The short answer
An admin CV needs to prove you’re accurate, organised, clear in writing and comfortable with everyday software. You don’t need office experience to show that. Pick examples where getting the details right mattered, describe your digital skills by what you can actually do with them, and make the CV itself a model of tidy, error-free admin.
Meet Sana
Sana Mirza is made up, but her route into office work is a common one. She’s 20 and lives in Leicester. She finished her A levels two years ago and has worked part-time at a busy takeaway ever since, taking phone and online orders and running the counter.
For the last year she’s also been volunteer secretary for her local allotment association: writing the minutes, answering the association’s emails and keeping the waiting list on a spreadsheet. She’s applying for an administrative assistant job at a lettings agency.
What the role may involve
The National Careers Service admin assistant profile lists responding to enquiries by phone, email and social media, typing letters and documents, updating computer records while following data protection rules, ordering supplies, arranging meetings and taking minutes. The skills it highlights include being thorough with attention to detail, verbal communication, customer service, time management and prioritising, working alone and with others, and competent computer use. It also notes that employers train you on their own systems.
The skills that matter, and why
- Written communication. Much of the job is emails and documents that represent the organisation. Clear and correct matters more than formal.
- Accuracy. A wrong date, a mistyped phone number or a misfiled record causes real problems for someone else.
- Organisation and time management. Admin is often lots of small tasks from different people, all wanted today.
- Following procedures. Offices run on processes, many of them about data protection and money.
- Digital skills. Email, documents, spreadsheets and shared calendars, used well.
Notice that Sana’s CV is itself evidence. If an admin assistant’s CV has a typo or inconsistent dates, it undermines everything it says.
The full CV
Sana Mirza
Administrative assistant · Leicester
07700 900284 | sana.mirza@example.com | Leicester
Profile 1
Organised and accurate, with two years’ experience handling phone and online orders at a busy takeaway, where getting every detail right is part of the job. As volunteer secretary for my local allotment association, I write the minutes, answer emails and keep a waiting list of around 80 people up to date. I’m looking for my first administrative role and I’m keen to learn how an office runs.
Key skills 2
- Accuracy: take and check around 40 phone and online orders on a Friday evening, reading each one back and checking allergy notes before it goes to the kitchen.
- Written communication: write and send the allotment association’s meeting minutes and reply to members’ emails, usually within two days.
- Organisation: manage the allotment waiting list, updating it when plots become free and contacting the next person in order.
- Following procedures: follow the takeaway’s allergen and cash handling procedures on every shift. 3
Experience
Counter and Order Assistant, Spice Junction, LeicesterSept 2024 to present 4
- Take phone and online orders, check them with the customer and pass them to the kitchen accurately.
- Handle payments and cash up the till at the end of evening shifts, following the shop’s checking procedure.
- Deal with queries and complaints at the counter, passing anything I can’t resolve to the manager.
Volunteer Secretary, Northfield Lane Allotment AssociationNov 2025 to present 5
- Take minutes at monthly committee meetings and send them to around 80 members within a week.
- Answer emails from members and people interested in a plot.
- Keep the waiting list in a shared spreadsheet, recording the date each person applied so plots are offered fairly.
IT skills 6
- Email and calendars: Gmail and Outlook, including shared calendars for committee meetings.
- Word processing: Microsoft Word and Google Docs: formatting minutes and letters using headings and templates.
- Spreadsheets: Excel and Google Sheets: sorting, filtering and simple formulas such as SUM and COUNTIF. Not yet used pivot tables.
- Typing: about 45 words per minute (online typing test, November 2026). 7
Education
Wyvern Sixth Form College2022 to 2024 8
- A levels: English Language (C), Sociology (C), Business (D)
What each part is doing
Profile. It leads with accuracy and organisation, the two things an admin role needs most, and backs them straight away with real situations. The last sentence is honest about this being a first office job.
Back to the CVKey skills before experience. Her experience titles don’t sound like admin, so the skills section does the translating first. By the time the reader gets to “Counter and Order Assistant”, they already see why it’s relevant.
Back to the CVFollowing procedures. Allergen and cash procedures are real, rule-based processes. Offices have their own, and this shows she takes them seriously.
Back to the CVPaid work in another setting. Each bullet picks out the admin-like parts of the job: checking details, handling money, passing on problems. It doesn’t pretend the takeaway was an office.
Back to the CVVolunteering that’s closest to the job. Minutes, emails and a records spreadsheet are exactly what admin assistants do. Small organisations count.
Back to the CVIT skills at an honest level. Each line says which software and what she does with it. “Not yet used pivot tables” is unusual on a CV, but if the advert asks for advanced Excel, being clear protects her from an awkward interview task. Leave that line out if it isn’t relevant.
Back to the CVA real number, honestly sourced. If you mention typing speed, say how you know. If you’ve never measured it, leave it out.
Back to the CVEducation last, briefly. Two years on, her work and volunteering say more than her grades, so education moves down. Some adverts ask for GCSE English and maths at grade 4 or above; if so, add them.
Back to the CV
The personal statement
Before
Highly motivated individual with excellent communication and IT skills, seeking an administrative role in a dynamic organisation.
After
Organised and accurate, with two years’ experience handling phone and online orders at a busy takeaway, where getting every detail right is part of the job.
Why it works “Excellent communication and IT skills” is what everyone writes. Sana’s version gives a reason to believe she’s accurate, from a job the reader can picture.
Weaker and stronger experience lines
Before
Worked in a takeaway.
After
Take phone and online orders, check them with the customer and pass them to the kitchen accurately.
Why it works The first tells the reader nothing about admin. The second highlights checking and passing on information, which is most of an admin job.
Before
Good IT skills including Microsoft Office.
After
Excel and Google Sheets: sorting, filtering and simple formulas such as SUM and COUNTIF.
Why it works “Microsoft Office” covers everything from typing a letter to building a database. Saying what you can actually do lets the employer judge, and it’s much easier to talk about in an interview.
Before
Helped out with the allotment committee.
After
Take minutes at monthly committee meetings and send them to around 80 members within a week.
Why it works Minute-taking is a named task in many admin adverts. The stronger line uses that word and shows she does it regularly.
If you’ve got no formal experience at all
You might not have a job or a volunteer role like Sana’s. Look for times you’ve handled information carefully:
- School or college: coursework deadlines, a project write-up, organising a group’s shared folder, being a form rep.
- Home: sorting a family member’s appointments or letters, managing a household budget, booking travel.
- Clubs and groups: keeping a team’s contact list, running a group chat, collecting subs.
Then build your skills section from those. Keep your digital skills honest: if you’ve only used spreadsheets for coursework, say that. Many employers train new admin staff on their own systems.
Tailoring it to the advert
Admin adverts vary from reception-heavy roles to data entry to supporting a team. Read for:
- The software they name. If they use a system you haven’t used, don’t claim it. Mention the closest thing you have used and that you learn new software quickly, if that’s true.
- The tasks they list first. If “answering phones and greeting visitors” comes first, move your customer-facing evidence up. If it’s “data entry and records”, lead with accuracy.
- What kind of organisation it is. A lettings agency, a school office and a GP surgery all handle personal information. A line about following procedures, or care with confidential records, is relevant to all of them.
Admin applications often ask for a cover letter, which is a chance to show your writing. Our cover letter lesson walks you through one.
Try
Write your digital skills honestly
List the software you’ve actually used. For each one, write what you can do with it, not just its name.
Your answers are saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent to us.
Getting ready for the interview
Admin interviews often include a short practical task, like writing an email or checking a document for mistakes, alongside questions about juggling priorities and following instructions. Practise in the Practice Room (choose Office or administration), and read common interview questions.
Ready to turn what you’ve learned into your own CV?
CVBUFFED gives you a tidy, consistent layout, so your CV shows your organisation before anyone reads a word. Every section has a prompt and an example, and it never adds anything you didn’t write. £12.50 once, no subscription, and your CV stays in your browser.
Build my CVSources and further reading
- Admin assistant job profile National Careers Service
- CV sections National Careers Service
Checked against these sources on 14 November 2026. Rules and rates change: if something here looks out of date, tell us at hello@cvbuffed.com. How we check our guidance.