Tailoring guide
Administrative Assistant resume keywords and example
Administrative assistant postings are task-specific: calendar management, travel booking, meeting coordination, records and expense processing, nearly always alongside Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace by name. Because the duties look similar on every résumé, the difference is scope: how many people you supported, how senior they were, and what you made run more smoothly. Below are the keywords that recur, a sample summary, skills grouped by type, and example bullets across seniority levels.
Updated 14 November 2026. Keyword research current as of November 2026, sourced from public ATS keyword guides, not Weydr's own usage data.
Administrative Assistant keywords that repeat in job postings
- Calendar Management
- Travel Arrangements
- Meeting Coordination
- Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel)
- Data Entry
- Expense Reports
- Office Management
- Records Management
- Customer Service
Only include the ones that are true for you. A keyword you can't back up in an interview costs more than it gains.
Sample professional summary
Administrative assistant with 5 years supporting directors and a VP in a 200-person professional services firm. Manages complex calendars and travel in Outlook, prepares meeting materials and minutes, processes expenses in Concur, and keeps shared files and vendor records organized in SharePoint.
Illustrative example. Swap in your own years, domain, tools and results.
Skills to list on a administrative assistant resume
Hard skills
- Calendar and inbox management
- Domestic and international travel booking
- Meeting and event coordination
- Expense reporting and invoice processing
- Document formatting and minute-taking
- Records and file management
- Office supply and vendor management
Soft skills
- Discretion with confidential information
- Organization
- Anticipating needs
- Professional phone and email manner
- Handling competing requests
Tools
- Outlook
- Word
- Excel
- SharePoint or Teams
- Google Workspace
- Concur or Expensify
- Zoom
A tailored bullet, before and after
Handled scheduling and office tasks for managers.
Managed calendars, travel and expenses for 3 directors in Outlook and Concur, coordinating about 40 meetings a week across 4 time zones and submitting expense reports within 3 days of each trip.
Example resume bullets by seniority
Illustrative examples: the companies, numbers and outcomes are made up to show the structure (action, scope, tool, result). Use your own real figures.
Entry level
- Answered a 6-line phone system and greeted visitors for a 50-person office, routing calls and logging deliveries.
- Entered and checked 200 vendor invoices a month in Excel before approval, catching duplicate submissions before payment.
Mid level
- Reorganized the department's shared drive in SharePoint with a naming standard and folder map, so staff found documents without asking.
- Planned a 120-person offsite end to end, including venue, catering, travel and agenda, coming in under the approved budget.
Senior
- Supported a VP and her leadership team of 6, preparing board meeting packs and minutes and acting as the single point of contact for executive scheduling.
- Trained and coordinated 3 junior assistants, writing a shared procedures guide for travel, expenses and room booking.
Gaps candidates miss most
- Who you supported: number of people and their seniority
- Each application by name (Outlook, Excel, SharePoint, Concur) rather than "computer skills"
- A process you improved, such as filing, booking or expense turnaround
Common administrative assistant resume mistakes
- A list of tasks every assistant does, with no volume, scope or seniority attached.
- Writing "proficient in Microsoft Office" instead of the specific applications and what you did in them.
- Leaving out typing speed or Excel level when the posting asks for it.
- Underselling event planning, budgeting or vendor work that shows broader responsibility.
- Typos or inconsistent formatting, which stand out in a role built on attention to detail.
Before you stuff in keywords
- Does ATS really reject 75% of résumés?: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to tailor your résumé to a job description: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- What an ATS résumé checker can and can't tell you: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- Tailoring a résumé to a job description: a worked example: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to explain an employment gap on your résumé: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to write a cover letter for a specific job: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- Résumé summary examples, and how to write your own: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How long should a résumé be?: what the research says about ATS filtering.
- How to write a career change résumé: what the research says about ATS filtering.
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