Office Administrator Resume Example & Writing Guide
- What should your office administrator resume include?
- How can you create a professional summary?
- How should you describe your work experience as an office administrator?
- Include a fitting office administrator resume education and certifications section
- Which key skills are relevant for an office administrator resume?
- How to select the most impactful office administrator resume template
- Copyable office administrator resume example
- Key takeaways for writing a office administrator resume
Proactive office administrators ensure everyone stays on track. These talented multi-taskers wear many hats, from fielding calls and preparing professional documents to managing office supplies. Employers are looking for administrators who can apply their skills, experience, and high standards to ensure the office runs smoothly! Packaging this in a well-written resume will position you as the office administrator to hire.
This resume guide, along with the corresponding office administrator resume example, will cover the following topics:
What should an office administrator resume include?
Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education)
Adding relevant key skills to your resume
Choosing the right resume template for an office administrator
What should your office administrator resume include?
Your office administrator resume should include your stellar organization and communication skills, strong attention to detail, flexible approach, and ability to work with professionalism. Hiring managers will also be keen to learn about your administrative achievements. This could include coordinating projects, planning events, improving administrative processes, or training new recruits to the administrative team.
Your office administrator resume should contain the following elements:
The resume header with your contact information
The resume summary
The employment history section
The resume skills section
The education section
How can you create a professional summary?
Your professional summary is your initial pitch to the hiring manager, so it needs to introduce you as an efficient, reliable, and top-notch office administrator. Stick to three or four key sentences that outline your core administrative experience, top soft skills (e.g. organizational) and the unique value you can offer. This could include your ability to administer multifaceted operations, or your proven success optimizing administrative systems and processes. This could also include your commitment to delivering seamless client experiences.
See our adaptable office administrator resume summary below.
Astute, committed professional with proven aptitude for serving as valuable resource to multifaceted business operations. Adept at leveraging exceptional organization, communication, and coordination strengths to increase organizational effectiveness and ensure seamless client experience. Strong history of maintaining strict confidentiality and delivering exceptional paralegal support within legal environments. Expertise in legal research, documentation, and case management. Proven ability to promote productive and positive client and staff relationships.
How should you describe your work experience as an office administrator?
The all-important work experience section is your opportunity to show employers you’re the perfect administrator for their office. Using the job description as your guide, provide recruiters with clear and concise information about your core responsibilities and specific contributions in the administrative field.
Start with your current or most recent job and work back to earlier roles, covering no more than 10 years of experience. Balance short paragraphs of core responsibilities with bullet-pointed achievements to show your contributions. Office administrators often don't have quantifiable achievements to showcase. Instead, you can focus on special projects, key contributions, and other ways you performed above and beyond your job responsibilities. Any example that shows initiative and creativity is worth including.
Take a look at the adaptable office administrator resume employment history section below:
Office Administrator at Leading Law Firm, LLC. 2015 - Present
Ensure seamless daily operations of fast-paced law office while serving as corporate secretary for firm and overseeing administrative team.
Deliver support to clients, partners, staff, and shareholders, acting as primary point-of-contact on various business matters.
Plan and orchestrate meetings and follow through on all action items.
Coordinate all aspects of contract negotiation, including professional liability renewals and other corporate insurance renewals.
Facilitate internal and external audit processes.
Manage office equipment including repairs and upgrades. Oversee employee hiring and benefits enrollment. Document office policies and procedures.
Played key role in navigation of re-branding project following retirement of senior partner, fostering retention of crucial client relationships.
Championed improvement opportunities for staff effectiveness by organizing monthly staff meetings centered on training, education, and team building.
Partnered with high schools to provide summer employment opportunities for students while offering exposure to professional work environment.
Paralegal at Leading Law Firm, LLC. 2012 - 2015
Supported team of senior litigation attorneys in management of legal cases and preparation for civil trials.
Conducted legal research and manage documents via physical and electronic databases.
Attended trials to support senior partners, coordinating witness testimonies and preparing for depositions.
Assisted clients with preparation of various documents supporting real estate transactions, estate planning, and registration of corporate entities.
Authored resolutions and ordinances on behalf of municipalities.
Drafted and secured grants to fund major transportation project for municipality.
Expert Tip
Focus on transferable skills if you have little or no administrative experience
If you don’t have extensive experience as an administrator, don’t worry. Highlight your transferable soft skills that could help you in this role, such as communication, organization, and prioritization skills. If you’ve completed any volunteer or community-based work involving administration, highlight this too.
