Personal Assistant Resume Sample
Andrea S. Warner
Address: 1247 Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia
Phone: (612) 456-7137
Email: [email protected]
Current job: Personal Assistant; Mark Miller, CEO, Miller Industrials Incorporated, Sydney, Australia
Objective
IAAP certified Personal Assistant with 5+ years of experience providing excellent administrative service; organized, efficient, excellent communication skills with certifications in office administration, MS Office, QuickBooks, Asana and SalesForce plans to leverage abilities and establish a career in Operations.
Skills
- 6 years work experience as a Personal Assistant
- Associate Degree, Business Administration
- Certified; Office Assistant, International Association of Administrative Professionals
- Certified; Office Administration
- Certified; MS Office
- Certified; QuickBooks
- Certified; Asana
- Certified; SalesForce
- Highly Organized
- Efficient
- Excellent communication skills
- Pleasant disposition
- Punctual
Work Experience
Personal Assistant, 2015 to Present
Personal Assistant; Mark Miller, CEO, Miller Industrials Incorporated, Sydney, Australia
Duties and Responsibilities
- Filters e-mails.
- Sets appointments and meetings.
- Manages calendar to ensure there are no conflicts.
- Handles and screens phone calls.
- Prepares presentation materials using MS Office.
- Conducts preliminary research on chemical industry developments and updates.
- Sends reminders on upcoming payables.
- Books tickets and makes travel arrangements.
- Navigates Internet for recommendations on restaurants.
- Handles transportation arrangements.
Personal Assistant, 2013 to 2015
Atty. Paul B. Simmons; Senior Partner, Simmons and Packer Law Office, Sydney, Australia
Duties and Responsibilities
- Set appointments and meetings.
- Transcribed audio on hearings, interrogations, and depositions into text format.
- Conducted legal research.
- Prepared case briefs.
- Filtered E-mail.
- Prepared and organized case presentations via MS Office.
- Handled and screened phone calls.
- Finalized travel, transportation, and lodging arrangements
- Made arrangements for lunch and dinner reservations.
- Carried out personal errands; shopping, payment of bills and follow-up on laundry.
Personal Assistant, 2012 to 2013
Amy T. Haywood; President, Digital Leverage Inc, Sydney, Australia
Duties and Responsibilities
- Managed both work and personal phone calls.
- Transcribed audio on meetings, interviews, and seminars into text format.
- Scheduled appointments.
- Managed social media accounts.
- Organized all files, documents and important company papers.
- Prepared presentation materials using MS Office.
- Scheduled virtual conferences using WebEx or GoToMeeting.
- Set up Project Management workplace for remote employees via Asana.
- Made travel, transportation, and lodging arrangements.
- Booked reservations at recommended restaurants.
- Carried out personal errands: shopping, payment of bills and follow-up on repairs and home maintenance work.
Education
Sydney Community College
Associate Degree, Business Administration
Sydney, Australia
2015-2017; 3.5 GPA
Sydney Girls High School
High School Diploma
Surrey Hills, Sydney, Australia
2017-2015, 3.5 GPA
Courses
- Certified; Office Assistant, International Association of Administrative Professionals
- Certified; Office Administration
- Certified; MS Office
- Certified; QuickBooks
- Certified; Asana
- Certified; SalesForce
Personal information
- Single
- Date of birth 02/27/92
- Hobbies include CrossFit, singing, guitar
Resume Writing Tips for Personal Assistant Job Positions
Personal Assistants are often undervalued and underappreciated. Also, if you are thinking of setting yourself up for a financially rewarding career as a Personal Assistant, you may have to reconsider your options. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage rate of Personal Assistants is $16.66 per hour or roughly an annual gross income of $34,660.
However, you can use your experience as a Personal Assistant as a springboard for more lucrative positions. If your boss loves your work and believes you are worth more than you are currently earning, he or she may be compelled to give you a full-time position in the company!
In order to make things happen, you need to get your foot in the door first. As you have seen from our Personal Assistant resume sample, the candidate, Andrea obviously built up her qualifications by getting certified in many usable skill sets. She also took it one step further by taking some courses more suited to an Office Assistant.
Use dynamic sounding action words or verbs when describing your responsibilities. Among the best verbs you can use for your Personal Assistant resume are:
- Managed
- Handled
- Booked
- Arranged
- Performed
- Prepared
- Conducted
- Navigated
- Transcribed
- Scheduled
In addition to having basic office skills, potential clients are also looking for Personal Assistants who have experience in managing everyday tasks. Remember your employer will depend heavily on you to get his or her life organized.
