Executive Assistant Skills

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, an executive assistant’s bullet points might look like this:

• Provided comprehensive administrative support to the executive team, enhancing office efficiency
• Coordinated internal and external meetings with minimal schedule conflicts.
• Handled sensitive and confidential correspondence with discretion and professionalism.

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 calendar management in your skills section, they’ll first skim your work experience to figure out when, how, and how much you used that skill.

As an executive assistant, you must emphasize your skills and accomplishments in the work experience section of your resume. This will make you stand out to potential employers and show them you possess the expertise they seek.

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

Instead of saying,

“Made changes to travel plans,”

You could say,

“Successfully navigated last-minute changes to travel plans, ensuring minimal disruption to executives.”

Using these detailed and quantified statements, you can effectively highlight your administrative support skills and achievements, making your resume more attractive to potential employers.

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 instance, someone applying for the executive assistant role might benefit from segmenting their skill lists as follows:

Administrative Skills:

• Administrative Support: Provided comprehensive support to executives, including managing correspondence, organizing files, and assisting with time and daily management.
• Calendar Management: Expertly managed and coordinated executives’ schedules, ensuring efficient time use and avoiding scheduling conflicts.
• Attention to Detail: Ensured accuracy in all tasks, from correspondence to complex report preparation.

Technical Proficiency Skills:

• Microsoft Office: Demonstrated expertise in Microsoft Office Suite for creating professional documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.
• Excel: Leveraged advanced Excel skills for managing large data sets, providing actionable insights to executives, and streamlining data analysis.

Communication and Coordination Skills:

• Communication Skills: Maintained clear and effective communication with internal and external stakeholders, serving as the primary point of contact.
• Scheduling: Coordinated schedules effectively for a team of executives, optimizing productivity.

Travel and Logistics Skills:

• Travel Arrangements: Coordinated national and international travel arrangements for executives, including flights, hotels, and transportation.
• Organization: Managed multiple projects simultaneously, demonstrating superior organizational skills and ability to meet strict deadlines.

Please note that while the skills are largely the same, the way they’re categorized and presented can make a significant difference in how they’re perceived by potential employers.

This method of categorizing skills allows potential employers to understand your diverse expertise quickly and makes your resume more readable.

Use numbers to quantify your achievements 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,

“Provided comprehensive administrative support.”

You could say,

“Provided comprehensive administrative support to the executive team, enhancing office efficiency by 30%.”

Using numbers gives hiring managers a better sense of your value and demonstrates your expertise for the executive assistant role.

Quantifying your achievements makes your resume more compelling and effectively communicates the impact you can have on a potential employer’s organization.

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.

Job Title: Executive Assistant at ABC Company

Requirements:

Experience with administrative support, calendar management, strong communication skills, proficiency in Microsoft Office and Excel, and experience with scheduling and organizing travel arrangements.

Tailored Resume Description:

• Provided comprehensive administrative support to a team of executives at a fast-paced multinational corporation, managing correspondence, files, and daily tasks.
• Expertly managed and coordinated executives’ schedules, ensuring efficient time use and minimizing scheduling conflicts.
• Exhibited proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Excel, creating professional documents and presentations, and managing large data sets to provide actionable insights.
• Coordinated travel arrangements, including national and international flights, hotel bookings, and transportation for executives, ensuring smooth logistics.

“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

By tailoring your resume in this way, you can demonstrate that you have the specific skills and experiences the employer is looking for, thus increasing your chances of getting an interview.

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.