7 Executive Assistant Resume Examples for 2022

Correct Format for Your Executive Assistant Resume

When you're writing your resume, the format you use is essential. Good formatting ensures that your executive assistant resume is complete, has a logical flow, and is easy to read. Without the right format, businesses may not give you an interview.

Let’s take a comprehensive look at what it takes to properly format your executive assistant resume:

• Reverse-chronological format, functional format, and combination/hybrid format
• Where to place name and contact information
• Be smarter than the ATS

Reverse-chronological format, functional format, and combination/hybrid format

There are three primary resume formats you can use when creating an executive assistant resume:

• Reverse-chronological format: This format emphasizes your experience and employment, which allows companies to see your career progression.
• Functional format: This format focuses on the skills that ensure you qualify for a job as an executive assistant, which also helps to mitigate issues with employment gaps.
• Combination/hybrid format: This format combines the reverse-chronological format and functional format by placing equal focus on employment history and skills.

While all three resume formats have their advantages, the reverse-chronological format is the top choice for an executive assistant resume. Along with being the most popular resume format across most industries, it's also preferred by the majority of employers because it makes your work history easy to skim.

Where to place name and contact information

Your name and contact info should be the first pieces of information you place in your resume. Without it, you won't be able to get either good or bad news regarding your job application!

Start by positioning your name at the top of the page in a large font size. While your choice of font is up to you on a resume template, if you’re building your resume in word processing software, use either Times New Roman, Cambria, Calibri, or Arial font. Underneath your name, include the title of the job you’re seeking in a slightly smaller font. If you choose to include color, including it in your name or job title would be appropriate.

As for your contact details, place the following details on the left or right side of the page near your name and job title:

• Your name
• Executive assistant title 
• Email 
• Phone number
• Location (city and state is fine)
• Possible LinkedIn profile 

Your contact details should be between 10-12 pt font to be easy to read.

While the contact information you include in your executive assistant resume is pretty straightforward, you can be creative in how you include it. Here is just one sample of how you can format your header and contact information:

Be smarter than the ATS

Many companies receive dozens (or even hundreds) of executive assistant applications and resumes, which means it's practically impossible for recruiters to read every resume. Because of this, most businesses use applicant tracking system (ATS) software.

This system is designed to sort resumes by searching for keywords and scanning resume formatting. Any resume that makes it through the ATS without being discarded will then be reviewed by a recruiter. So, to get an executive assistant job, you must pass the ATS scan.

While you can tackle this yourself, it's often easiest to use Word resume templates or Google Docs resume templates to help you choose content and organize your information quickly.

Writing Your Executive Assistant Resume Like a Pro

Even though the idea of writing a resume for an executive assistant position might seem insurmountable, you can avoid a lot of stress by doing some simple research about what to include on a resume. 

You've come to the perfect place to learn more about resume sections. In this section, we'll cover: 

• Objective or summary
• Job history
• Key executive assistant skills 
• Education
• Projects, interests, and hobbies
• Customizing your resume 
• Proofreading your resume

When do you need an objective or summary?

When writing your executive assistant resume, you can decide to add an objective or summary. These optional sections give recruiters a sense of who you are without them needing to read your entire resume. However, they may not be in your best interest, depending on your situation.

The following takes a look at a poorly written objective as well as a poorly written summary.

Objective: Would like to obtain a job as an executive assistant as the next step in my career.

Summary: Have extensive experience as an assistant and receptionist.

These statements are vague and fail to provide recruiters with any value. They distract from the core components of the resume and may cause an employer to discard your resume before they've even read it entirely.

Instead, an objective like the following would work much better: 

Analytical and detail-oriented executive assistant with 5+ years of experience in helping high-level executives within Fortune 500 companies. Searching for a unique opportunity to assist the CEO of Fiori Financial Group by completing ad-hoc special projects, boosting shareholder value, and enhancing employee efficiency and procedures.

And a summary like this one is effective: 

Meticulous and results-driven executive assistant with more than 15 years of administrative experience managing office operations for presidents and CEOs. From data entry, presentations, customer support, scheduling appointments, arranging itineraries, and more, I am eager to share my talent for combining administrative knowledge with business objectives to boost efficiency and conserve time at a proactive financial company like Stockd Group.

These examples provide recruiters with metrics and valuable information that they can use when trying to select the right hire. Both the sample objective and summary demonstrate specific skills and are customized to the particular role. 

Job history

Your work experience is the most important section of your executive assistant resume. You should include two to four job experiences pertaining to the executive assistant field.

However, if you've held more than four jobs, focus on the last 10 years of experience. If you have an ample amount of experience in that timeframe, include the experience that's most relevant to the job position.

Conversely, if you’re seeking an entry-level role, you may be short on experience. In this case, consider adding projects, which we’ll discuss a bit later.

How to write job bullet points

Your job history should be written in bullet points, which allows you to focus on the most relevant information. Start by using active language instead of passive language.

For instance, "the cashier sorted the money" is an example of the active voice.

However, "the money was sorted by the cashier" is an example of passive voice.

Which is easier and more pleasant to read? Active voice conveys a clear and strong voice that works well on resumes (and in any type of writing, really).

We'd also recommend avoiding personal pronouns and ending periods. Additionally, make sure that you use the past tense for your work history. (Even if you're currently in a position, past tense is the most accepted verb tense for resumes.) 

With that information at hand, you’re ready to write your job description bullet points! Well, almost.

