Personal Assistant Resume—Examples and 25+ Writing Tips

You can bend time and get it all done for clients in short order. But new clients won’t know that unless you prove your PA skills fast. Use this personal assistant resume sample.

Tom Gerencer, CPRW

Career Writer at ResumeLab

01/14/2021

Bad news.

Dozens of personal assistant resumes stand between you and that dream job.

You almost need your own PA to get hired.

It’s rough! But this is not your first rodeo.

Show the right parts of your past, and they’ll see your value.

In this guide:

A personal assistant resume sample better than most.
How to write a resume for personal assistant jobs that shows your finest hours.
How to make a *glowing* personal assistant job description for resumes.
Why you can’t just list personal assistant skills (and what to do instead).

personal assistant resume example

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Personal Assistant Resume Sample You Can Copy and Use

Ellie Curbelo

Personal Assistant

Personal Info

Phone: 215-600-8428

E-mail: elliezcurbelo@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/elliezcurbelo

twitter.com/elliezcurbelo

Summary

Energetic personal assistant with 5+ years of experience. Seeking to save time and stress for Randall Keems Inc. For Shannon Knerl, saved 25+ hours per week on accounting, research, scheduling, and communication tasks. Through marketing and client outreach, drew in 5+ new business leads per week. Saved 20% on travel costs.

Experience

Personal Assistant

Shannon Knerl Inc.

2015–2019

Handled all accounting, including billing, collections, bills, record-keeping, and tax filings. Saved client 10+ hours per week.
Conducted 3+ hours of online research per day. Built robust spreadsheets with relevant data that saved 4 hours per day.
Scheduled meetings and appointments.
Performed client outreach, pulling in 5 new business leads per week.
Made travel arrangements, saving 20% on costs.

Office Clerk

Kirtley Products, Inc.

2014–2015

Triaged emails, saving 5+ hours per week.
Performed deep online research. Created data visualizations and reports with findings, saving 10+ hours per week.
Took charge of 15 repetitive tasks, saving 30% of manager time.

Education

University of Pennsylvania

2010–2014

Excelled in accounting and communications classes.
Secretary, Student Government
President, Bhakti Yoga Club, increased membership 25%.

Membership

International Association of Professional Personal Assistants

Courses

Project Management 101 — Lynda
Business Strategy Foundations — Lynda
PA Basics — Practically Perfect

Languages

Spanish — Fluent
French — Proficient

Hard Skills: Accounting, file-sharing systems, typing 100 WPM, online research

Soft Skills: Time management, interpersonal skills, organization, problem solving

Are you a different kind of assistant? Looking for a different office job? See our guides:

Haven't found what you're looking for? Check all our resume examples for any job.

Here’s how to write a personal assistant resume that works:

1. Select the Right Personal Assistant Resume Format

You wouldn’t wear a tank top to a job interview.

So—

Don’t use shoddy resume formatting.

Start with the reverse-chronological resume format.

Then flesh it out with these tips:

Personal Assistant Resume Format

Write a single-page resume with 1-inch margins.
Use white space for esthetics.
Choose a resume font like 10–12pt Helvetica or Arial.
Add accepted resume sections like Heading, Summary, Job Experience, Education, and Skills.
Save your resume in PDF format. PDFs don’t frizz out on different machines.

Expert Hint: The average personal assistant makes $15 per hour. The lucky ones make almost twice that. Make your own luck. Format your personal assistant resume correctly.

2. Create a Personal Assistant Resume Objective or Summary

How can I say this?

They won’t read your personal assistant resume carefully.

They’ll glance through it, looking for something to care about.

So give them something.

Up top, write a career objective or career summary.

That’s a quick brief of why your career should matter to them.

Include:

An adjective (energetic, dependable)
“personal assistant”
Years of experience (2+, 5+)
Who & how you’ll help (save time and stress for Randall Keems Inc.)
Best personal assistant moments (saved 25+ hours per week...)
The few skills they want most (accounting, research...)

But—write it last to save hours of head-scratching.

These personal assistant resume examples show how:

Personal Assistant Resume Summary—Example

Experienced personal assistant, skilled in accounting, research, and typing 100 WPM. Known for interpersonal skills and a willingness and ability to take a load off my clients. Well-versed in problem-solving and organizational skills.

Take another look.

Both samples say the same things.

But the second blows it on the details.

Now—

Even a personal assistant resume with no experience needs some kind of proof.

Entry-Level Personal Assistant Resume Objective

Helpful personal assistant with skills in accounting and Google Docs. Seeking to cut stress and time spent for Shannon Knerl. As office clerk at Kirtley Products, saved 30+ manager hours per week through triaging emails, performing deep online research, and handling 15 regular, repetitive tasks.

Enthusiastic, hard-working personal assistant, seeking full-time work. Known as a quick study with a strong work ethic. Good at accounting and Google Docs. Skilled at triaging emails, doing research, and handling repetitive tasks.

