Executive Assistant Resume Examples and Template

When you're applying for executive assistant jobs, prospective employers may ask you to submit a resume as part of your application materials. Understanding how to write an executive assistant resume that aligns with the hiring manager's job description can improve your chances of advancing to further rounds of the application process. In this article, we discuss what to include on your executive assistant resume, offer tips for crafting this professional document and provide two resume samples to help you craft your own. When you're ready to start applying for executive assistant roles, you can upload a resume file or build an Indeed Resume to improve the efficiency of your job search. To upload the template into Google Docs, go to File > Open > and select the correct downloaded file.

What to include in an executive assistant resume

Here are the different sections to write on your executive assistant resume:

Contact information

Place your contact details at the top of your executive assistant resume. Contact information includes your full name, email address, phone number and the city, state and zip code of where you live. Use a professional email address, such as one that contains your first and last name or initials, from a reputable email provider. Related: Learn About Being an Executive Assistant

Professional summary

Compose a professional summary that briefly highlights your primary qualifications for the open executive assistant position. A professional summary can make it easier for prospective employers to quickly learn about your skills or experiences most relevant to their executive assistant role. Keep your professional summary approximately two or three sentences long. Related: 15 Examples of an Executive Assistant Resume Objective

Education

Add a section for your educational experiences and credentials. Most executive assistants possess a high school diploma or an equivalent like a GED, but others may decide to pursue advanced education, such as a bachelor's degree in business. For each of your educational experiences, specify what type of credentials you earned, such as whether it's a degree or diploma, and the institution where you earned the credential. If you graduated within the last three years, include the year that you completed the educational program. Related: How To Write a Resume Education Summary (With Examples and Tips)

Experience

Create a section for your professional experiences, such as jobs and internships. For each of your professional experiences, write the name of the position you held, the name of the company where you worked and the dates of your employment. Beneath that information, make a bulleted list of your fundamental responsibilities or key accomplishments within that position. If you have little to no experience as an executive assistant, focus on highlighting your previous or current professional experiences that helped you hone transferrable skills, meaning abilities that can benefit you in a range of roles and industries. For example, if you have experience in the service industry, you could emphasize on your resume how those jobs taught you organization and interpersonal abilities. Professionals with more experience as executive assistants or in related roles might consider listing either only their most relevant professional experiences or the positions they've held within the last decade. Related: 15 KPIs for Executive Assistants to Measure (With Examples)

Skills

Create a section for the hard and soft skills you possess for an executive assistant position. Hard skills are abilities and sets of knowledge that you can develop through studying or training, such as data entry or file management. By contrast, soft skills are personality characteristics and behaviors that can affect your conduct at work, like communication or self-direction. Related: Executive Assistant Cover Letter Examples and Templates

Certifications

Include a section for any certifications you've earned or are currently working toward related to being an executive assistant. While not required for most executive assistant roles, having one or more professional certifications may help distinguish you as a job candidate to prospective employers. Aspiring or current executive assistants who decide to earn certifications often do so in a field such as administration, filing management or basic technology skills like spreadsheets. Related: How To List Certifications on a Resume (With Examples)

Tips for composing an executive assistant resume

Here's some advice to help you write your resume for open executive assistant roles:

Pick a suitable format

Choose a resume template or format that can best showcase your key or most relevant qualifications for the open executive assistant role. The ideal resume format for an executive assistant can vary based on factors like their experience in that role or in related positions. For example, an executive assistant with more experience might use a chronological resume template to highlight their responsibilities and accomplishments within previous executive assistant jobs. In comparison, an aspiring executive assistant with less experience may prefer to use a functional resume that emphasizes their transferrable and soft skills. Related: Top Resume Formats: Tips and Examples of 3 Common Resumes

Follow formatting conventions

Before you start writing your executive assistant resume, set up your word processing software to follow resume formatting conventions. Setting up your formatting ahead of time can help you see how your resume might appear to a hiring manager as you compose it. Formatting conventions for resumes include elements such as:

Using one-inch margins on all sides
Picking a professional font that's easy to read, like Garamond or Times New Roman
Labeling the different parts of your resume with clear section headers
Writing the body of your resume in an 11- or 12-point font with slightly larger lettering for the section headers

Use action words

Incorporate action words into the experience section of your executive assistant resume. Action words are verbs that can help create an image in a prospective employer's mind about your responsibilities, skills and accomplishments as an executive assistant or in related positions. You can use these words in the bulleted list of your duties in current or previous roles. Some action words that you may want to include in your executive assistant resume include:

Organize
Delegate
Schedule
Coordinate
Resolve
Document
Establish
Support
Manage
Develop
Supervise

Include data and details

When possible, include specific details or quantitative data in your professional experience section. Including details or numerical figures on your resume can give prospective employers a deeper understanding of your accomplishments in past roles. Details or data that executive assistants might add to their resumes include filing statistics, document management strategies, software programs and numbers from efficiency reports. Related: Executive Assistant Cover Letter Examples and Templates

Consider adding sections

Think about including additional sections on your executive assistant resume. Depending on your unique qualifications for the executive assistant job you're applying to, you might want to add other sections to your resume to highlight your unique skills, experiences or accomplishments. Additional sections that some executive assistants add to their resumes include:

Volunteer experience: Adding a section for volunteer experiences to your resume can help you demonstrate soft skills like compassion and time management. This may be an especially useful section to add if you're a recent high school graduate or new to being an executive assistant.
Languages: Some executive assistants might interact with clients, vendors or company executives who speak different languages. If you're proficient in writing or speaking another language, consider including a section to explain which one and your ability level.