Assistant Resume Examples

If you’re seeking a job as an assistant, then chances are you don’t have tons of experience in the field you’re going into. Rather, you’re trying to get your foot in the door and gain the experience that you need to be successful in your career field and work unsupervised on your own.

Writing a resume for an assistant position might seem difficult, especially if you don’t have much experience to include, but taking a look at some assistant resume samples can help you gain some insight into how to craft such resumes. Not only will this guide instruct you in best practices for writing an assistant resume, but it’ll also outline common mistakes to avoid.

What you end up putting in your resume depends largely upon your past. Your education, training, work experience, skills, and future career goals can all affect what you need to include. While some resumes feature sections that others don’t, there are a few common elements that you should include no matter what. Although there is no set formula for crafting an assistant resume, the following categories are found in nearly all assistant resume samples:

• Summary Statement
• Education
• Work Experience
• Skills

As you browse through some of the assistant resume samples on this site, you’ll probably notice that most of them are primarily formatted in one of two ways. The most predominant format for resume writing is the chronological format. In this format, everything is listed in reverse chronological order (from the most recent date to the earliest). This type of format is most ideal for recent college graduates and applicants who have built their entire careers upon working in the industry they’re applying to. The other format you’ll commonly find is the functional one. This format doesn’t have to necessarily be in reverse chronological order. Instead, it focuses on listing the most important details first based upon how applicable they are to the industry you’re seeking a career in. Applicants who didn’t necessary obtain education specifically for the job they’re applying for or those who are looking to change careers tend to use this format since it allows them to better illustrate the skills they have that apply to the career field they’re trying to enter.

Include the summary statement at the beginning of the resume, and think of it as your sales pitch. This statement should be powerful and include the most essential information that you want the employer to know so that it draws him or her in to read more. Include the name of the assistant position you’re seeking in this section as well as your most notable skills, qualifications, and achievements. Since you might not have much, if any, experience in the industry yet or any accomplishments, focus on highlighting your academic accomplishments and your eagerness to learn. The following summary statements from assistant resume samples provide you with excellent examples of how to write your own summary statement:

• Daycare Teacher Assistant who’s great with children and who possesses strong organizational skills. Adept at coordinating daycare activities, helping the children to get involved in activities, and supervising large groups of children indoors and outdoors. Seek to specialize in pre-school age children and younger, and is experienced in taking care of infants.
• Optician Assistant capable of conducting the preliminary tests for patients to maximize optician’s time. Adept at customer service, maintaining an organized filing system, and following up with patients on important appointments. Specializes in office management and developing financial reports.
• Creative and dedicated Interior Design Assistant with a hunger to learn from industry professionals. Advantageous contacts with textile, paint, accessory, and furniture vendors throughout the area. Excels in color theory, textiles and lighting.

Dive into the education section by listing your highest level of education first. For instance, if you have a master’s degree, you would list it first, followed by your bachelor’s degree. You usually shouldn’t list your high school education once you’ve obtained a college degree. If you have any certifications or licenses, such as a teaching certification, dental assistant certification, and so on, put it in this section as well. While it is permissible to create another section completely devoted to licensure and certification, you only need to do this if you have many certifications and licenses to list. Otherwise for the sake of condensing, simply list one certification or license within the education section since it falls within the learning category.

This is the area of the resume where you detail your past assistant work experience and any general work experience that’s related to the position you’re applying for. If you don’t have much paid, on-the-job experience, you can list unpaid experience as well. For instance, community service, extracurricular club participation, and other activities that helped you build skills can all be listed in the work experience section. On the whole, any experience that allowed you to learn or demonstrate skills, knowledge, and abilities that are related to the type of job you’re seeking should go here. For instance, showcase the customer service skills you developed at a fast food restaurant job by mentioning how you assisted with the completion of orders.

Almost all types of writing encourage you to utilize strong action verbs rather than weak passive ones. Action verbs relative to your career industry not only show confidence, but they also display knowledge of the industry and its terminology. Some action verbs you’ll likely encounter in assistant resume samples include the following:

• Assist
• Help
• Support
• Contribute
• Aid
• Promote
• Add
• Give
• Supply
• Further
• Participate
• Facilitate
• Improve
• Alleviate
• Relieve
• Lend

List all the skills you possess that are relevant to the position you’re seeking in this section. Order the skills in descending order of importance, listing the skills that you deem most important to the position first. For instance, if you’re seeking an assistant teaching position, you’ll probably want to list CPR and First Aid near the top of the skills list since these are certainly skills that teacher assistants need. If you have experience with specific technology, list it here and be specific. For instance, don’t simply write appointment-scheduling software when you can mention the exact software you’re familiar with like, Appointy or Acuity Scheduling.

Don’t include references on your assistant resume unless the job application instructions ask you to do so or you are connected with a well-known industry expert who can vouch for you. Basically, if the references you would add would simply be past employers whose information has already been listed in the work experience section, then don’t list any references since that information will be repetitive. Only list a reference if the person is notable and will greatly strengthen your resume, and if you do list someone as a reference, make sure you clear it with him or her first.

While there aren’t certain ingredients that make for a perfect resume, there are certain mistakes to avoid at all costs. The following resume fails are among the mistakes you should ensure you never make:

• Typos and grammatical errors. As you can see from the assistant resume samples on this site, resumes should be error-free. Check your resume as many times as it takes to ensure that it’s formatted perfectly. Ensure there are no typos or grammatical errors in it. Although these can be common, honest mistakes, they leave a glaring stain of unprofessionalism on your resume, making it appear like you either don’t know proper grammar or didn’t care enough to proofread and edit your resume.
• Lack of specifics. Employers want to know exactly what you’ve done in the past. When you’re listing work experience and describing job duties and accomplishments, be specific. Instead of simply stating Worked in a restaurant atmosphere with other employees say something like Assisted in the taking, preparation, and delivery of orders to over 200 customers per day.
• One-size-fits-all resume. While it is okay to have a general resume template that you look to as a guide, creating a one-size-fits-all resume doesn’t always cut it. Employers want to see that you took the time and dedication to craft a resume specifically for them and that it showcases how you’re the perfect applicant for their company in each sentence and phrase. Make your resume more specific to employers by researching them and addressing how you have the specific skills and qualifications that they’re looking for. Let them know how you’ll benefit their company.
• Not highlighting accomplishments. Don’t simply create a laundry list of the duties you completed in your work experience section. Good assistant resume samples show what you accomplished through completion of the duties and how you added value to the company. Instead of simply stating Recorded group meeting minutes say Kept record of weekly group minutes via Company Name Word for future reference. This lets the employer know how valuable your duties were and what you accomplished in keeping the minutes.
• Visually too busy. While you want to make sure your resume stands out amongst the rest, you don’t want to make it visually too busy. Using many different fonts, font sizes, colors, and graphics will probably only give employers a headache and make it difficult to read your resume. While a good format is important, you want employers to focus on the content of your resume rather than its design elements. It’s best to use modest fonts of Arial or Times New Roman in 10- or 12-point size.
• Incorrect contact information. Surprisingly, this is a huge resume fail that many people make. Check the contact information you provided to ensure it’s correct. Being off by one digit on your phone number or accidentally transposing numbers can make it impossible for interested hiring managers to contact you. Always check all contact information like addresses, phone numbers, and emails to ensure accuracy.
• Unnecessary information. Don’t include unnecessary information in your resume. As you’ll notice, the assistant resume samples on this site don’t include sections for hobbies, interests, social networking websites, and other miscellaneous information that’s unrelated to job positions. It’s okay to include links to your personal website or blog if they are professional and solely dedicated to our career, but keep all personal matters to yourself.