Getting a great secretary job means applying with the best secretary resume. Whether you have years of experience or not, our guide will help you show your top strengths and skills on your secretary resume. Refresh your resume to the standards of 2020 with tips and examples from top recruiters and hiring managers. Here’s a list of what else we’ll cover in this secretary resume guide.
5 Best components of an Secretary Resume:
- Experience relevant to the job you’re applying for
- The right skills for the role (based on the job posting)
- Quantifiable achievements (e.g. Piloted a new appointments booking system which increased office efficiency by 15%)
- Examples of what makes you unique (What a day of your life looks like or your favorite books)
- What you’re most proud of (displayed creatively)
What is the best practice to write an experience section for a Secretary resume?
What every secretary resume needs to include is a strong list of professionally presented experience. Let’s take a look at how to do that.
Be Specific!
Your experience section is often the one a potential employer looks at first. So keep in mind that the rule of a thumb is to show rather than tell. Make each bullet point of your secretary resume experience section count, mentioning the impact you had in your previous positions. Make sure every point is accompanied with a concrete example. So don’t just say you’re great at communication, demonstrate it.
Not just logical, but chronological too!
The next step towards an experience section that rocks is to start selecting which experience to include in your secretary resume and how to order it. It's best to keep it chronological, start from the most recent position and continue further down. Also, carefully curate what experience you show. It's best to keep only the experience which is relevant for the company or job you're currently applying for.
What's the average experience on resumes VS job description for a Secretary?
After we reviewed 114,000 resume examples and job offers, it appeared that an average experience for a secretary required by employers is 2 years. But experience which appears on secretary resumes is 1.6 years, making secretaries slightly underqualified. Don't let this discourage you, though. Often, resumes which are impact oriented have a higher chance than resumes with more experience which are vague. Just follow our advice and you'll be good to go.
Average Experience On Resumes vs Job Offers
1yr6mo
avg. experience on resumes
vs.
2yrs0mo
avg. experience on job offers
Source: enhancv.com
Best skills for a Secretary resume
What steps to follow when adding skills to your secretary resume
- List all the soft and hard skills you have in one place.
- Check the secretary job you want to apply for and write all the skills mentioned the description down too.
- See which skills correlate, and those are the ones your secretary resume needs to feature.
What are the top 5 skills for secretary resumes:
- customer service
- microsoft office
- front office
- bilingual
- data entry
Top 5 Skills For Secretary Distributed On Resumes vs Job Offers
| Skill | In resumes | In job offers |
|---|---|---|
| customer service | 48.67% | 22.70% |
| microsoft office | 32.71% | 19.20% |
| front office | 24.20% | 4.70% |
| bilingual | 18.62% | 7.80% |
| data entry | 11.70% | 9.80% |
Source: enhancv.com
Cause and Effect - Tell them how you made a difference!
Who likes buzzwords? Nobody! Your potential employer has surely read a thousand times someone writing responsibilities without concrete numbers to back it up. As a result, these resume skills that aren’t quantified largely get ignored or even count against you. Again, the solution is to focus on concrete numbers which demonstrate your impact as a secretary. So instead of “Implemented a new customer feedback system” write "Implemented a new customer feedback system which increased customer satisfaction by 45%.” Those kinds of resume action words really stand out and leave a strong impression.
Unique content ideas for a Secretary resume
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are they've seen at least 10 others in that same day. That's why you need to make your secretary resume stand out. Do it by adding more personality to your resume, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not just a list of responsibilities. Add passions, share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like to catch their attention and make them fall in love with you.
Tell them what you’re proud of!
What are you most proud of? It's a difficult question but including the answer to it in your secretary resume can make a huge difference. This section will help you show more about your personality, attitude, and character, especially if you don't have years of experience behind your back. You can share a story about overcoming hardship, learning an important life lesson, or just a triumph you had that means a lot to you. Either way, this is one of the best places to make your secretary resume really stand out.
Writing a resume can feel quite overwhelming. We hope our guide for a secretary resume will help you with writing a resume to be confident in in 2020.
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