Administrative Resume Skills: Best Keywords and Examples

Use a simple, clean format that highlights your skills and experiences. Focus on readability by using bullet points and short phrases to present your skills. Properly organize your resume into education, experience, and skills sections.

“Adding a skills section to your resume is a great way to draw the recruiter’s attention to your most relevant strengths and competencies.”

– Ashley Watkins, NCRW, NCOPE, Job Search Coach

For example, accounting resume bullet points might look like this:

• Provided daily administrative support to a 10-person executive team, including document preparation, email management, and meeting logistics.
• Oversaw onboarding processes for 20+ new hires, ensuring timely access to systems and resources.
• Arranged domestic and international travel for 12 executives, optimizing itineraries to reduce total travel time by 20%.
• Proactively flagged scheduling conflicts and adjusted priorities to maintain executive availability for key meetings.
• Analyzed vendor contracts and suggested a change that saved the company $10K annually.
• Scheduled 50+ meetings weekly for multiple departments, reducing missed appointments by 90%.
• Tracked and reported department expenses monthly, identifying areas to cut costs by 12%.

Hitting all the top job requirements with your skills list will help you rank highly for a keyword search within an applicant tracking system. But don’t stop there. Add context for every skill elsewhere in your work experience.

If a recruiter is excited by your customer service skills, for example, the first thing they’ll do is skim your work experience to figure out when, how, and how much you used that skill.

As you list your responsibilities, it’s also important to highlight your specific achievements wherever you can.

“For soft skills, it’s often more effective to demonstrate them in the context of your past work experience. Instead of merely stating “excellent team player”, you are better off saying “collaborated with a cross-functional team of 6 on a new product launch that boosted sales by 30% in one year”. Examples of specific accomplishments or business outcomes speak louder than buzzwords.”

– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor

For example, if you increased sales, be sure to mention that accomplishment.

Instead of saying,

“Responsible for arranging domestic and international travel for executives.”

You could say,

“Arranged domestic and international travel for 12 executives, optimizing itineraries to reduce total travel time by 20%.”

This demonstrates your level of expertise with the skills you listed. It gives the recruiter more reason to be interested in you as a result.

If you’re applying for a role requiring a broad skillset, categorize your skills.

“If you opt to include a designated skills section on your resume, include up to 10 of your core competencies. Excessive skills lists are overwhelming and sometimes confusing to the reader.”

– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter

For example, someone applying for a role as an accountant might benefit from segmenting their skill lists as follows:

• Coordination & Logistics
  • Travel Management
  • Management
  • Business
• Financial
  • Financial
  • Accounting
  • Reporting
• Technology
  • Microsoft Office

Use numbers to quantify your accomplishments wherever possible. This helps potential employers understand your abilities and the impact you can have on their organization.

“Recruiters and hiring managers are looking for relevancy of how and when you applied those skills, so provide examples of this in your experience section. Bonus tip: Don’t just insert the skill like a task–include results.”

– Kelli Hrivnak, Marketing and Tech Recruiter

Instead of saying,

“Implemented a shared digital filing system.”

You could say,

“Streamlined office procedures by implementing a shared digital filing system, reducing document retrieval time by 40%.”

By using numbers, you give hiring managers a better sense of your value.

Read the description carefully and emphasize the relevant skills and experiences. Highlight the skills that the employer seeks and provide examples of how you’ve used those skills in your previous roles. Doing so can demonstrate that you’re a strong fit for the position and increase your chances of being invited to an interview.

“The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach doesn’t work when it comes to your resume. For every job application, tailor your skill set to match the job description. Most companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that filter candidates based on keywords and skills listed in the job description. So, research the role you’re applying for and distill the skills required.”

– Ana Lokotkova, Career Coach and Advisor

In order to do this, “you must first understand what skills are most important for the target role,” says Ashley Watkins.

Sample job description

We are looking for a highly organized and detail-oriented Administrative Assistant to support day-to-day office operations. This role involves managing schedules, coordinating meetings, handling internal and external communication, maintaining records, and supporting the team with various administrative tasks. The ideal candidate is proactive, tech-savvy, and thrives in a fast-paced environment.

Tailored resume description:

• Managed complex calendars and scheduled 50+ meetings per month for executives and department leads.
• Coordinated travel logistics for multi-city business trips, reducing booking errors and saving the company 15% in travel costs.
• Created and maintained filing systems (digital and physical), improving document retrieval time by 40%.
• Processed expense reports and managed departmental budgets using Excel and accounting software.
• Served as the first point of contact for office inquiries, resolving issues and improving internal response times by 25%.

“Focus on the sought-after and in demand skills. A great way to figure out what is currently in demand is by researching current job openings from your preferred companies and reading through the posting. Pay close attention to the preferred requirements section and build your skills section based on this list.”

– Chelsea Jay, Career & Leadership Development Coach – Seasoned and Growing

Start each bullet point with an action verb. An action verb expresses an action, such as “create,” “build,” “manage,” “lead,” or “implement.”

Action verbs grab the reader’s attention and paint a vivid picture of what you accomplished at work.

Action verbs make your resume more interesting to read. They also show the kind of can-do attitude that employers are looking for.