Above all, avoid writing bullet points that are vague and underwhelming like the ones here:

• Performed customer service 5 days each week
• Used different technology and software for documentation
• Performed demanding tasks when working for the CEO

These bullet points don't lack quantifiable data and are too short to provide value to recruiters. Beyond that, they don’t go beyond typical job duties, and even what’s listed is awful blah. You should be detail-oriented with your work experience bullet points:

• Completed follow-ups with all contacts made by the CEO, and supported the development of ongoing relationships by making at least 30 calls every week
• Efficiently performed various accounting activities that included expense reports, invoices, financial documents, and purchase orders weekly
• Improved productivity rates by 23% between 2018 and 2020 by providing continual reports on product issues and operational concerns

These work experience bullet points are effective because they contain verifiable details as well as metrics that tell recruiters how much value you could potentially add to their company.

Add numbers to demonstrate your impact

As we've mentioned, it's highly recommended that you add numbers and data to demonstrate the impact you’ve had in previous jobs. Recruiters want to know how hiring you would benefit the company, which is easy to show when you provide quantifiable information about your work experience.

These metrics could include anything from boosting revenue by a certain percentage to improving efficiency at a specific rate. The following offers a few examples of how you can place metrics into your job description bullet points:

• Performed 10-20 check requests every week as part of accounting activities
• Managed all international and domestic travel reservations, which reduced company travel expenses by 15%
• Improved office efficiency by 20% by transforming the company's primary filing system, which also resulted in reducing paper usage by 63%

Key executive assistant skills to include on your resume

When you're building your resume, the skills section of your resume is essential if you want to show recruiters why they should hire you.

Keep in mind that the ATS looks at your skills to determine if you're a good applicant. Write between six to 10 skills in your list, and include a combination of soft skills and hard skills.

Soft skills are universal and can be placed on any resume. However, they're more difficult to measure. Examples of soft skills include adaptability, time management, and communication.

Hard skills are more important for executive assistant resumes because they're specific to the job, easy to define, and measurable. Some of the hard skills you might consider placing on your executive assistant resume include Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and expense reports. 

The purpose of your skills section is to quickly show the company what you offer and the technologies you know how to use. Since you shouldn’t include a laundry list of skills on your resume, search for keywords within executive assistant job descriptions. You should be able to find the exact skills recruiters are seeking. 

One quick word about this, though: never lie and claim you’ve mastered a skill when you haven’t. If none of the skills in the job description sound like you, it’s probably a sign that’s not the job for you. Keep searching for other jobs that better match your skills (we know there's something amazing out there you simply haven't found yet). 

Education

An executive assistant role is one of those jobs where the education level required can really vary. Some employers may request at least an associate’s degree while others will want a bachelor’s.

Even still, some employers will be just fine with a high school diploma. While every employer has different requirements for the level of education and experience they want from potential hires, some basic pieces of information should be provided on every resume. 

When it comes to listing your education, there’s no need to give an abundance of information unless you are newly graduated and need to use your education as a means to demonstrate your capabilities. Otherwise, you should just include the university name, degree, and graduation year. If you hold an associate or bachelor’s degree, you don't need to list your high school diploma.

Should you add projects, interests, and hobbies?

Although most resumes don't include information about projects, hobbies, or interests, there are times when you may benefit from adding this information.

If you lack lengthy work history or have just graduated from college, adding projects and interests is a great way to show that you have what it takes to be an executive assistant, even if you don't have the work experience.

The key for adding projects or interests and hobbies is that you should be able to intelligently discuss its relevance to the executive assistant role in an interview. 

For example, if you listed “backpacking in the Pacific Northwest” or “mastering woodwork” as interests and hobbies on your resume, they may seem unrelated to assisting the CEO. However, this demonstrates your ability to plan and organize your own trips and itineraries. Mastering woodwork could showcase your ability to persevere through tedious and challenging tasks, particularly new tasks. 

Projects can be treated more like work experience. This could be volunteer work or even a creative project you took on for a friend or family member.

As long as it reasonably demonstrates relevancy to the executive assistant role you’re seeking, this can be an excellent way to create bullet points that prove your value when you’re lacking traditional work experience. 

Customizing your executive assistant resume to each role

It's important to customize your resume for the specific role for which you're applying. When you send in a resume for a job as an executive assistant, the information you include shouldn't apply to just any type of assistant or receptionist position.

Recruiters who are searching for the right hires want someone who can handle the extra demands that come with being an assistant to high-level executives and CEOs.

Luckily, you don't have to rewrite your entire resume. Simply change keywords and some responsibilities in the objective/summary section, your work experience bullet points, and your skills section.

Proofreading your resume

Just when you thought you were done, there's one last step. This specific tip is probably the easiest to follow, yet also the most overlooked.

As an executive assistant, there’s no doubt your attention-to-detail and writing abilities are top of the line; however, there's always a possibility that you've made a typo, punctuation, or grammar error. These mistakes are simple to rectify as long as you check your completed executive assistant resume for errors before sending it in.

Give your eyes a break for a day or two before proofreading. Additionally, ask some friends or family members look at your executive assistant resume to gain other opinions and perspectives.

Score Your Next Big Break

All that's left is to actually write your executive assistant resume now. Now that you know the right approach when it comes to formatting and writing it, you’ll be well on your way to:

• Formatting for success and beating the ATS
• Writing to prove value in every facet of your resume, which includes everything from your job history to relevant interests and hobbies
• Customizing your resume for every job application
• Proofreading for errors

Congratulations on making it through this guide. We’re hopeful that with our tips, you’ll spend less time building your resume and more time answering phone calls and emails from recruiters who want to interview you!