Personal Assistant Resume

No two days are the same for a personal assistant, and the daily routine—as well as the working environment—will vary depending on your boss’s needs.

That said, some aspects of being a personal assistant are universal. Your resume needs to show you have the necessary experience and skills to successfully fulfill the responsibilities of a personal assistant if you want a hiring manager to call you in for an interview.

For help getting started writing your personal assistant resume, check out our four professional writing tips below.

1. Start with a well-written resume introduction

Many job candidates think you make your first impression at the job interview. However, it really begins when you start your resume.

You’ll need to include a well-written resume introduction that grabs the hiring manager’s attention away from the dozens of other applications on their desk.

The two most popular resume introductions are the resume summary and resume objective, and which one you choose to write will come down to one main factor: your length of experience.

Simply put, if you’re an entry-level personal assistant (possibly a recent graduate or just getting started in the workforce), writing a resume objective is best for you.

That’s because a resume objective focuses on your relevant skills and qualifications as a personal assistant, while also highlighting your career goals and (most importantly) how you’ll help the company achieve their goals.

Here’s an example of a personal assistant resume objective for an entry-level candidate:

Recent Bachelor’s in Management graduate with excellent interpersonal, writing, and communication skills gathered while interning for

Meanwhile, a resume summary is meant for candidates that already have some work experience. When writing a resume summary, you’ll want to highlight your experience and qualifications, but you should also include a career achievement that you think will impress the hiring manager.

Here’s an example of a well-written personal assistant resume summary:

Professional and organized personal assistant with 5+ years of experience attending to C-suite executives’ needs. Possess expertise in project management, scheduling, and steller written and verbal communication skills. In-depth experience using organizational software, including Microsoft Access and Google Calendar. Spearheaded a new 10-minute meeting initiative that increased the current CEO’s productivity and reduced wasted time by 7%.

2. Use the job description to your advantage

Before writing your personal assistant resume, it’s essential to review the job description online to understand exactly what qualifications and skills the company is looking for in a candidate.

When reading the job description, scan for skill-related keywords scattered throughout the duties and responsibilities section.

These keywords give you a clear idea of what types of hard and soft skills the employer is looking for and the type of experience they want.

Additionally, including skill-related keywords on your resume is especially important if you’re applying to jobs through a recruiter or large company. That’s because many larger employers use applicant tracking system (ATS) software to sift through job applicants.

If ATS software doesn’t detect the keywords it’s looking for on your resume, your application could be rejected before being seen by an actual hiring manager.

Ensure you write an ATS-friendly resume for a personal assistant position that includes relevant keywords, so that you can tell (a real person) why you’re the best person for the job.

Here’s an example of a personal assistant job description, with ATS keywords highlighted:

3. Include necessary personal assistant skills

Personal assistants need to have a good mix of hard and soft skills to perform their jobs correctly, and your resume will need to reflect that by having a well-rounded skills section.

A good personal assistant will need hard skills to meet the demands of managing their boss’s busy schedule. For example, you should use your resume to emphasize your management and accounting skills, as well as your excellent note-taking, reporting, and typing abilities.

Personal assistants also use various computer programs to manage their boss’s schedule and work life, and you should list examples of the relevant software programs you’re proficient in.

As far as soft skills are concerned, personal assistants need excellent interpersonal skills to deal with other working professionals to schedule meetings, document notes, and organize travel dates.

Time management is another great soft skill to list as a personal assistant. While a bit of an overstated skill in other fields, having great time management is essential as a personal assistant to deal with all the administrative tasks that come your way every day.

Here’s an example of a well-rounded skills section on a personal assistant resume:

• Oral & written communication
• Microsoft Access
• Google Calendar
• Time management
• Interpersonal skills
• Organizational skills
• MS suite (Excel, Outlook,
  PowerPoint)

4. Add hard numbers to your work experience

Hiring managers want to hire the best personal assistant for the job, and you’ll need to show you’re the best candidate by showing employers what you can accomplish. The best way to do this is by using hard numbers in your work experience bullet points.

Hard numbers are essential to use when including accomplishments and achievements on your personal assistant resume, because they’re a great measurement for the hiring manager to gauge how much you contributed to your previous employer.

Listing hard numbers on your resume also provides better context and clarity about what you’re capable of, as opposed to simply stating what your duties and responsibilities were.

Here’s an example of how to use hard numbers to highlight your personal assistant accomplishments: