Administrative Assistant Job Description for Resume

Administrative assistants are often the glue that holds an office together, ensuring that other employees always have what they need and keeping things running smoothly. Whether you’re a career administrative assistant, or you used your previous experience as an administrative assistant to pivot to a different career, the way you portray your previous experience on your resume can make or break your next job application. If you’re looking for administrative assistant descriptions for your resume, rest assured that you’ll find plenty of advice and examples here!

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Administrative Assistant Description for Resume

First of all, there are a few ground rules you should take into account when you begin writing your resume’s work experience section.

Keep this in mind: each job posting you see is, essentially, a company describing a problem they have. Your resume’s job is to explain how you’ll solve that problem. Read the job description carefully to determine what the “problem” is. For example, if you see a position for an administrative assistant that specifically requests experience with legal paperwork, you can probably safely assume that the office is interested in people with a baseline knowledge of legal paperwork. You can then use that information to customize your resume to demonstrate that you’re the best candidate for the role.

When writing your work experience, the most important thing to remember is to discuss results, not just your work responsibilities. Potential employers should already understand the day-to-day tasks you completed at your previous positions. What they’re actually interested in is what you achieved, and how it positively impacted the workplace. Your work experience section should be a place where you can brag as much as you want!

Administrative Assistant Description for Resume: Example One

Administrative Assistant | Whitefeather and Associates | 2016 - Present

• Acted as “front of house,” greeting and directing visitors and ensuring a positive first impression of the firm to encourage repeat business
• Managed team of attorney’s assistants, budgeting for firm events and supplies and maintaining relationships with vendors to ensure competitive prices

Why it works: An administrative assistant who's been working at the job for a long period of time likely has many different stories and examples about why they’re great at their job; the difficult part can be deciding what makes it onto the resume! This job description works well because it takes a few key moments in the applicant’s career that could easily be applied to a new position.

Administrative Assistant Description for Resume: Example Two

Administrative Assistant | Mountaintop Ltd. | 2018 - Present

• Responsible for annual office supply budget and maintenance, tracking inventory and cost and ordering as necessary, coming in an average of 11% under budget annually
• Organized internal meetings and annual off-site event, sourcing locations and vendors and organizing travel for C-suite employees from 8 countries

Why it works: Because administrative assistants do many different tasks each day, it can be difficult to decide which to include. If the “problem” this applicant gleaned from the job posting involved a lack of organizational help within the company, a job description like this demonstrates a wide range of responsibilities, while still using specific data to back up the applicant’s chops.

Administrative Assistant Description for Resume: Example Three

Administrative Assistant | Ethel Sands Elementary School | 2020 - Present

• Assisted with main office organization, workflow, and overall productivity as managing administrative assistant responsible for 2 additional administrative assistants
• Communicated with students age 3-14, as well as teachers, support staff, and parents, completing tasks from basic first aid to budget or curriculum inquiries

Why it works: Often, the location of your previous administrative assistant work experience can help you decide what to highlight in your job description. This applicant worked as an administrative assistant at an elementary school, meaning they have the opportunity to showcase their communication skills – speaking with a 3 year old is very different to speaking with their parents, for example – and management potential.