Personal Assistant CV example and writing guide

Use a reverse-chronological format and aim for one or two pages. Put your contact details first, followed by a short personal statement, skills, employment history, education and any relevant extras. A plain layout with clear headings is easier to scan than columns, graphics or decorative rating bars.

Tailor the opening third of your personal assistant CV to the employer. If the advert centres on diary management, calls, email, travel or meeting administration, make the strongest matching evidence easy to find. Keep the personal statement to two or three sentences rather than repeating the rest of the CV.

Under each job, combine the action you took, its scale and the result. Select skills you can prove through your work history. List education briefly unless you are early in your career, in which case useful modules, projects or administrative placements can carry more weight.

A job description records what you were expected to do. A strong experience section shows how well you did it. Start each bullet with a clear action, add the scope of the work, then give the result. Useful measures include the number of diaries supported, weekly meeting volume, travel bookings, expense value, response time, scheduling conflicts resolved or hours saved. These figures should come from records or evidence you can defend.

The stronger versions work because each gives the reader a picture of pace, responsibility and outcome. You do not need a dramatic percentage in every line. A reliable count, turnaround time or reduction in errors is often more convincing than a vague claim about improving efficiency.

Personal Assistants handle diary scheduling, phone calls, emails, travel, accommodation and general administration such as filing and expense reporting. Minute taking can also form part of the role. Write about these duties selectively: choose the examples that best match the vacancy and reveal judgement rather than copying every task from the job description.

For senior work, show anticipation and gatekeeping, as expected in an executive assistant role. You might explain how you protected preparation time, resolved competing requests or prepared an executive for decisions. If you coordinated with clients, state who was involved and what your intervention prevented or accelerated. For entry-level applications, draw on reception, retail, hospitality, volunteering or study projects where you organised people, handled enquiries or kept accurate records.

Good opening verbs include coordinated, prioritised, scheduled, arranged, reconciled, prepared, streamlined, screened, resolved and drafted. Avoid inflated verbs when a simpler one is more accurate. Keep each bullet to one or two lines, vary the evidence, and place the strongest result first under each role.

There is no need to pad this section. List each qualification in reverse-chronological order with its exact title, provider and completion year. If you are still studying, state the expected completion date. Recent applicants can add one short line on a relevant project or placement; experienced candidates usually need only the core details.

The available routes are optional rather than universal entry requirements. The Institute of Executive Assistants and Administrators (IEAA) offers the Level 3 PA Certificate Course and the PA Diploma. Pitman Training offers the PA/Secretarial Diploma, Executive PA Diploma and Professional Executive PA Diploma. These courses can normally be studied over one or two years. OCR Examinations Board offers Business Administration Courses that can normally be studied over the same period. A Business Administration Degree is another optional route.

Choose what to include according to the vacancy and your actual background. A completed course can support an early-career application, but it should not displace stronger evidence from paid work, placements or volunteering. Do not describe an optional route as mandatory. If you have no named qualification, keep the section factual and use your employment bullets to demonstrate relevant administrative ability.

Write credential names exactly as awarded. Do not shorten titles in a way that could imply a different course, and do not list training that you merely plan to take as completed. Older qualifications can be compressed to one line so the reader reaches your recent evidence quickly.