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50+ Administrative Skills for a Resume & Your Career

Create Your Resume Now
Cory Streiff
Cory Streiff
Career Expert
Article Helpfulness:
4.86

Our customers have been hired by:

If you want to see a magic trick, watch how capable employees can turn helpless when the office administrator goes on a two-week vacation. Suddenly clients are angrily waiting for documents, expense reports pile up, and communication falls apart. 

Clearly administrative skills are essential for good office management. But what exactly are the most important administrative skills? And how can you put them on a resume to get a job in any office?

We’ll show you administrative skills examples in a second, but… Perhaps you could use a leg up on the competition—

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume samples here.

Find out all you need to know about resumes for your job:

What Are Administrative Skills?

Administrative skills are the skills that increase office productivity by consolidating time-consuming administrative tasks into one role. The most common skills include keeping projects on track, arranging travel, scheduling meetings, and filing expense reports. 

But how is it that administrative support positions can increase office productivity so drastically? 

And what are the skills that separate a top-notch office administrator from your run-of-the-mill office assistant?

Let’s discuss what administrative skills mean in more concrete terms.

Administrative Skills for a Resume—Examples

What are examples of administrative skills? 

Administrative skills can be tough to put down on paper.

Why? Because “administration” is an extremely broad term—it means any process or activity that relates to running a business. 

Any business process or activity? Creating a list of those skills would need an Excel spreadsheet with enough rows to crash your office computer.

But you don’t need to list every administrative skill on your resume—in fact, you shouldn’t. Some admin skills are more important than others. 

Here is a list of the most in-demand administrative skills:

Those skills are most in demand for administrative assistants, office assistants, and office administrators. But—that doesn’t mean you should copy the entire list and paste it on your resume. Instead, tailor your resume to specific jobs by finding the administrative skills mentioned in the job description and weave them naturally into your resume. 

What about office equipment skills? An office without office equipment is like a car without an engine—it’s not going anywhere. And since office administration workers spend the most time out of anyone in the office with office equipment, you can expect these skills to come in handy. 

What are office equipment skills? Here’s a list of skills and equipment used in offices:

Office Equipment Skills

  • Stationary 
  • Business telephone systems
  • Printers and photocopiers
  • Computer software (MS Office, ERP, Quickbooks, spreadsheets)
  • Computer hardware
  • Fax machines
  • Shredders
  • Mailing equipment
  • Conference room equipment
  • Storage equipment

Find other excellent skills to put on your resume in these guides:

Administrative skills will undoubtedly help you get the job you desire, but what other skills should you include? We analyzed 11 million resumes made in our resume builder, and here are the top 10 most frequently added skills:

  • Teamwork and Collaboration
  • Problem-solving
  • Excellent Communication
  • Multitasking
  • Attention to Detail
  • MS Office
  • Analytical and Critical Thinking
  • Data Entry
  • Project Management
  • Team Management

The Zety resume builder will generate hundreds of office and administrative skills, suggest bullet points, resume objectives, and achievements. Just what the recruiter is looking for.

Create a resume with a perfect skills section using the Zety resume builder now.

How Do You Describe Administrative Skills on a Resume?

Once the office knows you as “the administrative person”, you’ll be expected to fix any and every problem in the office. Is it fair? Not quite, but since that’s the expectation, you need your resume to show you’ve got the administrative skills to handle whatever the boss will throw at you:

  1. Read the job ad carefully and highlight which administrative skills they are looking for.
  2. Create a list of all the administrative skills you have. You can reference the list above to get ideas.
  3. Compare the skills from the job description and your personal skills list. The skills that overlap are perfect keywords to put on your resume.
  4. Draw attention to your administrative skills by putting them in a separate skills section on your resume.
  5. Incorporate your skills throughout your resume, in both the work experience section and resume profile, by providing examples of them in action.
  6. Mention both soft skills and hard skills so you look well-rounded. 
  7. Make sure not to lie on your resume, it will come back to bite you. 
  8. List up to 10 and focus on the skills you’re best at. Ideally, skills that you can back up with relevant work experience.

Keep in mind that the hiring manager will likely ask you to go into more detail on whatever you put on your resume, so be prepared to defend your admin skills.

Do you know what other details your resume needs? Find that out in our in-depth article on resume writing.

Now let’s see what these skills in real life with an example of administrative skills on a resume:

Sample Administrative Assistant Resume Template

Erica Freeman

erica.y.freeman@gmail.com

872-291-2758

Houston, TX

Professional Summary

Highly flexible administrative assistant with 3+ years of experience in office administration. Seeking the executive assistant position at Hill Group to remove administrative barriers and increase office productivity exponentially. Organized a company-wide retreat in record time and negotiated over $7,500 in office supply cost savings for previous employers.

Work Experience

Administrative Assistant

Murphy Inc, Orlando, FL 

September 2018–June 2020

  • Crafted highly-detailed meeting plans for 20+ employees on a daily basis. 
  • Prepared and submitted bank drafts and deposits to the finance department on time and without errors.
  • Handled clerical duties including responding to urgent emails, preparing documents, and creating compelling presentations.
  • Provided responsive customer service to clients regarding membership changes, cancellations, freezes, and upgrades.

Key Achievement:

  • Organized a company-wide weekend retreat with training and motivational speakers in less than two weeks.

Office Assistant

Kunz and Sons LLC, Dallas, TX

July 2017–July 2018

  • Screened 25+ phone calls a day, resolving problems and directing calls to the appropriate departments.
  • Managed the schedules of 5+ rooms by coordinating meetings and events.
  • Tracked team goals to help drive completion of key deliverables and assist where needed.
  • Collaborated with 30+ outside vendors to maintain and service office equipment, replacing equipment as needed.

Key Achievement:

  • Negotiated an office equipment contract that saved the company $7,500 annually.

Education

Booker T. Washington High School, Dallas, TX

Graduation: May 2017

Skills

  • Skilled in database management, event coordination, and travel arrangements
  • Experience with ERP, MS Office, and QuickBooks software

Languages

  • French (Advanced)

Diplomas and Certificates

  • Administrative Assistant Diploma (Pitman Training)
  • Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certificate

Here’s an overview on how to write all the main parts of a resume

Next, attach an administrative cover letter to your resume, because not doing so could severely hurt your chances. For a complete guide on cover letters, read how to write a cover letter.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Thanks for reading! Now I’d love to hear from you. Which administrative skill do you think is most important? Do you have any interesting stories to tell of poorly-organized offices you’ve worked at? Let’s discuss in the comment section below.

Article summary

The article discusses the importance of administrative skills in the workplace and provides a list of the top ten administrative skills that employers look for in their employees. The skills include time management, organization, communication, attention to detail, problem-solving, computer proficiency, multitasking, leadership, customer service, and teamwork. The article explains how each skill is important in different roles and provides tips on how to develop and improve them. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of administrative skills in today's workplace and how they can help individuals advance in their careers.

 
 

About Zety’s Editorial Process

This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

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Cory Streiff
Cory Streiff
Cory is a career expert with extensive experience in manufacturing and consulting. He recognizes the life-changing impact great career advice can have, and that's why he shares expert tips with every job seeker out there.
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