As a Personal Assistant, be ready to be switching hats from work-related tasks to home-based obligations. Put in as much detail on the experiences you’ve had providing personal assistance services to your various employers.
What to Write in a Personal Assistant Resume Objective
In our Personal Assistant resume sample, Andrea went for it all in her resume objective because she knows the potential employer, such as the CEO himself might review her application. Right away she informs the CEO that she is a certified Office Assistant. This information will already send the message Andrea is more than qualified as a Personal Assistant.
She’s basically telling the CEO, “Sure you can hire me as a PA but should you need an Office Assistant or an Administrative Officer, I’m qualified to do that as well!”
Then she fires off a litany of her certifications from office administration to the various types of software programs popularly used in personal assistance work. This is a brilliant strategy to downplay her lack of experience.
At the end of her Personal Assistant resume objective, Andrea hits the CEO with her ultimate goal; a role in Operations. If the CEO is convinced of her qualifications and she passes the Interview, she could be lined up for a more demanding but lucrative designation in the company!
What to Write in a Personal Assistant Resume Skills Section
Talk to any entrepreneur or high-ranking corporate executive about their Personal Assistant and they’ll probably refer to the P.A. in 4 words: “Breath of fresh air.” Many will share that it’s hard for them to function without their Personal Assistant. He or she makes it easier to fulfill life and work obligations.
So it’s very important to communicate to your potential employer that you have the requisite skill sets to help him or she get a life and work organized and running smoothly.
As you have read in our Personal Assistant resume sample, the distribution of life and work-related skills do not have to be 50/50. What is important is that the employer can see value in your proposition in both aspects.
- Educational Attainment;you don’t need a college degree to become a Personal Assistant. A high school diploma or GED score will do. Employers will focus their attention on the skills you have that are important for work as a Personal Assistant. However, you should keep in mind that employers are more than likely to prioritize candidates with higher educational attainment.
- Certifications;what you lack in educational attainment you can more than makeup for in terms of certifications and additional training. There are centers and agencies that offer courses on office administration, organizational administration, and business transcription. These are competencies that will be required of a PA. Most of the time, you will be asked to conduct work online or correspond with your employer via Internet-based channels. Having certifications or accreditations of proficiency in popular administrative programs such as Asana, SalesForce, and WebEx with enhancing your value with potential employers.
- Highly Organized;one of the primary reasons executives and business owners hire Personal Assistants is to put an order in their otherwise chaotic daily schedules. You should have the ability to keep everything organized at work and in their personal lives. Check your boss’s calendar and keep track of closed and open dates for meetings and appointments. Cross-reference this with his or her personal obligation to make sure there are no conflicts.
- Efficient;executives and busy business owners tend to multi-task which tends to result in a high degree of inefficiency. As a Personal Assistant, you should find ways to make processes and systems simpler, easier and more convenient. This is where having proficiency in project management software becomes important.
- Professional;occasionally you might have an employer like Meryl Streep’s character in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Regardless of the nature of your employer, you must remain professional in decorum. Have a pleasant disposition and make sure you are early at work every time.
Personal Assistant Job Seeking Tips
If you want to experience work as a Personal Assistant, you may feel disappointed as you scour through local and national publications and find little job openings. That is because many potential employers such as small business owners and startup founders are outsourcing this job to virtual assistants.
It is a cheaper option for them as they only pay per productive hour, are not obligated to pay benefits and it is easier to terminate the arrangement. If they hire virtual assistants from the Philippines or India, the proposition becomes cheaper. On the other hand, CEO’s tend to rely on artificial virtual assistant programs like Siri to cover their personal tasks.
You have to be more creative in finding Personal Assistant work:
- Freelance Websites – If you can’t beat them, join them! Why not become work online as a Personal Assistant? You can start out working from the virtual world. You can even land more than 1 client and earn more money all the while working from home. Among the top freelance sites are Upwork, Freelancer and Guru. If you find a client who works within your area, within a few months he or she may offer you a permanent job at the office.
- Online Job Platforms – You can also search for available PA jobs at popular online job platforms such as Monster, Indeed, CareerBuilder and Care.
- LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the preferred social media platform for job seekers. You can find hundreds of community members looking for good personal assistants.
- Contacts List – Review your contacts list and filter word to those who may need or know someone who needs a Personal Assistant.
If you’re not having much luck finding openings don’t despair! You have a smorgasbord of options as a Personal Assistant. You can work online as a telecommuter prior to landing an office based job. Just remember that with either option, you need a solid resume.
