In short
A senior executive assistant's resume is usually read by the executive themselves, and they are hiring for one thing above all: someone they can stop worrying about. That means who you've supported and how big their world is, what you take off their desk, and the standard you've held for years without slipping. There's no revenue number here, and reaching for one is a mistake. Here is a senior Executive Assistant's full resume, why each part is there, and the LinkedIn headline, letter opening and contacts that go with it.
Lena is made up. Her resume is built the way FutureDay builds one: every line comes from something she actually did, and the numbers are volume and reliability, because that's what this job is measured in. Read it as a new CEO would, then read the notes.
An executive assistant's resume, start to finish
LENA MAHONEY
Executive Assistant | CEO & Board | 600 staff, 3 ports, 7-person executive team
Townsville QLD · lena.mahoney@email.com · 0400 000 000 · linkedin.com/in/lenamahoney
Summary
Executive assistant to the Chief Executive of a port services company with 600 staff across three ports. Runs the CEO's diary, travel and correspondence, coordinates the seven-person executive team, and produces the papers for the board and its two committees.
Takes things off the CEO's desk before they reach it: drafts the replies, chases the overdue papers, and knows which meetings can move. Every recurring task has a written procedure, so the office runs the same way during leave.
Career highlights
- Cut board pack turnaround from six working days to two across 14 board and committee meetings a year by setting a fixed paper timetable and moving packs onto Diligent; every pack since has reached directors on time.
- Set up one action register for the executive team, tracking around 300 decisions and actions a year, bringing overdue actions down from about 40 at any time to fewer than five.
- Planned and ran the company's first two-day leadership conference for 120 people from three ports, $14K under its $160K budget, and it now runs every year on the same plan.
Experience
Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive, Tarrant Harbour Services 2019 to now
Supports the CEO and coordinates a seven-person executive team. Port services, 600 staff, three ports. Secretariat support to the board and its audit and safety committees.
- Manages a diary of 35 to 45 meetings a week, including regulator, port authority and customer meetings across three cities.
- Books around 150 trips a year for the executive team, including overseas customer visits, inside the travel budget every year.
- Handled the CEO's confidential correspondence through an executive restructure and a business sale process, with nothing disclosed before it was announced.
- Introduced DocuSign for board resolutions and contracts, cutting signing time from about a week to a day.
Executive Assistant to the Managing Director, Strand & Ross Engineers 2014 to 2019
Civil engineering consultancy, 85 staff, two offices. Supported the managing director and four directors.
- Ran the move of the Townsville office over one weekend, 60 staff and their equipment, with every desk working on Monday morning.
- Consolidated 14 supplier contracts into five, saving $118K a year in office running costs.
- Kept the firm's ISO 9001 records; three external audits passed with no findings against administration.
Earlier career
Administration roles in health and legal services, including Practice Coordinator at Banfield Family Practice and Legal Secretary at Hartigan Legal.
Education and training
Diploma of Leadership and Management
Certificate IV in Project Management Practice
Systems and skills
Microsoft 365, Outlook, SharePoint, Diligent, DocuSign, Concur · Board and committee papers · Minute taking · Diary and travel management · Confidential correspondence · Event management
- HeadlineScope, not revenue. An executive assistant's job is sized by who you support and how big their world is. The company's revenue would be someone else's number. 600 staff, three ports and a seven-person executive team are hers.
- SummaryWho she holds up, and how. The first paragraph is the scope. The second is the judgement: what she takes off the CEO's desk before it lands. That's what a chief executive is actually hiring for.
- HighlightsA standard you can check. "Every pack since has reached directors on time" and "$14K under its $160K budget" prove reliability. "Highly organised" claims it. A reader believes the first kind.
- Scope lineWho, and how far it reaches. The CEO, the executive team, the board and its committees. A reader can see the level of the seat in one line.
- BulletsDiscretion, shown not claimed. The restructure and the sale are named by type only. "Nothing disclosed before it was announced" proves discretion better than writing the word.
- Earlier careerUndated, one line. Health and legal administration, where the habits started. One line, no dates.
- SystemsThe tools of the seat. Board portal, signing and expense systems are what these job descriptions name, and what an executive expects you to run without being shown.
What does an executive look for in an executive assistant?
Three things. Have you supported someone at my level, in a world as busy as mine? What will you take off my desk without being asked? Will anything I trust you with go further than it should? A resume that shows the scope, one or two things you fixed, and a confidential matter handled cleanly answers all three before the interview starts.
Before: "Provided high-level administrative support to the CEO, including diary management and meeting coordination."
After: "Set up one action register for the executive team, tracking around 300 decisions and actions a year, bringing overdue actions down from about 40 at any time to fewer than five."
What should an executive assistant's LinkedIn headline say?
Role, the level you support, then the scope. Lena's looks like this:
"Executive Assistant | CEO & Board Support | Ports and infrastructure, 600 staff"
Not "Organised, detail-oriented team player". It describes every assistant, so it doesn't help anyone find you.
How should an executive assistant's cover letter open?
Calm and specific. Lead with something you took off someone's desk and what it made possible:
"Board packs at my current company took six working days to put together. I set a fixed timetable, cut that to two, and every pack since has reached directors on time. Your new chief executive starts in March, and the first board cycle is where that rhythm matters most."
Then close on what you'd take on in the first month. Keep it short: an overwritten letter is a warning sign to someone hiring for precision.
Who should an executive assistant contact, and how?
Senior executive assistant roles are often filled by someone the executive already knows, or someone a peer of theirs recommends. The resume comes out once a conversation is under way. Getting it under way is the work.
An Executive Assistant's first conversations should be with:
- Executives you've supported who have moved on. A chief executive will take another chief executive's word on an assistant over almost anything else.
- Other executive assistants. You set up meetings with them every week. They are often the first to know a CEO is leaving, or that a new one is arriving and will need support.
- The Chief Executive or Chief Operating Officer at organisations you'd like to work for. They usually make the final call on their own assistant, even when HR runs the process.
Short, warm, and asking for very little. To the managing director she used to support, who now sits on boards:
"Hi Warren, I hope board life is treating you well. I'm starting to look at my next role, ideally supporting a chief executive in Townsville, or one who spends a lot of time here. You know how I work better than anyone, so if one of your boards has a new CEO who needs support, I'd be grateful for an introduction."
If he introduces you, follow up well. Here's what to write when you follow up with a hiring manager.
How FutureDay helps an executive assistant
FutureDay builds your resume from your own work history, the way Lena's is built, and tailors it to each job description without adding anything you didn't do. Every day, it then shows you who to contact, what to say, and what to do next.
In summary
Size the job by who you support and how big their world is.
Show what you take off their desk, not a list of duties.
Prove reliability with a standard held, and discretion with an outcome.
Only the last 10 to 15 years in detail; the rest in one line.
Send the resume after the conversation starts, and put your effort into starting it.