Office administrator CV: example and tips

What employers look for in an office administrator

Office administrators, administrative assistants and administrative officers work in almost every industry: law firms, property, construction, healthcare, schools, municipalities and small businesses. The tasks vary, but the core is the same. You handle enquiries by phone and email, keep post and archives in order, send invoices, plan meetings and travel, and help managers and colleagues with whatever needs doing. Job ads often ask for someone who is “structured”, “self motivated”, “service minded” and “good with computers”.

Many employers use applicant tracking systems that sort applications by the words in the ad. Describe your tasks with the same words the ad uses, where they match what you have done. If the ad says “invoicing” and “supplier follow up”, both should appear in your CV, not just “finance tasks”. Selja does this for you: paste in the ad, and the words end up where they match your experience. Our guide to an ATS-friendly CV explains how these systems read your CV. Most ads in Norway are in Norwegian, so it helps to know terms such as sentralbord (switchboard), arkiv (archive) and fakturering (invoicing). These words come up again and again:

• Administration, office support and administrative support for management.
• Switchboard, reception, welcoming visitors and customer service.
• Post, archiving, record keeping and document management.
• Invoicing, incoming invoices, approving invoices and basic bookkeeping.
• Meeting planning, minutes, travel and events.
• Microsoft 365: Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams and SharePoint.
• Structured, accurate, self motivated and service minded.

Formal requirements: a trade certificate helps but is not required

There are no legal requirements for working in an office. Most employers look for relevant experience, good spoken and written Norwegian and confidence with computers. Many ads mention upper secondary school as a minimum, and some ask for a trade certificate or a finance qualification from a vocational college, especially when the role involves a lot of invoicing, payroll or accounting.

The trade certificate (fagbrev) is now called service- og administrasjonsfaget. Before the curricula were renewed in 2020, it was called kontor- og administrasjonsfaget, so if you have an older certificate, write the name exactly as it appears on it. The usual route is Vg1 sales, service and tourism, Vg2 service, security and administration, and two years as an apprentice in a company. If you have worked in offices for a long time without a trade certificate, you can take it as an experienced worker through the praksiskandidat scheme. According to the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Udir), you then need varied work experience at least 25 percent longer than the normal training period, which here means at least five years, and you must pass a theory exam before the trade test.

If you apply for an office job in the state sector, the best qualified applicant must be hired, with weight given to education, experience and personal suitability. This is set out in the Civil Servants Act (statsansatteloven). Show clearly how you meet each requirement in the ad. Our guide to a CV for an adviser or case officer has more advice on public sector jobs.

Example of a summary for an office administrator CV

The summary is the three to five sentences at the top of your CV. It should say who you are, what you can do and what you are looking for. Here is a made up example you can use as a pattern:

Example: “Structured office administrator with six years of experience in administration at an accounting firm and a building supplies chain. Responsible for the switchboard, invoicing around 300 customers a month and the digital archive in SharePoint. Enjoys supporting managers and colleagues, and likes finding simpler ways to handle routine tasks. Looking for a permanent role with more responsibility for finance and purchasing.”

Replace the numbers and systems with your own, and only write what you can explain in an interview. You will find more examples in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

Office work is easy to describe as a list of tasks, and then your CV looks like everyone else's. What sets you apart is scope and results: how many people you helped, how often, how much time you saved and what improved. Start with a strong verb in the past tense, and finish with a number where you can.

• Weak: “Answered the phone.” Strong: “Ran the switchboard for 45 employees and resolved or transferred 60 to 80 enquiries a day.”
• Weak: “Invoicing.” Strong: “Sent out 250 invoices a month and followed up reminders, cutting amounts overdue by more than 30 days by a quarter in one year.”
• Weak: “Responsible for the archive.” Strong: “Sorted and digitised five years of paper archives, and made the documents searchable in SharePoint for the whole office.”
• Weak: “Planned meetings.” Strong: “Planned board meetings, courses and two annual gatherings for 120 participants, including venues, travel and accommodation within budget.”
• Weak: “Knows Excel.” Strong: “Built a timesheet template in Excel that cut half a day from the monthly payroll work.”
• Weak: “Welcomed visitors.” Strong: “Ran reception and access cards for 200 employees and suppliers, and set up the routine for registering visitors.”

Skills, systems and courses worth including

In an office, the systems you know often decide how quickly you get up to speed. “Good with computers” says very little. Name the program and what you used it for, so the employer can see that you can work independently from day one.

• Microsoft 365: Outlook, Word, Excel with formulas and pivot tables, Teams and SharePoint, or Google Workspace.
• Accounting systems such as Tripletex, Visma, PowerOffice or Fiken, with what you did: invoicing, entering vouchers or approving invoices.
• Case and archive systems such as Public 360, Elements or WebSak, if you have worked in the public sector.
• Time registration, expense claims and purchasing portals.
• Courses in Excel, archiving, data protection or finance, with name and year.
• Languages: good spoken and written Norwegian, and English or other languages you use at work.

No experience, or many years in administration

If you are applying for your first office job, it is normal to have little to put under work experience. Highlight what shows you are structured and service minded: part time work in a shop or customer service, volunteering as treasurer or secretary in a club, and summer jobs. Say exactly what you did, for example “kept the membership list and sent out fees to 150 members of the sports club”. If you have worked through a temping agency, include the assignments. Many short assignments show that you learn new systems quickly. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice, and the guide to a customer service CV shows how to describe service work with numbers.

If you have many years in administration, the challenge is to show how you have developed. Cut older roles down to one line and use the space for the responsibilities you have had in recent years: budgets, purchasing, training new starters, HR tasks or being the contact for the accounting firm and IT supplier. If you are aiming for office manager or accounting, highlight the tasks that point that way. Our guide to an accountant CV shows how to describe accounting work. Keep the CV to one or two pages.

Common mistakes in an office administrator CV

An office CV is often read by someone who is precise themselves, so small mistakes count for more than in many other jobs. Read your CV aloud before you send it, and look out for these in particular:

• Spelling mistakes, mixed date formats and an untidy layout. It undermines the claim that you are accurate.
• “Good with computers” without naming the programs.
• Long lists of tasks with no scope or results.
• The same CV for a law firm, a municipality and a construction company, even though they look for different things.
• Old courses at the top, while the most important things are at the bottom.
• Missing contact details or an informal email address.

Create your office CV in under a minute with Selja

Office jobs look similar in the title, but not in the content. One role puts weight on invoicing and Tripletex, another on the switchboard and meeting planning, a third on archiving in a public sector system. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the words from the ad where they match what you have done. That way you can apply for more jobs in less time.

Selja never adds experience or skills you do not have. If the ad asks for a system your CV does not mention, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. It is free to start: check your CV for free, or take a free ATS check against the ad. Get started when you want to create your first application.

The application and next steps

The cover letter for an office job is also a work sample, because it shows how you write. Keep it to one page: why you are applying there, two or three examples that answer the requirements in the ad, and when you can start. See our example of a job application and the guide on how to write a cover letter.

For the interview, have an example of a time you brought order to something messy, and a time you juggled many tasks at once. Some employers give a short test in Excel or writing. Practise with the interview questions for the role, and check the pay with the free pay check before you negotiate.