A secretary CV needs to demonstrate something quite specific: that documents produced by you can be relied upon. Minutes become the official record of decisions, correspondence goes out representing the organisation, and registers are produced during audits. This page shows how to write secretary duties for a CV, with practical examples at entry and experienced level, and how to present the sector-specific experience that employers screen on.
How to Write Secretary Duties on a CV
Start each bullet with an action verb, then add the scope and the context. For secretarial work, context matters unusually much: a school secretary, a legal secretary and a committee secretary have different specialised knowledge, and an employer needs to see which you have.
Lead with minute-taking where you have it, particularly for formal meetings. Producing accurate minutes for a board, governing body or statutory committee is a genuine skill, and far fewer administrative candidates have it than employers need. If your minutes served a governance purpose, say so explicitly.
Show the volume and formality of documentation you handled. Typing correspondence is assumed; drafting it for signature is not. Preparing a board pack for twelve directors is not the same as circulating a team agenda, and the CV should make that visible. For the underlying role description see secretary duties.
Best Secretary Duties for Your CV
- Typing, formatting and proofreading letters, reports and documents.
- Drafting routine correspondence for approval and signature.
- Managing incoming and outgoing correspondence.
- Scheduling meetings and circulating notices and agendas.
- Attending meetings and taking accurate minutes.
- Producing, distributing and filing minutes and recording resolutions.
- Tracking action items arising from meetings and following them up.
- Maintaining filing systems for correspondence and records.
- Maintaining registers, attendance records and statutory documents.
- Managing diaries and appointments for staff or committees.
- Preparing documentation packs for meetings, audits or inspections.
- Making travel and accommodation arrangements.
- Maintaining confidentiality of documents and discussions.
Entry-Level CV Duty Examples
With limited experience, emphasise typing accuracy, document quality and any minute-taking you have done, however informal.
- Typed and formatted correspondence, reports and internal documents to house style.
- Took minutes at weekly team meetings and circulated them for approval.
- Managed incoming correspondence and routed it to the relevant staff members.
- Maintained physical and electronic filing systems for a department of twelve.
- Scheduled meetings and circulated agendas and supporting papers.
- Answered telephone calls and dealt with routine enquiries.
- Typing speed of sixty words per minute with verified accuracy.
Experienced CV Duty Examples
With more experience, lead with formality, volume and independent drafting.
- Provided secretarial support to a department of thirty staff, managing all correspondence and documentation.
- Took and produced minutes for monthly governing body meetings, recording resolutions for the official record.
- Drafted correspondence independently for review and signature by the department head.
- Prepared and distributed board packs to twelve directors ahead of quarterly meetings.
- Tracked action items arising from meetings and followed them up with senior staff to completion.
- Maintained statutory registers and attendance records to audit standard.
- Prepared documentation packs for annual audits and regulatory inspections.
- Managed diaries and scheduling across five managers.
- Handled confidential personnel and disciplinary documentation with no breaches.
Showing Sector-Specific Experience
Secretarial roles are sector-shaped, and employers screen for the matching background. Make yours explicit rather than leaving it to be inferred from the employer name.
- School: maintained learner records, handled parent communication and supported admissions administration.
- Legal: prepared legal documents, managed court filing deadlines and maintained client confidentiality.
- Medical: managed patient bookings, processed medical aid claims and maintained health record confidentiality.
- Governance: convened committee meetings, recorded resolutions and maintained statutory registers.
- Corporate: prepared board papers, tracked executive action items and managed confidential commercial documentation.
If you are moving between sectors, name the transferable core explicitly, which is document accuracy, minute-taking, confidentiality and organisation, and acknowledge briefly what sector knowledge you would need to acquire. Employers respond better to that than to a CV that hopes the gap goes unnoticed.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Omitting minute-taking, which is the strongest differentiator available to a secretary.
- Failing to distinguish formal governance minutes from informal team notes.
- Writing typed correspondence when you actually drafted it.
- Leaving your sector experience to be inferred from the employer name.
- Omitting typing speed and accuracy where they are relevant.
- Copying a job advert instead of describing your own work.
- Repeating identical wording across several employers.
Related Job Duties and Templates
For the full description of the role, read secretary duties. If you are preparing for interviews or writing an advert, see the secretary job description. For CV duty wording across office roles, use Admin Duties for CV, and browse related positions under admin and office duties.
FAQs
How do I write secretary duties on a CV?
Start with an action verb, then add scope and context. Instead of took minutes, write took and produced minutes for monthly governing body meetings, recording resolutions for the official record. Formality and volume are what distinguish one secretarial CV from another.
What are good examples of secretary duties for a CV?
Strong examples include producing minutes for a named formal meeting type, drafting correspondence independently for signature, preparing board packs for a stated number of directors, tracking action items with senior staff, and maintaining statutory registers to audit standard.
Should I emphasise minute-taking?
Yes, it is usually your strongest differentiator. Producing accurate minutes for formal meetings requires distinguishing discussion from resolution and recording accountability precisely, and fewer administrative candidates can do it well than employers need. State the meeting type and its formality.
How do I show sector experience on a secretary CV?
Name it explicitly rather than leaving it to be inferred. School, legal, medical, governance and corporate secretarial work each carry distinct knowledge, and employers screen for the match. Describe the sector-specific tasks you performed, not just the employer you performed them for.
What should I avoid when writing secretary duties on a CV?
Avoid omitting minute-taking, failing to distinguish formal from informal minutes, understating drafting as typing, leaving sector experience implicit, omitting typing speed where relevant, and reusing identical wording across employers.