Personal Assistant Resume Example

After reading this article, you'll feel confident creating a personal assistant resume that effectively showcases your relevant skills and experience. The article will take you through the key steps of creating a resume that presents your key skills, qualities and career achievements in a format that employers favor. It will also help you tailor your resume according to your unique skills and experience level. Read on to access expert insights from Jobseeker that will help you create a winning personal assistant resume.

What to include in a personal assistant resume

Although the content of a personal assistant resume may differ according to your experience and seniority, the main sections will remain the same. A resume for candidates with little or no work experience may focus less on the work experience section, and bring sections to the fore that emphasize their skills, such as hobbies and interests, volunteer work, education, projects and skills lists.

You will have some choice over your resume layout and structure, but be sure to include these sections as the core of your document:

Header and Personal Information

A personal assistant resume header contains your name and contact information. Add your first and last name, your phone number and your email address. Include your address or location, but avoid adding any other personal information. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add the URL to your header so the hiring manager can get a better understanding of your work history and experience. Create a clear, well-structured header that acts as the headline of your resume. Use color accents and blocks to help this section stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

Only include professional, name-based email addresses in your resume header. If you have an old email address that uses nicknames, puns, references to your personal interests or anything else that could appear unprofessional, set up a new email just for your job applications. Finally, always double-check your contact details are correct and up-to-date before sending your resume.

Resume Summary

The next section is the resume summary. The section might also be called 'resume objective' or 'personal profile'. This is a brief introduction to you, your key skills and your career achievements and ambitions. While a resume summary focuses on your career achievements and experience, a resume objective typically focuses on your ambitions for the future. In addition, your objective should highlight why you're an ideal candidate for personal assistant roles by showing key skills and qualities that reflect the job description.

Alternatively, use this summary to introduce your personal career ambitions and explain why personal assistant roles are a good fit for you at this stage of your career.

A great resume summary should highlight why you're an ideal candidate for personal assistant roles by showing key skills and qualities that reflect the job description and provide evidence to support them. It should also introduce your personality and unique qualities to the reader, to help them start to form an opinion about you as a candidate. Take a look at some strong examples of how to approach a personal assistant resume summary in the graphic below.

Conversely, an ineffective resume summary would include generic, unspecific information on your skills and experience, while failing to provide any useful information on what makes you a unique and interesting candidate. See above for some examples of things to avoid when writing your personal assistant resume summary.

Hard and Soft Skills

The skills section of a personal assistant resume is a chance to list any skills you have that match those of the job description. You could include data entry, effective communication or any other skills that show you're a suitable candidate. Again, include any skills that match those listed in the job description. Focus particularly on technical skills required for personal assistant jobs and transferable skills that show your qualities as a personal assistant.

How to include hard skills on your personal assistant resume

Hard skills are the key technical skills required for personal assistant positions. They include specific industry knowledge and abilities that you could learn on the job, or through a specialist qualification. Furthermore, your list of hard skills provides a strong indication to the reader of your expertise in personal assistant roles, and how well you'll fit into the position. If possible, add four or five hard skills that reflect the requirements of the job description. These will boost your chances of success in your applications.

The best resume hard skills sections focus on specific technical skills necessary for the job, showcasing skills that you have particular expertise in. There are some examples of valuable hard skills for a personal assistant resume below.

Adding soft skills to your personal assistant resume

Your soft skills are the core qualities and personal characteristics that make you a good employee. They tend to apply to multiple professions and jobs, though the soft skills you'll require may change as you move from junior to senior positions. Indeed, without soft skills, you may struggle to adapt to personal assistant roles or meet the standards expected of you. So make sure you include several key soft skills on your resume. In this section, add four of five transferable skills that match the job description.

The strongest resume soft skills sections include a mix of skills that match your best personal strengths, and that reflect the skills listed in the job description. See below for some examples of effective soft skills for a personal assistant resume.

Education

Your resume's education section provides space for you to list your highest and most relevant qualifications for personal assistant roles.

Candidates aren't usually required to have a degree for personal assistant positions, but it's still worth listing your highest or most relevant qualifications. If you have a recognized certification or qualification, such as Professional Administrative Certification, be sure to include this. You might also want to include any educational achievements that showcase data entry or MS Office proficiency.

List your relevant qualifications in reverse-chronological order. Add the name and level of the award, the institution, its location (if this isn't obvious from the name) and your dates of study. If you have space, include some bullet points outlining any specialist areas of study, awards or high grades, so the employer can learn more about your unique skill set and knowledge.

