The job responsibilities required for an assistant manager are a catch-all for anything management related as well as any job tasks that need to be carried out within your store or office.
Assistant managers need to be able to jump into any role, including a management position when “the boss” is out.
If you have worked your way up to being considered for an assistant manager position, it is truly a testament to your hard work and dedication.
Regardless of if you already work for the company you are applying to or not, the first step is always a resume.
When writing your resume, it is essential to include details that describe your strengths in both the industry you work and your management abilities.
Trying to capture all of that in a one-page resume can be a tricky task, but if you are up to the challenge, this article will steer you in the right direction.
Let’s get started with a TL;DR version.
How to write an assistant manager resume:
- Identify key skills required for the assistant manager role.
- Tailor resume to the specific industry and company.
- Start with a strong, engaging summary statement.
- Emphasize relevant assistant manager work experience and accomplishments.
- Showcase leadership abilities and teamwork skills.
- Include measurable results and achievements.
- Detail any certifications or licenses held.
- List relevant education and training courses.
- Mention software proficiency and technical skills.
- Keep formatting clean, consistent, and easy-to-read.
- Proofread for errors and clarity before submission.
Let’s begin with a sample assistant manager resume to demonstrate how all the resume pieces fit together. Then we will break each section down to really drill into how to write the best assistant manager resume you possibly can.
Sample Assistant Manager Resume (Text Version)
Contact Info:
Will Palmer
[email protected]
1 (513) 555-5500
Cincinnati, OH 41073
Summary Statement:
Assistant Manager: Dynamic assistant manager with strong attention to detail who thrives in creating a collaborative team that exceeds customer expectations. Over 10 years of experience demonstrating the ability to build relationships across the company, including customers, employees, management, and shareholders.
Key Areas of Expertise:
- Security Systems
- Nielsen
- InfoScout
- Spotfire
- Customer Service
- Procedure Adherence
- Team Oriented
- Safety & Efficiency Training
- Motivational
- Leadership
- Time Management
- Budgeting/Sales
- Fluent Spanish/English
Professional Experience:
Empire Today | Cincinnati, OH
Assistant Sales Manager | Sept 2016 – Present
- Over-deliver on the market revenue plan by 10% above expectation
- Provide daily support to sales team, received a 97% positive review
- Address any challenges of the sales team with great urgency
- Field phone calls from sales reps & help mentor & coach them
RNR Custom Wheels | Cincinnati, OH
Assistant Manager | June 2013 – Oct 2016
- Scheduled and assigned employee tasks to increase productivity by 13%
- Ensured availability of merchandise and services with accurate inventories
- Implemented security systems and measures in order to secure merchandise
- Determined needed marketing strategy changes to increase revenue by 10%
Clifton Market | Cincinnati, OH
Produce Assistant Floor Manager | Aug 2010 – June 2013
- Maintained a seasonal, innovative, & visually attractive inventory
- Provided excellent customer service by responding to questions & concerns
- Established & enforced procedures to ensure quality & fresh product rotation
- Supervised & assisted with training & work to maximize department success
Education and Certifications
Bachelor’s Degree | Business Administration
University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH
Class of 2010
Format Your Assistant Manager Resume the Right Way
Before you begin writing your assistant manager resume, you should first consider how you want it to look overall, and that starts with the format.
Hiring managers spend an average of 6 seconds looking over the resumes they review, which isn’t enough time to read everything, or even most things, you write down.
Before anyone reads one word of your resume, the first thing they are going to notice is the format.
An ideal resume format should look professional and neat so that anyone reading it can quickly and easily follow and comprehend your best assets related to assistant management.
Regardless of the format you select, make sure that you are putting your best foot forward by listing your most impressive information first.
Listing job history and accomplishments in reverse chronological order so that your most recent and relevant work stands out is always a best practice.
Utilize bullet points and proper spacing to create clean lines for your readers’ eyes to follow.
These basics, along with a legible font, will create a resume that is sure to catch the attention of even the busiest hiring managers.
Start With Your Assistant Manager Resume Summary
The first section of your resume is typically going to be your resume summary.
While the resume “objective” was once the standard introduction paragraph of most resumes, it has, for the most part, been done away with.
One of the main reasons for this shift is because most resume objectives list information that is already apparent when submitting an application.
A resume summary, on the other hand, lists information that is more specific to each individual candidate.
When writing this section, it is crucial to provide some distinct details that will grab your reader’s attention without getting too wordy or specific.
Before deciding what information to include in this section, ask yourself a few questions:
What is expected of an effective assistant manager, and what skills and characteristics should they have to do their job well?
What strengths and abilities do you have that meet or exceed these requirements?
Once you can answer these questions, you can build your assistant manager resume summary around your responses.
Make sure that you keep things to-the-point and don’t write more than two to three sentences.
Sample Resume Summaries for an Assistant Manager Role
Yes!
Dynamic assistant manager with strong attention to detail who thrives on creating a collaborative team that exceeds customer expectations. Over 10 years of experience demonstrating the ability to build relationships across the company, including customers, employees, management, and shareholders.
No!
