Here’s a sample resume we recently produced for a Administrative Assistant in Malaysia.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- About the Administrative Assistant Role
- What Hiring Manager Look For In Administrative Assistant Resumes
- Administrative Assistant Job Opportunities
- Job Hunting Tips from our Resident Headhunter
Administrative Assistant CV [Full Sample]
Here’s a full Administrative Assistant resume sample, which we wrote for a client recently.
SAMANTHA LEONG
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Email: s.leong@email.com | Mobile:+60 12 XXXX XXXX | Nationality: Malaysian
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Proactive Administrative Assistant with more than 8 years of progressively responsible experience supporting multiple C-level professionals
- Well-versed in providing administrative and secretarial support to senior executives and stakeholders. Strong organizational skills and an ability to manage multiple competing priorities and projects with attention to detail
- Performs well with a variety of disciplines while remaining effective in a high-volume start-up environments with demanding workloads
- Maintain excellent written and oral communication skills, problem resolution abilities, and a high level of confidentiality. Hardworking, fast learner, and team player able to work under pressure and tight deadlines
[This section gives a good helicopter view of the candidate. Quantifying the current role where possible also helps to give scale to the current responsibilities.]
KEY SKILLS
Communication Skills | Project & Database Management | Time Management | Problem Solving Skills | Organisational Ability | Business Writing
[Ensure the keywords here mirror those used in the job ad. The first round of vetting is often done by a software scanner. This section helps to pad the CV with key administrative-related phrases necessary to get past those scanners.]
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Apr 2012 – Present
XXX PTE LTD, Malaysia
- Collaborate with team of 3 to provide executive-level administrative support to the Vice President with demonstrated ability to improvise procedures and meet demanding deadlines [The opening line captures all the reader needs to know about the role. Mention which senior executive you provide assistance to in order to give hiring managers an idea how big your responsibilities are.]
- Plan and coordinate corporate luncheons and develop presentations for related on- and off-site meetings; organize details of special events, travel arrangements, corporate agendas and itineraries
- Handle administrative matters including screening calls, managing calendars, planning meetings, making travel arrangements, composing documents and organizing offices for efficiency [This line shows the detailed responsibilities of the candidate.]
- Process monthly expense reports reflecting supporting documents and budget code indexes
- Interact professionally with all levels of staff and maintain the highest level of confidentiality; known for tact and diplomacy in handling sensitive issues [This line not only demonstrates the candidate’s excellent communication skills, but also her ability to keep company matters confidential.]
Significant Highlights
- Collaborated with other departments in company to centralize customer database, hence reducing information retrieval time by 27% [Cite quantifiable metrics to support your achievements. Do, however, be aware of your company confidentiality clause.]
- Trained 9 newly hired staff members and provided exceptional support to managers and co-workers which increased overall efficiency by 30%
RESUMEWRITER | ASIA
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Jan 2009 – Mar 2012
XXX PTE LTD, Malaysia
- Coordinated and maintained weekly attendance and annual vacation records on all employees; liaised between departments to ensure proper communications and reporting practices [Simple, clear overview of the job you previously done. Notice also how the remaining bullet points are shorter. No need to go into deep detail about previous workscopes.]
- Managed capital purchases and direct vendor relations, as well as generated and maintained office supply inventories
- Developed new filing and organizational practices, saving the company $3,000 per year in contracted labour expenses [Include career achievements to make your CV memorable. It may be hard for admin assistants to have concrete achievements compared to sales and marketing roles, but include metrics to substantiate your contributions where possible.]
EDUCATIONAL & PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Diploma in Business Administration, Malaysia Polytechnic University, Malaysia | 1995
MISC. INFORMATION
- Technical Skills: Proficient in QuickBooks, Microsoft Office, Outlook Express
- Languages: English, Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu
- Availability: 1 month’s notice
References available upon request
[There’s no need to list your references; if HR is interested in you they will ask you for them.]
