills (such as team management) whenever possible.
Front office managers are focused on staff management, typically in hotel settings or similar scenarios where the daily operations of a business will come down to your expertise. You can make a potent impression by starting your resume with a short summary or introduction. Adding in volunteer work or relevant certifications will further lend to your credibility as being involved in the front office management role.
As a front office manager, you’ll often be among the first points of contact for clients or customers. First impressions - whether for the business or for yourself - are important, and so it helps to start your resume with a short, succinct summary that conveys your experience, your skills, and, when possible, numerical values to back it up.
If you are an active volunteer, then you’ll want to include the pro bono work that you’ve done (along with how many hours you contribute on a regular basis). This helps hiring managers see that you have a commitment to your community’s success. Additionally, any recent certifications that are relevant for office manager work should be listed in a sidebar to give a quick impression of your accredited skills.
A back-office employee works in non-client-facing jobs such as HR, IT, accounting, administration, and records, among others. So, depending on their area of specialization, the skills and knowledge expected of back-office employees vary. For example, an HR officer and a company accountant possess different sets of skills despite both being back-office. This resume showcases a back-office employee's experience in multitasking and performing administrative roles. The applicant is mainly focused on showing their administrative and customer service skills. The resume also shines light on the impact of the applicant's work.
A wide variety of technical skills is necessary for a job applicant seeking a back-office role. These employees are usually assigned a wide range of tasks that require a host of technical skills. So, showcasing proficiency in skills like MS Project, Office Suite, Google docs, Switchboard, etc., can add value to your back office resume.
A back-office manager is responsible for work performed by back-office employees. The back-office manager often supervises other back-office employees in entry-level to mid-level positions. While the professional background for back-office managers can be any relevant course, they are mostly sourced from engineering, business management, accounting, or mathematics fields. Back-office managers are usually excellent communicators, thanks to the nature of their work. A back-office manager's resume for a professional with 10+ years of experience should focus on the impact of their work. This means demonstrating the effect of your actions on, say, a company's bottom line, departmental efficiency, etc. This helps the hiring manager assess the value you will add to their company if they hire you.
As a professional supervising numerous, often-times unrelated tasks across different back-office departments, demonstrating that you're up to the task is essential. Point out in your back-office manager resume your ability to manage cross-functional teams and oversee numerous business processes. Being able to work across different time zones is also a valuable skill.
A back-office manager role is a senior role, so you need to demonstrate initiative and leadership. The ability to maximize business processes and performance improvement initiatives will hinge on previous exposure and familiarity with such duties. A career with an upward trajectory showing transition from junior to senior roles will inspire confidence in your professional abilities.
Some effective Office Assistant skills you can add to your resume include:
Popular skills we often see on resumes for Medical Office Assistant positions include:
In comparison, skills we see on Business Office Assistant resumes include:
Depending on the specific role you apply to, you may need to emphasize different skill sets. Here are a few examples:
Soft skills like Phone Etiquette, Time Management, Teamwork, Public Speaking and Organization Skills are essential for Office Assistant roles and jobs.
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.
