Assistant Manager Resume Guide

Diane Caimares

Resume Writer, Career Coach, Business Owner

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It can be very challenging for many individuals to find a job in the current economy. As a result, the unemployment rate is only starting to decrease after being at its highest since the Great Depression. One of many reasons this is occurring is because this pandemic has encouraged people to quit their jobs to search for better working conditions, become entrepreneurs, or change careers.

Though unemployment is bouncing back, there remains a gap between people searching for employment and businesses looking for workers. Many have attributed this to the fact that maybe people are not aware of what they are qualified for. But for me, I think people know what they are qualified for and what they want. They just don’t know how to demonstrate it on paper.

So here, we will focus on a job that has been one of the fastest growing jobs this year. The assistant manager. We will show people how to transition into an assistant manager position with an eye-catching assistant manager resume.

What Does an Assistant Manager Do?

In short, assistant managers are the aid to managers. While they can perform managerial tasks, they typically handle tasks that assist those in managerial and director positions. They also ensure that all tasks and functions are completed quickly and efficiently. The following are some of the many responsibilities they complete:

• Work with the General Manager and Shift Leaders to maintain and promote a productive and positive work environment for employees
• Assist in managing inventory, including food, liquor, supplies, etc.
• Ensure proper scheduling of staff by inputting shift changes into time clock software
• Help recruit new employees as needed
• Assist in training newly hired employees
• Aid with daily banking activities such as deposits and withdrawal
• Ensure managerial duties are handled during the absence of the General Manager or Shift Leader
• Perform other duties as assigned by General Manager or Shift Leader

These day-to-day tasks or project-based tasks make for great assistant manager descriptions for resumes. So when you write an assistant manager job description for the experience section of your resume, be sure to include metrics that reflect these responsibilities.

Before You Write Your Assistant Manager Resume 

Before you start your resume, it is good to do some brainstorming and planning. So, the first thing you should do is think about your work experience and what qualifies you for this position. Then, you need to consider what you have done, what type of skills you have, and how it relates to the job. To help your thought process, here are some questions you can ask yourself.

1. What types of tasks did you do?
2. Who did you interact with on a day-to-day basis?
3. Were these interactions stressful or easy-going? What methods did you use to facilitate these interactions?
4. How many people were in your immediate work environment on a typical day? How many did you collaborate with? What kind of projects did you work on?
5. Have you had any work experience that has developed your technical or interpersonal skills?

The answers to these questions will not only help you write a compelling assistant manager resume summary or objective, but it will also help to pinpoint some great assistant manager skills for your resume.

The Resume

As you begin to plan your resume, the first thing you should think about is formatting. Undoubtedly, formatting can make or break your manager assistant resume. Why? Because poor formatting makes your resume hard to read, and hiring managers won’t waste time trying to make sense of a poorly formatted resume.

So when formatting, here are 5 things to remember:

1. Keep it brief – 1-2 pages maximum
2. Include a header with contact information, but avoid including unnecessary information, such as religion, sex, age, etc.
3. Decide whether you want your resume to be in reverse chronological order, functional, or a combination of the two.
4. Use the correct font and font size – for headers that is between 12-14 , and for regular text, that is between 10-12.
5. Use an attractive resume style that is suitable for your industry – If you are in a traditional industry, use a more traditional format. If you are in a creative industry, you can make use of more graphics and colors.

When creating an assistant manager resume template, you can use assistant manager resume templates from Microsoft Word or you can build your own from scratch. At the end of the day, formatting rules will be the same.

Once you’ve chosen or created an appropriate template, then you can get into the nitty gritty of writing your assistant manager sample resume. There are 5 major sections you should be sure to include:

• Heading and contact information
• Assistant manager resume objective
• Education
• Professional history
• Skills

Other additional sections you choose to include, such as awards and publications, hobbies, languages, membership in professional societies, etc. have the potential to strengthen your resume, only if it is relevant to the role at hand.

Contact Information

Let’s start with the basics. Your name and contact information make up the very first section of your resume. It is extremely important not to exclude this part. This section should include:

1. Full Name
2. City, State, Zip Code
3. Phone Number
4. Email Address
5. LinkedIn Profile
6. Links to a digital portfolio or other form of work

Assistant Manager Resume Summary

Adding a headline or summary statement that clearly states your goals and qualifications can increase your likelihood of being chosen for an interview. In fact, it is the first glimpse into your professional life that hiring managers see. So, you’ll want to make sure that it packs an arsenal of experience, skills, awards, and personality traits that relate to the type of candidate the job description is trying to attract.