Additionally, mentioning any leadership roles or any societies and clubs you participated in while studying shows proactivity and initiative.

Relevant Certifications and Licenses

Under certifications and licenses, add any further qualifications that show you're a good fit for the job. These could be official licenses required for the job or certifications that improve your employability. Therefore, list any official licenses and certifications, along with their dates, so employers can assess whether you've got the necessary qualifications to work as a personal assistant.

Below you can find several examples of certifications for a personal assistant resume:

Work Experience

Next, list your relevant employment history and any key achievements that show you're suitable for a personal assistant position. Include any relevant jobs you've held in reverse-chronological order. Start with your current or most recent roles and work back through previous roles. For each job, list your title, the name of the company, its location and the dates you worked there.

Also include some bullet points for each job mentioned, showcasing your achievements so the employer can see the impact you made on the company. Pay attention to the job description and make sure each point is relevant to personal assistant roles.

A successful resume work experience section will always showcase skills and experience relevant to the job description, and how you put each to good use in your previous roles. Offering quantifiable evidence in a personal assistant resume proves you're a strong candidate for the job, such as client feedback, project outcomes, KPIs or financial results. There are some examples of strong resume work experience sections below.

In the graphic above, you'll see some examples of less effective resume work experience sections. A bad resume work experience section might fail to address skills and achievements that relate directly to the job description. Falling back on clichés, vague descriptions and basic responsibilities, rather than showing the impact you made, is likely to disengage the reader.

Optional Sections

In addition to the core sections of a personal assistant resume, there are several optional sections you could include to enhance your chances. Take a look at the sections below and add any that help you show how and why you're right for the job.

Hobbies and Interests

Adding your hobbies and interests is a legitimate way of showing off your skills and personal qualities. Your hobbies and interests are useful for a personal assistant resume if you want to show a different side to your personality, or to stand out among other candidates. They can also be valuable if you're a junior candidate without much relevant work experience. Don't include hobbies and interests in your resume unless they showcase a specific interest or aspect of your personality. You'll want them to add something to your application that you can't add elsewhere.

Volunteer Work

Voluntary work can help you develop useful skills, so it's a valuable addition to your personal assistant resume. List your volunteer job title, the organization you volunteered for, its location and the dates of your involvement, alongside a brief explanation of your responsibilities in the role.

References

It's not typical to include references in a personal assistant resume, but some employers might ask for them. Don't add references unless requested by the employer. Include a maximum of three professional references, being sure to check with your referees before including them in your resume.

Best words to use in a personal assistant resume

Using strong action words to make your resume resonate with the employer. Choose verbs from the suggestions below that highlight your key skills or those mentioned in the job description.

If you want to create a resume that stands out from the crowd, use Jobseeker's expert-designed resume templates. You can also find cover letter templates that work to get you noticed by employers.

Example of a personal assistant resume

Now that you know everything that needs to go into your personal assistant resume, let's review an example resume that you can use as a guide when creating your own:

Guide to making your resume ATS-friendly

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are one of the key ways recruiters and employers manage the hiring process. The systems can screen candidates by scanning and ranking resumes based on each candidate's likely suitability for the vacancy. There are several things you can do when writing your personal assistant resume, to give yourself the strongest chance of ranking highly in the ATS stage and progressing through the recruitment process.

Here a some simple tips to follow for an ATS-friendly resume:

• Choose a resume structure that matches the traditional, reverse-chronological layout or alternatively, the functional resume structure. This should make your resume more readable for ATS applications.
• Use keywords throughout your resume that reflect the job description, so ATS resume scanners can recognize a strong connection between your skills, and those in the job description.
• Use clear headings that break your resume up into readable, scannable sections that match the standard content employers expect from a resume.
• Use a resume design that includes clean, professional design elements to give your content space to breathe. This might include clear, readable fonts, subtle color accents and simple design elements.
• Make sure your resume is as concise as possible, so ATS applications can easily scan and identify the required details.

Key takeaways for your personal assistant resume

The best resumes focus on your skills and the value you've added to previous roles, rather than focusing on your duties and responsibilities. Choose the most suitable resume format for your experience levels, and focus on tailoring your resume based on the requirements listed in the job description.

Remember, Jobseeker resume templates and other tools make it easy to create a resume and cover letter that leaves a positive impression on hiring managers. Sign up now to start building your perfect resume. A stylish, professional cover letter can make all the difference to your job prospects. See Jobseeker's cover letter examples, written by careers experts, to help you craft an eye-catching application.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications