Getting your secretarial admin CV authored by a high street recruitment firm is not always ideal. It looks terrrible and smacks of unprofessionalism.

For secretarial jobs you must realise certain, things. For example, there are some high street recruiters who say that each position must be suffixed with a heading of "reason for leaving," which for secretaries can be a recipe for disaster. There are many secretarial admin jobs  that are short term or that can involve working on contract, temp roles or even for a small company who may not have the most secure financial future.

When writing your CV try not to:

1. Put your life story in your CV.
2. Go into great detail about personal things, hobbies, family, etc should be kept to a minimum.
3. Do not write in great detail what you were doing 15 years ago.
4. Recent, relevant experience is important here.

Time spent making sure your secretarial admin CV is crisp and fresh is always time well spent.

• Resist the urge to jazz up your CV with colour and images.
• Don't use too much bold type
• Underlining should be used for website links only
• Stick to using everyday fonts like 'Times New Roman' or 'Arial' - they're easier to read
• Use tiny fonts, it hurts people's eyes to read it.
• Use long blocky paragraphs of space, the human eye needs white space or will quickly tire of reading.
• Don't use acronyms unless they are universally understood
.
Do not put resume/CV or Curriculum Vitae at the top of your secretarial admin CV. It is obvious to most people that is what it is. Also many documents on databases are indexed by means of what comes first on the sheet, which should always be your own name and personal information.

These simple mistakes will turn your reader off straightaway.

And finally...

Mistooks, Typos and spelling errors scream out to your reader "I don't care"
Do not make simple spelling or grammatical errors in your own field of expertise, it is extremely embarrassing.
Don't put all your faith that your spell checker is 100% accurate.
Have a friend or colleague review your CV before you send it.

Classic CV mistakes

Grammar- read your entire CV out loud to yourself. If it doesn't sound right it must be changed.

Being a secretary administration and accuracy of forms and letters is basically what will get you a job. It goes without saying that your secretarial CV must be letter perfect!!

• Writing lots, but saying nothing.

I see CVs and profiles all day long that are nothing but a long collection of superlatives, adjectives, and non sense buzz words of management talk with very little meaning or substance.

This is just lunacy.

Why use 20 words when 5 would do?
Try removing small link words to make sentences shorter, punchier and more to the point.
Write it, then rewrite to make every single word count.
Rip out stuff that isn't super condensed, pure gold.
And absolutely - no life stories.
Draw your readers attention with bullet points not long sprawling sentences.

• No tailoring

• Being vague

Using fluffy phrases like "Seeking a new role position that offers professional growth." doesn't really give your reader anything to go on. Say something specific that focuses on their company's needs as well as
your own. "I'm looking for a challenging entry-level secretarial position that allows me to utilise my skills to bring cost savings and efficiency to my role." Is much better.

• Highlighting secretarial duties Instead of achievements

Not all roles have KPIs or targets that are quantifiable, but– you must have had some impact in the business. Think of time-saving activities, new procedures, successful campaigns and increased sales penetration, giving percentage increases wherever possible. The typical realm of achievement for a secretary is improvement of efficiency within a business process.

• Going over 2 pages is not allowed
• Leaving out important information
•Writing in clichés

Generalisms and sweeping statements such as - "Good communicator", "Works well in a team", "Committed" – without any actual evidence of these you might as well write "blah, blah, blah".

If you've written your achievements well in the rest of your CV, the fact that
you have these skills will already be evident.

If you must use these phrases, at least try to link it with something you've done like "Used my communication skills to build a substantial client base."

2 more fatal CV errors:

• Poor design and layout
• Incorrect personal information