Education

A crucial part of any resume is the education section so of course, it should be included at the top of your resume. It includes the school, degree, major, and graduation date.

Example:

[Name of institution]

[Degree and major]

[Graduation date]

To make this more real, here is a real-life example:

Ohio State University

Bachelor’s of Science – Public Health

August 2018-May 2022

If you have completed a higher-level degree, you should list your highest degree first, then follow up with Bachelor’s degrees, Associate’s degrees, and certificates. Alternatively, if you have extensive work experience already, then your education section doesn’t need to be as long. You can just include your highest degree and recent, relevant certifications.

Assistant Manager Job Descriptions

Here is where you get into the meat of your resume – the professional history section. As you list your previous work experience, you’ll want to make sure your assistant manager resume descriptions highlight the most important facets of your previous jobs.

For example, the following are examples of relevant experience for an assistant manager position:

• Supervising, training, or managing an administrative staff
• Managing tasks and projects at work
• Organizing relationships with vendors, clients, and other companies
• Handling customer service issues
• Handling invoices or payments

While the bullets listed above highlight proper assistant manager responsibilities for a resume, please note that these types of descriptions will not be the things that land you a job. Not only are these descriptions bland, but they don’t give detailed insight on how you performed in your previous jobs. Transform bullet points like that into something more like this:

• Crafted a system integrate and manage relationships with 500 vendors, clients, and partner companies
• Personally reached out to customers and resolved customer complaints, reducing the number of customer complaints by 30% over a three-month period
• Handled the invoices and payments of over 150 employees every month
• Introduced, trained employees on, and collaborated with [insert technology] to ensure smooth management processes on large-scale projects

Pro-Tip: Note the use of powerful action verbs (crafted, collaborated, introduced), as well as quantifiable metrics that show success in your previous roles.

Why are metrics crucial?

Metrics are crucial in resumes because they provide an instant evaluation of quantifiable data. Metrics are also important because they show how well a person can produce results.

The problem with most resumes is that they don’t quantify the employer’s needs. For example, if you are applying for a position in marketing, your resume should include metrics about how you’ve improved the company’s ROI or increased their social media following. Likewise, if you want to be considered for a managerial position, your resume needs to display how better your team performed than when you started managing them.

What If previous work experience isn’t a manager’s assistant?

This question is common, especially in the age of so many people making career changes. The most important thing is to be honest with yourself about your experience and skills that you have to offer. As you browse an assistant manager job ad, you should look for ways that you can transfer your previous work experience and skills into your new desired job title.

Though it helps, your previous roles don’t have to strictly be “assistant manager”. You just have to illustrate that your skills and experience can be useful in an assistant manager position.

Assistant Manager Skills for a Resume

There are a couple of important things to remember as you move on to the skills section, but the first is to scan the job description. Looking at what skills are vital in the day-to-day tasks of the job you are applying for will help you decide which of your skills should definitely go on your resume.

Then comes choosing a good mix of hard and soft skills. You might think that soft skills and hard skills are the same, but they’re not. Here’s a quick guide on what each type is all about.

How to Use Keywords in Your Resume

Keywords must be included in your resume at least once, as using these will help you stand out in a pool full of applicants. Keywords will mirror necessary skills, educational requirements, or words related to the experience needed to perform day-to-day tasks. Therefore, you can expect to find them in the job ad itself.

While identifying keywords, it is important not to overuse them, as this can make your resume look artificial. Instead, determine what top 5 keywords will stand out the most, and work them into your original resume sample.

Keywords that you’ll typically see in assistant manager job descriptions that are good for resumes are:

Remember, these are just general keywords that tend to show up often. Keywords in job descriptions will be largely dependent on job title, industry, and seniority.

Conclusion

A good resume will highlight the experience, achievements, and skills necessary for the role you are applying for. So here is a quick, short recap on some additional do’s and don’ts in a resume for an assistant manager.

Additional Job Titles for Assistant Manager

To narrow your job search, it is important to recognize that assistant manager isn’t the only job title that you can search for. While assistant manager is an overarching term, in your job search, you’ll notice that job titles can vary by company, industry, and role. In addition, your work environment and day-to-day tasks have the potential to change. However, the core skills needed to be successful at these related job titles don’t change very much.

So here is a list of job titles related to the “assistant manager” so you can search outside of the box.

• Assistant Director
• Associate Product Manager
• Assistant General Manager
• Assistant Property Manager
• Marketing Associate
• Sales Manager Assistant
• Assistant Store Manager