Assistant Manager with attention to detail, who makes a great team that keeps customers happy. The ability to build relationships with customers, employees, management, and shareholders.
The first example lends details concerning the candidate’s strengths and abilities and how they are applied to the position of assistant manager.
The second example lacks compelling wording and details necessary to create a resume introduction that describes a memorable candidate.
PRO TIP: When writing your resume summary, sometimes it is best to write it after you have had more time to reflect on yourself as a candidate. Writing your work history and your skills sections first can give you a better idea of what information is more vital to your introduction paragraph.
Outline Your Key Accomplishments, Skills, & Qualifications
While your resume summary gets the ball rolling, it is also essential to lay out some more straightforward information early on in your assistant manager resume.
Including a section that lists your necessary skills and qualifications related to the role of an assistant manager within your industry is essential for grabbing any hiring manager’s attention.
While this list consists of more direct and specific information, detailed thought is still needed when coming up with what traits are the most impressive and relevant to include.
Sample Areas of Expertise for an Assistant Manager:
- Security Systems
- Nielsen
- InfoScout
- Spotfire
- Customer Service
- Procedure Adherence
- Team Oriented
- Safety & Efficiency Training
- Motivational
- Leadership
- Time Management
- Budgeting/Sales
- Fluent Spanish/English
Notice that this list contains two main types of skills: hard skills and soft skills.
Hard skills are more commonly known as technical skills because they tend to be more job-specific and need to be taught and practiced to master.
When working as an assistant manager, you will be expected to have expertise in how to handle any computer programs, business software, or company procedures required to conduct daily business.
Soft skills are more often referred to as people skills because they are the kind of abilities that assist you when working with others.
Skills that come more naturally to some, like being a great leader, hard worker, or an effective communicator, are essential to assistant management.
Make sure that your resume includes a decent amount of both skill types to show that you are fit to tackle any task that might be thrown your way.
PRO TIP: If there is a job posting for the position you are applying to, take the time to read it over and reference it while you are writing your assistant manager resume. Job postings often include skills and qualifications that hiring managers will be looking for on the resumes that they are reviewing. If you want your resume to stand out, make sure it is compatible with any details the company puts out on a job posting.
Write a Strong Assistant Management Work History Section
Now that you have introduced yourself and laid out details to confirm that you meet the requirements of the position, it is time to describe your previous work experience.
Writing an impactful work experience section comes down to listing information that reinforces your skills and abilities related to the job you are trying to obtain.
When deciding what positions are best to include in this section, make sure that you are selecting jobs that are related to either the industry you are applying to or assistant managing in general.
While it is a good idea to list your previous work experience in reverse chronological order, always use your best judgment to decide what work is most relevant and impressive.
Once you have decided what work is the best to include on your assistant manager resume, take the time to describe the key job tasks involved in about three to five bullet points.
Each bullet point you write should go over a relevant job skill related to the job you are applying to or an accomplishment that will impress the hiring manager reviewing your resume.
Assistant Manager Resume Sample: Work History
Yes!
Empire Today | Cincinnati, OH | Assistant Sales Manager | Sept 2016 – Present
- Over-deliver on the market revenue plan by 10% above expectation
- Provide daily support to sales team, received a 97% positive review
- Address any challenges of the sales team with great urgency
- Field phone calls from sales reps & help mentor & coach them
No!
Empire Today | Cincinnati, OH | Assistant Sales Manager | Sept 2016 – Present
- Over-deliver the market’s revenue plan
- Provide daily leadership, strategy, and support
- Address any challenges
- Field phone calls from sales reps and help mentor them
The first example lists specific quantifying and qualifying details to explain how the candidate conducted their work and the positive results they created for the company.
The second example describes the candidate’s work tasks with little to no detail about how the candidate carried out their duties or what the outcomes of their work were.
PRO TIP: When writing your job descriptions, always start each bullet point with a new power word (action verb) or keyword (distinct adjective) to describe how you conducted yourself in that position. Starting your bullet points with new and descriptive words sets the tone for your work ethic and abilities.
(If you lack work experience, see below for a helpful section.)
What are bots?
As you work your way through writing your assistant manager resume, it is necessary to stop and consider who is going to be reading it.
With a highly competitive workforce, your application will be going up against many fierce competitors.
While your main focus might be on how to impress a hiring manager or owner, make sure that you are aware of an increasingly prominent way that companies are reviewing candidates.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), or bots, are programs designed to sort through and review resumes before a hiring manager does.
That means that before your resume gets a chance to impress someone, it must first impress a computer program.
If a bot likes your resume, it will be flagged and move along in the hiring process, but if your resume doesn’t get flagged, the journey likely ends there.
Bots make their decisions by analyzing the diction of your assistant manager resume and seeing how many compatible keywords you incorporate that show you are an ideal candidate.
Due to this form of examination, some resume experts suggest writing your job descriptions in paragraph format instead of with bullet points, because it encourages candidates to include more keywords when writing.
While writing in bullet points does encourage concise wording that could limit some applicants, it is always possible to incorporate as many keywords as you’d like, no matter the format.
Here at Big Interview, we suggest sticking with bullet points to impress a hiring manager – just make sure you are intentional about keywords when writing so that you can impress a bot as well.
Assistant Manager Work History Written in Standard Bullet Point Format:
RNR Custom Wheels | Cincinnati, OH | Assistant Manager | June 2013 – Oct 2016
- Scheduled and assigned employee tasks to increase productivity by 13%
- Ensured availability of merchandise and services with accurate inventories
- Implemented security systems and measures in order to secure merchandise
- Determined needed marketing strategy changes to increase revenue by 10%
Assistant Manager Work History Written in Paragraph Format:
RNR Custom Wheels | Cincinnati, OH | Assistant Manager | June 2013 – Oct 2016
Scheduled and assigned employee tasks, followed up on work results to increase productivity by 13%. Ensured availability of merchandise and services with accurately maintained inventories. Implemented security systems and measures in order to secure merchandise. Determined necessary marketing strategy changes to increase revenue by 10%.
Assistant Manager Resume with a Paragraph and Bullet Points Mixed:
RNR Custom Wheels | Cincinnati, OH | Assistant Manager | June 2013 – Oct 2016
Scheduled and assigned employee tasks, followed up on work results to increase productivity. Ensured availability of merchandise and services with accurately maintained inventories. Implemented security systems and measures in order to secure merchandise. Determined necessary marketing strategy changes to increase revenue.
- Productivity increase by 13%
- Revenue increase by 10%
Create a Polished Education Section (Especially if You Lack Management Experience)
Your education is an essential foundation to your career as a professional
To lay out your educational history correctly, be sure to list your most recent and impressive educational credentials first, then work your way back through your history (e.g., Master’s, bachelor’s, associates, etc.).
If you do not have a degree, list the high school you attended. If you have earned a degree, it may not be necessary to include your high school diploma.
For each item, write out the full title of your degree, the year you graduated, and the name of the school you attended.
You can also include any certifications or licences in this section as well.
Sample Education Section on an Assistant Manager Resume
Education and Certifications
Bachelor’s Degree | Business Administration
University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH
Graduated 2010
Boost Your Assistant Manager Resume With Extra Sections
If you have additional accomplishments and qualifications to discuss, you can always accommodate those details by adding in a section to cover them.
Examples of good sections to include on an assistant manager resume:
- Awards and honors
- Publications
- Noteworthy Projects
- Social Media Influence
- Speaking Engagements
- Hobbies/Interests
- Volunteer Work
What if You Have No Experience as an Assistant Manager?
If you are a recent graduate or are making a career move to work in a new industry, you might be wondering how to tailor your assistant manager resume to fit your needs.
If you have no work experience to speak of, landing an assistant management position is going to be close to impossible.
However, if you have a high degree of education and specialize in a specific field, you might be able to work your way up faster than you think.
To adjust your resume, start by moving your education section just below your summary.
Giving your education section a more prime location on your assistant manager resume will allow it to command more attention.
Try to improve your education section by adding information regarding your academic and extracurricular achievements.
High GPAs, honors, awards, clubs, and specific course work can all build a more impactful education section for hiring managers to look at.
On the other hand, if you have work experience, but it is either not in a management position or it is within a different industry, focus on your job descriptions.
The best thing you can do if you are applying to a position that is somewhat unrelated to your previous experience is to focus on job tasks and accomplishments that apply to multiple industries.
For example, if you worked for a fast-food restaurant and you are trying to land a job in retail, focus on things like budgeting, customer service, and leadership – those skills are common ground between the two fields of work.
Key Points to Remember About Writing an Assistant Manager Resume
Check things over
While it should be a no brainer to review and revise your resume before you turn it in, make sure that you don’t rush the process. Get a friend to help you look things over, or read your resume out loud to get a better idea of how it sounds.
Keep it simple
There are many different formats to choose from when writing your assistant manager resume. When selecting a format, make sure to keep functionality in mind. Your format should always enhance the information you want to stand out and not distract from it. Stick with legible fonts and formats that are easy to follow and comprehend.
Freshen up
Make sure that you are always presenting new information in each bullet point you write, and that you are starting each bullet point with a new and distinct power word that is accurate and impactful.
Common Mistakes to Avoid on Your Assistant Manager Resume
Two-page resumes
Make sure that your resume comfortably fits on one page and doesn’t go on to the next. Two-page resumes are the fastest way to get rejected by a hiring manager.
Silly mistakes
Make sure that you are updating your information for each resume you submit. If you are copying and pasting details like your contact information from past resumes, that is fine. Just make sure it is up to date, and you don’t miss something because you were on autopilot.
Lack of detail
Especially when writing your job descriptions, don’t be afraid to get specific. Specifics help set you apart from the crowd and paint a fuller picture of your skills and experience. Make sure that you quantify and qualify details whenever possible.
(See below for a helpful table of some suggested power words.)
Helpful Tools:
Power Words
- Administered
- Founded
- Adept
- Formulated
- Built
- Implemented
- Created
- Improved
- Consolidated
- Initiated
- Coordinated
- Launched
- Developed
- Pioneered
- Designed
- Organized
