Executive Assistant resume skills. The words recruiters search for.
The 18 skills, tools and credentials that come up in executive assistant job posts, sorted by type, and how to put them in bullets a recruiter believes.
By Nazir Elmurodov, Founder, LaunchCV · Updated
/ The list
Keywords by type. Use only the ones that are true for you.
Hard skills · 9
- Executive support (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Calendar management (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Travel planning (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Expense reports (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Board meetings (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Meeting coordination (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Event planning (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Email management (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Project coordination (used in Caroline's sample resume)
Tools & software · 5
- Concur (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Microsoft 365 (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Outlook (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- PowerPoint (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Zoom (used in Caroline's sample resume)
Licenses & certifications · 1
- CAP (IAAP) (used in Caroline's sample resume)
Soft skills · 3
- Confidentiality (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Discretion (used in Caroline's sample resume)
- Stakeholder communication
17 of 18 appear in Caroline's sample resume. See where
/ How to use them
Put keywords in bullets, not just in a skills list.
A skills list tells the software you have a skill. A bullet shows a recruiter what you did with it.
Executive support, Calendar management
Weak: Skills: Executive support, Calendar management
Strong: Provide executive support to the CEO and 2 SVPs at a 600-person company, with calendar management across 4 time zones
Travel planning, Expense reports, Concur
Weak: Skills: Travel planning, Expense reports, Concur
Strong: Handle travel planning for 30+ domestic and international trips a year and file expense reports in Concur
Board meetings, PowerPoint
Weak: Skills: Board meetings, PowerPoint
Strong: Prepare materials for quarterly board meetings in PowerPoint, track action items and keep board documents confidential
Email management
Weak: Skills: Email management
Strong: Handle email management for the CEO, screening 150+ emails a day, drafting replies and flagging what needs a decision
Strong bullets come from Caroline's sample resume and our executive assistant bullet examples. Names and figures are illustrative.
/ Use them honestly
Keywords get you found. Proof gets you hired.
Mirror the job post's wording for skills you really have. If an executive assistant post asks for Executive support and you've used it, say Executive support, in the post's spelling, and show where.
Mirror the job post's wording
If an executive assistant post says "Calendar management", write "Calendar management", not a near-synonym — as long as it's accurate. Recruiters search for the post's exact term.
Only claim what you can back up
Expect to be asked about every term you list. If you couldn't spend two minutes on Executive support — what you did and what changed — leave it out.
Show it in a bullet
A skills list says you know Executive support. A bullet like the one under Executive Assistant to the CEO in the example above shows what you did with it.
No stuffing, no hidden text
Repeating a word or hiding keywords in white text doesn't make you a better match. A person reads the resume in the end.
Which of these does your resume say?
Free ATS score and missing keywords in about 10 seconds.
Applying to one post? Scan its keywords against your resume.
Keep going
/ Questions
Executive Assistant keywords, answered.
Something else? support@launch-cv.com
How many keywords should an executive assistant resume have?
There's no magic number. Caroline's sample resume uses 17 of the 18 terms on this page — the ones that fit that job. Cover what your post asks for that you can back up, each where it fits; repeating a keyword doesn't help.
Should I copy keywords exactly from the job post?
Use the post's wording for skills you really have. If an executive assistant post says "Executive support", write "Executive support" rather than a synonym, so a recruiter searching for that term finds you. Don't add skills you don't have just because the post lists them.
Where should keywords go on my resume?
In your summary, a short skills section and, above all, the bullets under each job, where you show what you did with the skill. In Caroline's sample, Board meetings and Discretion are in the summary and Executive support shows up in a bullet under Executive Assistant to the CEO. Plain text in the body of the page is easiest for applicant tracking systems to read.
Which tools should I list on an executive assistant resume?
The ones you've used and the post mentions. Common ones in executive assistant posts include Concur, Microsoft 365, Outlook, PowerPoint and Zoom. Name the tool in the bullet where you used it, not only in the skills list.
How should I list CAP (IAAP) on my resume?
Spell it the way the job post does, and include both the abbreviation and the full name if you have room. Put licenses and certifications in their own section or next to your education, and only list ones that are current.
Keywords for related roles
All 88 rolesSee which of these your resume already says.
Free ATS check — no sign-up, about 10 seconds.