Your remote work, organisation and administration skills are impressive, but your CV writing could use a bit of work.
If this sounds familiar, we can help you to secure your next exciting virtual assistant gig.
Make use of our step-by-step guide for writing a CV that will help to secure you an interview, and check out our virtual assistant CV example for extra inspiration.
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Virtual Assistant CV example
Use this CV example as a guide to formatting and structuring your Virtual Assistant CV, so that busy recruiters can easily digest your information and determine your suitability for the role.
It also provides some insight into the key skills, experience and qualifications you need to highlight.
Virtual Assistant CV format and structure
The format and structure of your CV is important because it will determine how easy it is for recruiters and employers to read your CV.
If they can find the information they need quickly, they’ll be happy; but if they struggle, your application could be overlooked.
A simple and logical structure will always create a better reading experience than a complex structure, and with a few simple formatting tricks, you’ll be good to go.
Tips for formatting your Virtual Assistant CV
- Length: Your CV should always be limited to two sides of A4, regardless of whether you have a year or three decades of experience. With recruiters juggling multiple responsibilities, they don’t have time to sift through lengthy applications.
- Readability: By formatting your section headings with bold or a different colour font and using bullet points to break up large blocks of text, you can help busy recruiters quickly scan through your CV. This makes it easier for them to find important details without wasting time.
- Design & format: While it’s important that your CV design looks good, it also needs to be functional (which means easy for recruiters to read) Keep the design simple to achieve a good balance between looking good and reading well.
- Photos: Recruiters can’t factor in appearance, gender or race into the recruitment process, so a profile photo is not usually needed. However, creative employers do like to see them, so you can choose to include one if you think it will add value to your CV .
Quick tip: Creating a professional CV style can be difficult and time-consuming when using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. To create a winning CV quickly, try our quick-and-easy CV Builder and use one of their eye-catching professional CV templates.
CV structure
To make it easy for busy recruiters and hiring managers to digest your CV, divide the content into several key sections when writing it:
- Contact details: Always list your contact details at the very top to avoid them being missed.
- Profile: Start with an introductory paragraph that catches recruiters’ attention and summarises your offerings.
- Work experience/career history: List your relevant work experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your current position.
- Education: Provide a concise summary of your education and qualifications.
- Interests and hobbies: You can include an optional section to showcase any hobbies that demonstrate transferable skills.
Now you understand the basic layout of a CV, here’s what you should include in each section of yours.
Contact Details
Kick-start your CV with your contact details, so recruiters can get in touch easily.
Here’s what you should include:
- Mobile number
- Email address – Make sure it’s professional, with no silly nicknames.
- Location – Your town or city is sufficient, rather than a full address.
- LinkedIn profile or portfolio URL – Ensure they’ve been updated and are looking slick and professional.
Quick tip: Avoid listing your date of birth, marital status or other irrelevant details – they’re unnecessary at this stage.
Virtual Assistant CV Profile
Your CV profile is the first thing recruiters will read – so your goal is to give them a reason to read onto the end of the document!
Create a short and snappy paragraph that showcases your key skills, relevant experience and impressive accomplishments.
Ultimately, it should prove to the reader that you’ve got what it takes to carry out the job.
How to write a good CV profile:
- Make it short and sharp: Recruiters are busy, so to ensure your profile is actually read, it’s best to keep it short and snappy. 3-5 punchy lines makes for the perfect profile.
- Tailor it: No matter how much time you put into your CV profile, it won’t impress if it’s irrelevant to the role you’re applying for. Before you start writing, make a list of the skills, knowledge and experience your target employer is looking for. Then, make sure to mention them in your CV profile and throughout the rest of your application.
- Don’t add an objective: Avoid discussing your career goals in your CV profile – if you think they’re necessary, briefly mention them in your cover letter instead.
- Avoid generic phrases: “Determined team player who always gives 110%” might seem like a good way to fill up your CV profile, but generic phrases like this won’t land you an interview. Recruiters hear them time and time again and have no real reason to believe them. Instead, pack your profile with your hard skills and tangible achievements.
Example CV profile for Virtual Assistant
What to include in your Virtual Assistant CV profile?
- Experience overview: Recruiters will want to know what type of companies you’ve worked for, industries you have knowledge of, and the type of work you’ve carried out in the past, so give them a summary of this in your profile.
- Targeted skills: Highlight your skills which are most relevant to Virtual Assistant jobs, to ensure that recruiters see your most in-demand skills as soon as they open your CV.
- Important qualifications: If the job postings require specific qualifications, it is essential to incorporate them in your profile to ensure visibility to hiring managers.
Quick tip: If you are finding it difficult to write an attention-grabbing CV profile, choose from hundreds of pre-written profiles across all industries, and add one to your CV with one click in our quick-and-easy CV Builder. All profiles are written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset.
Core skills section
In addition to your CV profile, your core skills section provides an easily digestible snapshot of your skills – perfect for grabbing the attention of busy hiring managers.
As Virtual Assistant jobs might receive a huge pile of applications, this is a great way to stand out and show off your suitability for the role.
It should be made up of 2-3 columns of bullet points and be made up of skills that are highly relevant to the jobs you are targeting.
Important skills for your Virtual Assistant CV
Administrative Support – Providing administrative support to clients, including managing calendars, scheduling appointments, and handling correspondence.
Stakeholder Communication – Effectively communicating with clients, team members, and external stakeholders.
Documentation Management – Maintaining files, data, and documents in a systematic and easily accessible manner.
Problem Resolution – Identifying and solving problems independently, making sound decisions and providing creative solutions.
Technical Proficiency – Utilising various virtual communication tools and software, such as video conferencing platforms, project management software, and cloud storage systems.
Customer Service – Delivering high-quality customer service, responding to inquiries, and resolving customer issues promptly and professionally.
Research – Conducting online research to gather information, analyse data, and provide insightful findings for clients.
Quick tip: Our quick-and-easy CV Builder has thousands of in-demand skills for all industries and professions, that can be added to your CV in seconds – This will save you time and ensure you get noticed by recruiters.
Work experience
Now that recruiters have a good overview of your skills and abilities, you need to jump into the detail of your career history.
Give them a more thorough insight into what you can do by creating a detailed list of your relevant experience.
Start with your current role, and work backwards through all the relevant positions you’ve held.
This could be freelance, contract or voluntary work too; as long as it’s related to the role you’re applying for.
Structuring each job
Lengthy, unbroken chunks of text is a recruiters worst nightmare, but your work experience section can easily end up looking like that if you are not careful.
To avoid this, use my tried-and-tested 3-step structure, as illustrated below:
Outline
Start with a brief summary of your role as a whole, as well as the type of company you worked for.
Key responsibilities
Next up, you should write a short list of your day-to-day duties within the job.
Recruiters are most interested in your sector-specific skills and knowledge, so highlight these wherever possible.
Key achievements
Lastly, add impact by highlight 1-3 key achievements that you made within the role.
Struggling to think of an achievement? If it had a positive impact on your company, it counts.
For example, you might increased company profits, improved processes, or something simpler, such as going above and beyond to solve a customer’s problem.
Sample job description for Virtual Assistant CV
Outline
Provide daily off-site assistance to the CEO, board members, and other associates through scheduled reports, logistics, and HR follow-ups, for a firm that extensively supports advisers concerning accessible services to all customers throughout the investment process.
Key Responsibilities
- Answer incoming calls and emails and route messages to appropriate personnel.
- Use numerous software applications, social media platforms, and other tools that enable easier and streamlined communication with global clients.
- Execute administrative tasks, such as filing, photocopying, conducting research, responding to requests, event planning, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings.
- Collect and analyse web metrics, such as visits, time spent on site, page views, transaction volume, traffic mix, and cost per click.
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our quick-and-easy CV Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
After your work experience, your education section should provide a detailed view of your academic background.
Begin with those most relevant to Virtual Assistant jobs, such as vocational training or degrees.
If you have space, you can also mention your academic qualifications, such as A-Levels and GCSEs.
Focus on the qualifications that are most relevant to the jobs you are applying for.
Hobbies and interests
This section is entirely optional, so you’ll have to use your own judgement to figure out if it’s worth including.
If your hobbies and interests could make you appear more suitable for your dream job, then they are definitely worth adding.
Interests which are related to the industry, or hobbies like sports teams or volunteering, which display valuable transferable skills might be worth including.
When putting together your Virtual Assistant CV, there are a few key points to remember.
Always tailor your CV to the target role, even if it means creating several versions for different roles.
Additionally, remember that the structure and format of your CV needs just as much attention as the content.
Good luck with your job search!