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What Hiring Managers Will Be Look For In a Personal Assistant Resume

Influential business woman talking to her personal assistant in the office

A personal assistant position will look very different depending on who you work for and the type of work that they do. That being said, there is not a be-all, end-all way of writing a personal assistant resume. What hiring managers will be looking for, is what the individual hiring the assistant actually needs.

Jim Collins, a former Stanford Business Professor, says, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” Someone who is hiring a personal assistant understands the importance of having great people and you need to ensure your resume reflects that.

Hire Professionals to Help Showcase Your Resume

For help with building your resume and catching that hiring manager or recruiter’s eye, many people consider working with an assistant staffing company. These types of services are normally free, so you really have nothing to lose by trying it out.

Staffing agencies will help you develop your resume and set you up for recruiting success. Once you are ready, they will help place you with the best opportunities. This could move your resume to the top of the hiring manager’s resume stack.

Basic Best Eye-Catching Resume Practices to Follow

You have probably spent a lot of time working to perfect your personal assistant resume. Don’t let it get lost in the shuffle of the seemingly endless pile of resumes recruiters have to sift through. Here are a few simple things you can do to better your resume’s odds of being looked at.

Include a summary statement in your resume to stand out

A headline or summary statement is the first place for you to catch the hiring manager’s eye. Take advantage of this opportunity to attract their attention and display your unique abilities.

  • Talk about how you impacted your current company.
  • Highlight details you don’t want the recruiter to miss.
  • Demonstrate how you will be a valuable asset to the company.
  • Cater the keywords in your headline to the ones used in the job description.
  • Avoid common or general skills.

Use Keywords and Concrete Evidence With Numbers and Stats

Chances are, companies you are applying for are using an ATS (applicant tracking system.) ATS will sort through resumes looking for keywords and filtering out those that don’t contain them. Follow these practices to ensure your resume stays in the running.

  • Use precise keywords from the job description
    • Use synonyms throughout the resume for the really important keywords.
  • Use bolded font
    • Draw attention to aspects of the resume you want to highlight.
  • What have you accomplished?
    • Find a way to turn that into concrete data
      • Define it in a number
      • You can use the number of hours for tasks
      • Use approximations if necessary

Research The Individual You Will Be Working For and Their Company

After you have the basics of any good resume down, make your resume stand out even more by including company specifics. While you are writing your personal assistant resume, keep in mind what you are applying for. You will be working for one individual and helping them succeed.

A resume designated for one person will be vastly different from a resume for an entire business. Tailor your skills to what this person specifically needs. You will need to know about the individual and the company they work for. This step will probably require double the research you would normally do.

One important element you need to think about is what they included in the job posting. Tailor your skills and accomplishments in your resume to the job description.

Skills To Include In a Personal Assistant Resume

  • Highlight business and administrative work
    • Any type of work in these areas will be useful and applicable to personal assistant work
  • Languages you speak
    • Highlight your spoken languages in the summary statement at the top of your resume.
  • Organization
    • Outline how your organizational skills led to productivity, efficiency, and deadline accuracy.
      Include the processes you use to automate your work with tools and apps.
  • Time management skills
    • Describe how you prioritize your goals and decision making.
  • Communication skills
    • Communication between you and your employer will have to be clear and concise.
      • Display your ability to communicate clearly
      • Use examples of previous positive correspondence.
  • Proficiency in the software they use
    • Find information in the job description about the tools and software they use.
      • If you can use the tools, put that into your resume.
      • State the software and tools exactly as the company uses them in the job description.
      • Do not alter words as the ATS bots may kick you out of the running.
  • Experience with confidential information
    • It should go without being said to exclude specifics on confidential information. Instead, provide broad examples.
      • How did you maintain confidentiality?
      • Display knowledge with data privacy laws and regulations.
  • Handling expenses
    • In most personal assistant jobs you will be handling some aspect of finances.
      • List if you have been trusted with someone else’s money in the past.
      • Try to be as specific as possible without giving out confidential information.

Hopefully, you have gained more confidence in building your resume for a personal assistant position. If you feel stuck use this personal assistant skills list to get you thinking about specific things you would want to include. Always use the job posting as a reference and include keywords from there.

For more great career advice, check out the other blogs on Career Geek.

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