Include a fitting office administrator resume education and certifications section
A college degree is not a barrier to success for office administrators. With this in mind, whether you decide to include or omit the Education section will very much depend on your own unique situation. Here’s some factors to consider:
Keep it simple. Make a clean list of any degrees and certifications, with only relevant details listed under the degree.
Highlight relevant training rather than a degree.If you have relevant training, you can simply rename the Education section as "Training" or "Professional Development,” then list your certifications, where completed, and dates (if within the last five years).
Show on-the-job training. If you have built your career through on-the-job training, then you can omit this section completely. There is no need to include high school/secondary school qualifications in this situation.
Which key skills are relevant for an office administrator resume?
When the hiring manager is reviewing your resume during their initial first scan, they’ll be laser-focused on finding key skills that demonstrate your suitability for the role. So, how do you make these skills pop and catch their eye?
The job description is the best reference point for keywords for your office administrator resume. Look out for terms that are repeated or emphasized as important as these will be the keywords you want to include. Your resume will most likely be scanned by ATS systems that parse your resume for keywords and rank them by how closely they match the job description.
Also, don’t forget to include a “Technical Skills” section to highlight your expertise in the use of software and applications such as MS Office Suite, Adobe Acrobat, QuickBooks, and Google Suite. Here’s some office administrator keywords to give you some inspiration:
Microsoft Office
Westlaw
Pacer
QuickBooks
AMS360
Dictaphone
How to select the most impactful office administrator resume template
Your resume needs to be super organized, polished, and professional—also qualities of a great office administrator. Stick to a one page, clean, crisp, and modern resume design that is straightforward for the hiring manager to read. Reverse chronological format is the best approach for your work experience section, with focus on more recent and relevant roles.
When exploring our many resume templates in our resume builder, start by selecting the resume layout that fits your situation best. Find inspiration with our over 100 available resume examples.
Copyable office administrator resume example
Summary example
Astute, committed professional with proven aptitude for serving as valuable resource to multifaceted business operations. Adept at leveraging exceptional organization, communication, and coordination strengths to increase organizational effectiveness and ensure seamless client experience. Strong history of maintaining strict confidentiality and delivering exceptional paralegal support within legal environments. Expertise in legal research, documentation, and case management. Proven ability to promote productive and positive client and staff relationships.
Employment history example
Office Administrator at Leading Law Firm, LLC. 2015 - Present
Ensure seamless daily operations of fast-paced law office while serving as corporate secretary for firm and overseeing administrative team.
Deliver support to clients, partners, staff, and shareholders, acting as primary point-of-contact on various business matters.
Plan and orchestrate meetings and follow through on all action items.
Coordinate all aspects of contract negotiation, including professional liability renewals and other corporate insurance renewals.
Facilitate internal and external audit processes.
Manage office equipment including repairs and upgrades. Oversee employee hiring and benefits enrollment. Document office policies and procedures.
Played key role in navigation of re-branding project following retirement of senior partner, fostering retention of crucial client relationships.
Championed improvement opportunities for staff effectiveness by organizing monthly staff meetings centered on training, education, and team building.
Partnered with high schools to provide summer employment opportunities for students while offering exposure to professional work environment.
Paralegal at Leading Law Firm, LLC. 2012 - 2015
Supported team of senior litigation attorneys in management of legal cases and preparation for civil trials.
Conducted legal research and manage documents via physical and electronic databases.
Attended trials to support senior partners, coordinating witness testimonies and preparing for depositions.
Assisted clients with preparation of various documents supporting real estate transactions, estate planning, and registration of corporate entities.
Authored resolutions and ordinances on behalf of municipalities.
Drafted and secured grants to fund major transportation project for municipality.
Education example
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration at Georgia State University, Atlanta GA
Paralegal Certificate, Litigation Concentration at National Center for Paralegal Training, Atlanta GA
Skills example
Microsoft Office
Westlaw
Pacer
QuickBooks
AMS360
Dictaphone
Key takeaways for writing a office administrator resume
In order to land the best administrative opportunities, your resume needs to showcase your stellar organization and communication skills, strong attention to detail, flexible approach, and ability to work with professionalism.
Target your resume by including keywords in each section, like office administration, project management, customer service. Use the job description as your guide.
Make your life easier by using our online resume builder to create your office administrator resume with adaptable templates and AI powered content.
