Administrative Assistant · Resume tailoring
Tailor your administrative assistant resume to the job description
Administrative postings are screened almost entirely on named duties and named software. "Handled the office" matches nothing; "managed executive calendars in Outlook and coordinated travel for a team of 40" matches several required lines at once. Below are the term groups admin postings actually scan for, and how to rewrite everyday duties so they read as the role being hired for.
Check your ATS score freeKeywords administrative assistant postings screen for
Use these as a checklist against the posting in front of you. Only claim the terms that describe work you actually did — the rest belong on your learning list, not your resume.
Calendar & scheduling
- calendar management
- executive calendars
- meeting coordination
- travel arrangements
- expense reports
- conference room booking
- minute taking
Office coordination
- office management
- vendor coordination
- inventory and supplies ordering
- onboarding support
- front desk reception
- mail distribution
- event coordination
- records management
Software & systems
- Microsoft Office
- Outlook
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Google Workspace
- SharePoint
- Concur
- QuickBooks
- Salesforce
- DocuSign
Communication & accuracy
- correspondence drafting
- confidentiality
- data entry accuracy
- invoice processing
- purchase orders
- stakeholder communication
- prioritisation
Before and after bullet rewrites
Same experience, matched vocabulary. Nothing below invents a new employer, skill or credential — it renames real work in the language the posting uses.
Before
Responsible for the calendar of my manager.
After
Managed executive calendars in Outlook for three directors, scheduling 40+ weekly meetings across time zones and resolving conflicts before they reached the executives.
Why it scores higher: Names the software, the scope and the volume, so both the parser and the reader see the level you operated at.
Before
Did general office work and ordered supplies.
After
Ran office coordination for a 60-person site: vendor contacts, supplies inventory and ordering, and onboarding setup for new hires.
Why it scores higher: Turns vague duties into the exact phrases postings list — office coordination, vendor coordination, inventory, onboarding support.
Before
Helped with expenses and travel.
After
Booked domestic and international travel and processed monthly expense reports in Concur, keeping submissions within the two-week close deadline.
Why it scores higher: "Travel arrangements" and "expense reports" are literal screening terms, and naming Concur matches the systems line.
Before
Good with Excel.
After
Built Excel trackers with pivot tables and VLOOKUP to monitor departmental spend, replacing a manual weekly report.
Why it scores higher: Software skills score when tied to a task; a bare adjective adds no keyword weight.
ATS rules specific to administrative assistant resumes
- Match the posting's exact title — "Administrative Assistant", "Executive Assistant" and "Office Coordinator" are screened as different roles.
- Keep a plain-text Software section listing each tool by name; skill-rating graphics parse as nothing.
- Quantify the support scope: number of executives, team size, site headcount, meeting or invoice volume.
- Avoid two-column and table layouts — they are the most common cause of scrambled admin resumes.
- Mirror the posting's spelling of tool names, including "Microsoft Office" alongside "Word" and "Excel".
Frequently asked questions
- What keywords should an administrative assistant resume include?
- The duties and software named in the posting: calendar management, meeting coordination, travel arrangements, expense reports, office coordination and the exact tools such as Outlook, Excel, SharePoint or Concur. Aim to cover 70 percent or more of the required list truthfully.
- How do I show impact when the work is support work?
- Quantify scope and reliability rather than revenue: number of executives supported, meetings scheduled weekly, invoices processed monthly, or a manual process you replaced. Those numbers are what separate two otherwise identical admin resumes.
- Is an administrative assistant resume different from an executive assistant one?
- Yes. Executive assistant postings weight confidentiality, board or C-suite support and complex travel far more heavily. Reorder your summary and skills to lead with the terms in the posting you are applying to.
- Should I list Microsoft Office if the posting only says Excel?
- List both. Write the suite name once and then the specific applications, so you match whichever form the parser searches for without padding the resume.
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