Secretary Resume Examples & Writing Tips

Secretary resume template

Tips for writing a secretary resume

Skilled secretaries are vital to the operations of any company or business. If you possess the necessary organization and communication skills, it can be a rewarding career path – one that allows you to provide key support to diverse projects in a variety of industries.

But to land the most desirable roles, you need to demonstrate to hiring managers that you are a competent and personable employee who’d be beneficial to the operation of their business.

Here are four tips to help you write a secretarial resume that is sure to impress:

1. Add skills and requirements from the job description

The point of writing a secretary resume is to convince employers that you are the best fit for their office. They want to know that you have exceptional administrative skills and the ability to run a front desk efficiently.

One of the best ways to impress employers with your qualifications is to check the job description in the ad to find out exactly what qualities they’re looking for. Then, use that information to write your resume.

Here’s an example of a secretary job description from an ad, with relevant keywords underlined in blue:

Here’s an example of how you can tailor your secretary work experience section to match the job description:

Using the skills and requirements from the job description will immediately let employers know that you have the right qualifications, giving you an advantage over other candidates applying for the role.

Finally, here are the most common skills and requirements from real secretary job descriptions:

2. Quantify your achievements

Secretaries must be capable of supporting management and potentially entire teams, however when writing your resume it’s best to focus on the projects you were responsible for and the results you delivered.

To show employers what you were personally responsible for achieving, you should focus on specific accomplishments in your resume, with each example backed up with hard numbers. This is known as quantification, and is an effective way to prove that you’re able to achieve results rather than just complete tasks.

On our secretary resume example, the candidate has several noteworthy accomplishments in their current role and describes them using numbers, percentages, time frames, and dollars:

Even though our candidate’s role is to support executives, they demonstrate that they can also proactively contribute to the company’s bottom line by leading and executing programs within their role, such as implementing environmental measures that cut costs.

In addition, by stating the number of staff they trained, our candidate is providing evidence of their skills. This signals to hiring managers that they can back up their claims and will be able to effectively fill the secretary role.

If you don’t have any big wins to focus on, don’t worry – you can still quantify your daily duties if you’re just starting out in the workplace.

Here’s an example of how you can quantify your job duties, even for a minor achievement:

Maintained supplies of office equipment and ordered new stationery on a monthly basis

This is a straightforward office duty made quantifiable through the addition of a time frame. Don’t make the same mistake as many candidates and simply list your responsibilities. Ensure that you quantify them to make the best impression possible.

3. Highlight relevant secretary skills on your resume

Secretaries are required to perform a wide variety of administrative tasks, so it’s important that you use your resume to demonstrate that you have the skills necessary to do the job well.

You should aim for a good mix of hard and soft skills. Soft skills are personality traits that determine how you relate to others, whereas hard skills are industry-specific skills acquired through training.

If you’re writing a secretary resume with no experience and lack secretarial hard skills, then you should focus on your transferable soft skills. Qualities such as the ability to organize and communicate are what make the most successful secretaries, and employers may be willing to overlook your lack of experience if you have a strong set of relevant soft skills.

Here are 20 secretary skills for your resume:

4. Write a strong resume introduction

Hiring managers can reportedly judge a resume in 6 seconds by looking at the introduction and scanning for keywords. Therefore, you should maximize your chances of your application making it to the interview stage by writing a memorable and concise opening.

To quickly showcase your accomplishments and experience as a secretary, we recommend you write a resume summary.

A resume summary is a concise statement at the top of your resume that provides an overview of your relevant qualifications, certifications, and career achievements. Think of your summary as a highlights reel for your resume, showing employers your most marketable experience as a secretary right at the top of the page.

Here’s an example of a resume summary that properly highlights the candidate’s achievements and experience as a secretary:

Notice that this resume summary features a variety of accomplishments backed up with hard numbers, helping to illustrate the impact the candidate had at their previous job. By using numbers to showcase your achievements in this way, you increase the chances that hiring managers will find your resume compelling and memorable.

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Average secretary salaries in the US

After you’ve written your resume, make sure you use it to apply for jobs within a fair salary range.

The following table includes information from the most recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report (May 2024). Here are the ten states with the highest salaries for secretaries, as well as the national average for your reference when applying for work.