Office and administration

Secretary CV: sample CV and template

This example is for secretaries, office assistants, company receptionists and office workers who organize the office, documents and calendars.

See a sample secretary CV and learn how to show accuracy, organization and knowledge of software, because that is exactly what employers look for.

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Example CV: secretary

All the details in this example are fictional. Treat it as a model of layout and wording, and replace the content with your own experience.

Ewa Kowalczyk

Secretary, office assistant

Warsaw +48 123 456 789 ewa.kowalczyk@example.com

Professional profile

Secretary with 7 years of experience in the office of a service company and a law firm. I manage calendars, document flow and correspondence, and organize meetings and business trips. I know MS Office and document management systems well and work accurately and discreetly.

Work experience

Secretary, executive assistant

01.2021 – present

Service company, 120 employees, Warsaw

Managing the calendars of two board members and organizing around 40 meetings a month.
Document flow in an electronic system, registering incoming and outgoing correspondence.
Organizing business trips: bookings and travel expense claims.
Preparing presentations and summaries in PowerPoint and Excel.
Ordering office supplies: cutting costs by 15% after changing suppliers.

Secretary

03.2017 – 12.2020

Law firm, Warsaw

Running the reception, phones and serving the firm's clients.
Preparing letters and correspondence, archiving files.
Keeping the schedule of hearings and meetings.

Education

Bachelor's degree in administration

2013 – 2016

University of Warsaw

Skills

MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
Electronic document management
Managing calendars and organizing meetings
Correspondence and drafting letters
Travel expense claims
Running the reception

Courses and certificates

Intermediate Excel course, 2022
Training in personal data protection in the office, 2021

Languages

English: B2 (business correspondence)

Additional information

Fast touch typing

I hereby consent to the processing of my personal data for the purposes necessary to carry out the recruitment process, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (GDPR).

How to write a secretary CV

Professional summary

Show in a few sentences what kind of office you run, who you work for (the board, a department, a law firm) and what you do best: organization, documents, dealing with people. Add your software skills and a foreign language, because they appear in almost every secretary job ad.

Office assistant with 3 years of experience in a manufacturing company. I am responsible for the reception, correspondence and room bookings and keep a register of documents in Excel. I speak English at B2 level and learn new systems quickly.

Experience: duties and achievements

A secretary's work is often invisible, so on your CV you have to show it with numbers: how many people you support, how many meetings you organize, how many documents pass through your hands. Also say what you improved.

Weaker: Organizing meetings.

Better: Managing the calendars of two board members and organizing around 40 meetings a month.

Weaker: Ordering office supplies.

Better: Changing the office supplies supplier, which cut costs by 15%.

Weaker: Working with documents.

Better: Introducing an electronic correspondence register, so any letter can be found in seconds.

Skills worth listing

List software specifically and with your level, for example Excel: pivot tables and formulas. Soft skills are just as important here, but it is better to show them with examples in your experience than with a list of adjectives.

Professional skills

MS Office or Google Workspace
Document management systems
Drafting letters and correspondence
Organizing meetings and travel
Settling travel expenses and invoices
Archiving documents

Personal skills

Accuracy and order
Discretion
Excellent manners
Setting priorities
Staying calm with many tasks at once

Secretary CV with no experience

With no office experience, describe internships, traineeships, work at a reception desk, in a shop or in customer service. This shows that you deal well with people and are responsible.

Add courses in office software, a foreign language and fast typing. Employers often train people in their own systems if they see someone accurate and organized.

Tailoring your CV to the job offer

An executive assistant needs discretion and excellent time management, a secretary in a law firm needs knowledge of legal letters and deadlines, and a school office needs contact with parents and student records. Move what fits the workplace to the top and repeat the words from the job ad.

The most common mistakes on a secretary CV

Typos and inconsistent formatting: in this profession, it is the first thing an employer notices.
Only adjectives, for example organized and accurate, without examples.
Software listed in general terms, without your level.
Leaving out a foreign language when the company has contacts abroad.
Long descriptions of duties with no results.

Questions and answers

What skills should a secretary put on a CV?

Office software with your level, document flow, drafting letters, organizing meetings and travel, foreign languages and qualities such as accuracy, discretion and setting priorities.

Does this template work for an office worker CV?

Yes. The layout and most of the skills are the same. Change the job title and adapt the duties to the work you do.

How many pages should a secretary CV have?

One page, two at most with long experience. A carefully laid out, short CV shows your organizational skills by itself.

Create a secretary CV in the builder

In the CV Majster builder you enter your details step by step and see right away what the document looks like. You can copy the wording from this page and adapt it to yourself. The finished CV as a PDF costs a one-off PLN 5, with no subscription, and you see the preview before you pay.

Go to the CV builder