RESUMEWRITER | ASIA
About the Administrative Assistant Role
Administrative assistants and other office support professionals are often the unsung heroes of companies across all industries.
Administrative assistants (Admin assistants) have a wide range of job scopes. Some of their job functions include:
- Organising files and creating filing systems
- Creating correspondences: faxes, emails, memos and forms
- Preparing reports and documents
- Managing bosses’ and employees’ calendars
- Scheduling appointments
- Sorting mail
- Preparing invoices
- Greeting visitors
- Answering telephone calls
- Planning corporate events
- Making travel arrangements
- Preparing itineraries
- Maintaining inventory of supplies
- Writing meeting minutes
- Managing accounts and providing bookkeeping
- Performing data entry
- Handle databases and confidential information
Those are quite a lot of responsibilities, no? An administrative assistant’s day is always different, with plenty of opportunities to contribute to the company’s day-to-day operations.
They often have to manage many moving parts and deal with challenging situations at the same time. They are indispensable in keeping the office running efficiently and smoothly, and support a variety of business functions.
Today, administrative assistants are also expected to adopt more technologies in their work, beyond the traditional Microsoft Office Suite. Some firms might expect Administrative Assistants to be familiar with Accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero, or HR software such as Qualtrics. Therefore, if you have prior experience in these, don’t forget to include them into your resume when applying for admin assistant jobs!
Key Pointers Hiring Managers Look For In Administrative Assistant Resumes
- Your background in ensuring smooth operations within the company and performing various administrative functions and office management tasks.
- Your contributions to process improvement and optimisation, as well as productivity improvement (if any) – these will give you a huge advantage over your competition. It’s also a great opportunity to insert metrics into your resume, which we strongly advocate.
- Your eye for detail and ability to assist senior executives, directors, and managers and perform secretarial duties
- Bonus points if you possess basic accounting capabilities and/or are able to support data and research functions.
- Talk about your responsibilities that can showcase your communication and organizational abilities, quantifying your achievements where possible.
- Include any changes you have introduced into daily administrative procedures (e.g. developing new filing practices which in turn helped reduce company expenses)
Tips on Resume Formats
- Neat and professional templates are key. Don’t use fancy pictures or layouts that are hard to read.
- Proofread your CV! Spelling and grammatical errors are huge no-nos. Employers would be very reluctant to hire someone who makes simple spelling errors. It says a lot about that candidate’s professionalism and attention to detail. You can use apps like Grammarly, or ask a friend to proofread your CV for you.
- Use a suitable, professional font. Keep the flowery and artistic fonts for an ad; there are fonts which help you stand out without making you look unprofessional.
- Watch the fluff! When writing CVs, there is a natural tendency to ‘inflate’ our responsibilities and achievements a little. While this is acceptable in moderation, it looks really bad if overdone. Know when to stop!
- Keep it short! Most CVs can easily fit within a page or two. If you’re going over that, chances are you’re including too many irrelevant points. Employers and hiring managers are busy people – they are unlikely to read all 5 or 6 pages of a long CV!
Administrative Assistant Job Opportunities
- Join LinkedIn groups or follow companies you wish to work for to keep abreast with new job openings.
- Alternatively, you can reach out to these headhunters in Malaysia to learn about any vacancies they may be trying to fill out.
Job Hunting Tips from our Resident Headhunter
- Create a winning cover letter and send it along your resume. The cover letter will serve as an introduction about yourself and is a great venue to answer the question “Why should we hire you?”
- Be active on social media, particularly on LinkedIn. Make sure to create a strong online profile that represents you and you professional experiences. Here’s our comprehensive guide on writing a great LinkedIn profile.
Before You Go…
Be sure to download this resume sample, which uses our tested-and-proven resume writing techniques, as a guide for your own CV. Best part is, this sample is available for free 🙂
And before you start sending out applications, send us your resume for a free CV feedback analysis from our team. We’ll review your CV in detail, share personalised feedback on its strengths and weaknesses, and show you how you can improve it.