Secretary Resume Example
Are you a highly organized secretary looking for a new challenge? Our free downloadable secretary resume example and writing tips will help you prove to hiring managers that you would be invaluable to their business.
We provide other resume template options on our site if this template isn’t your favorite.
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Copy-paste Secretary Resume (Text Format)
FIRST AND LAST NAME
Email: your.email@email.com
Phone: (123) 456-7891
Address: Street, City, State
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yourprofile
Resume Summary
- Management: 10+ years of experience supporting high-level executives and managing administrative departments
- Leadership: Trained and supervised more than 25 administrative staff over a 5-year period to aid firm expansion
- Microsoft Office: Possess MOS Expert Certification
- Initiative: Executed an environmental initiative that saved over $4500 in office supplies costs
Professional Experience
- Maintain partners’ schedules, keep accurate records, and organize travel arrangements
- Manage office organization and general workflow from supporting staff members
- Trained and supervised more than 25 administrative staff over the past 5 years during firm expansion
- Spearheaded the “Go Green” initiative, which reduced office paper use by 85% and saved roughly $4500 over 2 years
- Maintained confidentiality of highly sensitive corporate and financial resources
- Streamlined process for handling administrative correspondence, leading to a 25% efficiency increase
- Prepared detailed bi-weekly reports for firm partners
- Booked external conference facilities and saved the company over $500 a month by researching new venues
- Recorded, transcribed, and distributed minutes of daily meetings
- Answered, screened, and directed phone calls to the appropriate departments using a multi-line system
- Maintained supplies of office equipment and ordered new stationery on a monthly basis
- Performed administrative duties including photocopying and filing while greeting visitors and responding to queries
Education
May 2020
Microsoft Office Certification
MOS Expert
2010 – 2012
Beal College, ME
Secretarial Science
May 2010
Camden Hills High, Rockport
High School Diploma
Relevant Skills
- Communication
- Organization
- Active Listening
- Office Suite
- Time Management
- Attention to Detail
- Multitasking
- Slack
Average secretary salaries in the US
The following table includes information from O*NET Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. The data is presented based on the top states in the USA.
Average secretary annual salaries by state
State | Salary / Year |
---|---|
California | $50,220 |
New York | $47,960 |
Texas | $40,440 |
Florida | $40,570 |
Pennsylvania | $42,010 |
Illinois | $45,920 |
Ohio | $42,360 |
Georgia | $37,990 |
North Carolina | $42,140 |
Michigan | $42,710 |
National Average | $42,931 |
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. Use keywords 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 keywords in the job description will immediately let employers know that you possess the right qualifications, giving you an advantage over other candidates applying for the role.
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.
Administrative assistant skills are largely similar to those for a secretary, so consider adding some of them to your skills section.
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:
Secretary Soft Skills | Secretary Hard Skills |
---|---|
Professionalism | Microsoft Office |
Communication skills | Language skills |
Organizational skills | Office equipment maintenance |
Adaptability | Multi-line phone systems |
Time management | Data entry |
Attention to detail | Productivity/collaboration tools (e.g. Slack) |
Interpersonal skills | Computer skills |
Problem-solving skills | Database management |
Multitasking | Spreadsheet software |
Initiative | Digital calendars |
If you have any additional qualifications that bolster your expertise, you can include them in your skills section or in your education section. For example, IT certificates, community college degrees, or transferable competencies such as Teeline shorthand.
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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