Again.

The second of those entry-level personal assistant resume examples sounds like the first. Except—

Without numbers and specifics, no one will believe it.

Expert Hint: Networking is job search gold, but how to do it? Join an association like IAPO. Other PAs you meet will refer new clients to you when they’re busy.

3. Strengthen Your Personal Assistant Job Description and Skills Section

This is the best part.

Most personal assistant resumes will mention skills.

Not you.

You’ll turn heads by proving them.

To write a personal assistant job description for resumes:

Don’t just list any old batch of resume skills. Find yours right in the job ad.
Use them as resume keywords to build your job descriptions.
Remember times you used them. Then show how that helped clients.

Handle it like the first of these personal assistant resume samples:

Say the job ad wants these personal assistant skills: accounting, online research, client outreach, travel arrangements.

Personal Assistant Job Description for Resume [Sample]

Experience

Personal Assistant

Shannon Knerl Inc.

2015–2019

Handled all accounting, including billing, collections, bills, record-keeping, and tax filings. Saved client 10+ hours per week.
Conducted 3+ hours of online research per day. Built robust spreadsheets with relevant data that saved 4 hours per day.
Performed client outreach, pulling in 5 new business leads per week.
Made 4 itineraries with full travel arrangements per year, saving 20% on costs, through superior research.

Handled billing, collections, record-keeping, and tax filings.
Responsible for managing commitments and deadlines.
Scheduled meetings and appointments.
Revised written contracts, performed proofreading and filing tasks.

See?

The first of those personal assistant resume examples has accounting, research, outreach, and travel.

Then it shows how well you used those things.

Now what if you need an entry-level resume?

Pretend the job ad wants these personal assistant skills: triaging emails, research, handling repetitive tasks.

Entry-Level Personal Assistant Resume Job Description [Sample]

Office Clerk

Kirtley Products, Inc.

2014–2015

Triaged emails, saving 5+ hours per week.
Performed deep online research. Created data visualizations and reports with findings, saving 10+ hours per week.
Took charge of 15 repetitive tasks, saving 30% of manager time.

Office Clerk

Kirtley Products, Inc.

2014–2015

Maintained reports of all transactions.
Complied multiple financial records and managed filing systems.
Answers client questions and complaints.
Communicated company procedure information to employees.

Wow.

One job can make two very different resumes.

Use these personal assistant resume skills to get you up to speed:

Personal Assistant Resume Skills

Hard Skills	Soft Skills
File-Sharing Platforms	Interpersonal Skills
Creating Reports	Communication
Accounting	Collaboration
Research	Active Listening
Typing 100 WPM	Problem Solving
Travel Arrangements	Organization
Scheduling	Dependability
Database Management	Detail Oriented
Data Visualization	Compassion
Email Systems	Time Management

4. Use Your Education to Convince Them

Every resume needs an education section.

But remember—

Employers need something to care about.

Watch how this personal assistant resume sample gets it right:

Personal Assistant Resume Example—Education

Education

University of Pennsylvania

2010–2014

Excelled in accounting and communications classes.
Secretary, Student Government
President, Bhakti Yoga Club, increased membership 25%.

Ah!

If the client cares about accounting, communication, and leadership, you win.

5. Add Bonus Material to Your Personal Assistant Resume

To employers, you’re just another piece of spam.

Until you show them you’re a human being.

Do that with one or two “bonus” sections, like:

Association memberships (IAPO, ASAP)
Typing speed test results (TypingTest.com)
Certifications (G Suite, QuickBooks, Microsoft Office)
Groups
Freelance work
Volunteering work
Publications
Conferences
Languages
Classes
Additional activities
Fitness

These personal assistant resume examples show how to list them:

Personal Assistant Resume—Extra Sections

Membership

International Association of Professional Personal Assistants

Courses

Project Management 101 — Lynda
Business Strategy Foundations — Lynda
PA Basics — Practically Perfect

Languages

Spanish — Fluent
French — Proficient

Additional Activities

Biannual volunteering.
Dedicated mom of 3.

The first of those personal assistant resume examples looks like the best employee.

Expert Hint: Write a cover letter. Cover letters prime the manager to spend more time with your resume for personal assistant jobs. Check out this executive assistant cover letter sample or this administrative assistant cover letter sample.

Key Points

Here’s how to write a personal assistant resume:

Use the personal assistant resume template up top. It lets you prove the exact assisting skills they need.
Find resume keywords in the personal assistant job description online.
Write resume sections like experience and education. Pack them with examples you’ve used personal assistant skills.
Add “bonus” material to show you care about personal assistant work.

Got questions on how to write great resumes for personal assistant jobs? Not sure how to show personal assistant on a resume? Leave a comment. We’ll be happy to reply!