Sample Resume for Assistant Manager

You may understand every aspect of an organization when you are applying for assistant manager jobs. However, writing a resume that gets you the job is a different skill.

Would it be that hard to write the perfect resume?

Not anymore!

In this guide, we will help you create the perfect assistant manager resume sample that gets you an interview as an assistant store manager, assistant branch manager, fast food assistant manager, or even for your retail assistant manager resume!

On average, an assistant manager earns $46,000/ year (Payscale.com).

Earnings vary based on the industry.

A typical assistant manager performs a variety of tasks including inventory management, store operations, sales team management, business process management, and basically you will have to be the manager when the manager is not there.

The Assistant Manager position is the bridge to other senior managerial positions in most organizations.

They are in high demand as most organizations hire several assistant managers under the same manager based on size, making more job opportunities.

However, with more automation coming in, most companies try to cut operational management costs, leading to fierce competition for the available jobs.

The only way to face the competition and get your dream job as an assistant manager is to start by preparing a professional resume.

Assistant Manager Resume Examples

Check out this perfectly optimized assistant manager resume example

How to make an Assistant Manager Resume

The first step of preparing a good resume is planning. Proper planning would save you hours and days of your valuable time and will make sure the output would consist of everything we expected.

A typical hiring manager only spends about 10 seconds on a resume. Moreover, most organizations now use applicant tracking systems to shortlist job applications. This automation makes sure only the right resume passes through the system for the next stage.

Therefore, it is very important that your resume follows general HR standards.

Here are some general guidelines.

• Read the job description carefully and note down the keywords
• Use a resume template that stands out
• Use a layout and a structure based on the position you are applying for
• Limit your resume to one page

We are going to go through the basics and cover everything you need to write a perfect resume using live examples and an assistant manager resume sample to show you how to do it properly.

The layout of the Assistant Manager Resume

In the layout, you decide what should be included in your resume. Make life easier for yourself by deciding on the headings and subheadings before beginning.

For an assistant manager position, the following is the layout we recommend.

• Name and contact information
• Professional summary
• Work experience
• Education
• Skills
• Additional sections

This is a time-tested resume format for assistant manager positions. However, you can tailor it to your requirements freely.

The structure of the Assistant Manager Resume

Having a proper structure would save time for the hiring managers.

How?

When your resume follows a standard structure, the recruiter knows exactly where to look to find the information they want.

How would that benefit you?

Recruiters spend limited time on resumes, so you don't want them to spend that time scanning your resume looking for what they want here and there. If they don’t find what they’re looking for, your time might be up and your resume could be heading to the reject pile.

You want that time to be spent on the most important parts of your resume so they can see you as a potential candidate right away.

There are three basic structures that most resumes follow

1. Reverse chronological order
2. Functional
3. Or Hybrid

For an assistant manager resume, we recommend using a reverse chronological order. This will affect how you write lists such as experience, education in your resume.

For example, your experience section should start with your most recent job position. More weight should also be put into describing that experience. List down the rest of the positions based on the order of most recent.

The importance here is that the hiring manager instantly notices your most recent work in the experience section and your most recent qualifications in the education section. That is what they typically look into while shortlisting.

Start with the Header of the Assistant Manager Resume

This is an underrated part of most resume writing. The reason is that this is straightforward information. Mostly your name and contact details.

However, do you believe that most candidates make mistakes in this section giving bad first impressions to the recruiter?

Yes, that is true.

Though this section is simple, it makes the first impression of your resume. Moreover, if you make a mistake here, you might never hear back from them even if your resume was shortlisted.

Example of a header / Example of a bad header for an Assistant Manager

CORRECT

Michael Brown

Assistant manager

mickbrown@gmail.com

+1 235 25 78 34

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brown

INCORRECT

Assistant manager

Michael Brown

TrickyMicky12345@gmail.com

+1 254 87 84 26

101, main street, apt 67,

Washington DC

USA

Consider these while writing your header:

• Start your header with your name. Names should include both first and last names
• Write your current job title followed by the name
• Use a professional email address. However, do not use your current work email to send resumes
• Double check your mobile number
• Do not write your address. The address is not necessary in your header in most cases
• If you have an active LinkedIn profile, you may put the link

Is a photo required in the Assistant Manager Resume?

The short answer is “NO”.

Most US organizations prefer to receive resumes without a photograph of the applicant. The reason basically is that it is could be considered discrimination based on a person's looks which they aren’t allowed to do.

Professional summary for Assistant Manager

The professional summary is a couple of sentences that describe your experience, expertise, and skills. It will be the sales pitch you write at the beginning of your resume.

If the hiring manager spent about 10 seconds on average on one resume, does that mean they spend the same amount of time on all the resumes?

No!

For some resumes, they spend about 20-30 seconds while for most, they spend less than 5 seconds.

How to make the hiring manager read your resume for half a minute?

The trick is your professional summary.

Write a resume summary better than 95% of the resumes and you will make them read your complete resume and also shortlist it for an interview.

We will show you the exact methodology we use to write stunning professional summaries within 10 minutes.

Here are some examples.

INCORRECT

Assistant Manager with 5+ years of experience in retail and food sectors looking for an opportunity to join ABC holdings to upgrade the career

CORRECT

Hardworking assistant manager with over 5 years of experience in retail and food sectors, excited to join ABC holdings to be part of an exciting journey. In my previous position, worked directly with the senior managers to optimize customer touchpoints in 5 physical stores resulting in a 15% increase in sales and a 40% increase in customer satisfaction.

Write your professional summary tailored to the position you are applying for. Read the job description and develop the perfect candidate persona that the recruiter is expecting. Customize your summary based on that to convince them that you are the perfect match for the position.

If you are applying for an entry position or you are in a career change, consider writing an assistant manager resume objective which is almost the same as the professional summary with the exception that you will be writing about your career objectives and passion for the position instead of writing about your experience.

Work Experience in the Assistant Manager Resume

A resume's experience section is always the most sought-after section, and the same holds true for assistant manager resumes.

Recruiting an assistant manager with a similar experience in the role would be a low risk investment for a company. Therefore the first thing a recruiter checks on a resume would be the experience section.

However, imagine if you do not possess any experience as an assistant manager. Does that mean you cannot get an interview?

Here is the trick. Even if you do not have the assistant manager title for your previous position, you need to read the job description and make your experience aligned with it.

Your experience section should be filled with the relevant experience whether you were an assistant manager in your last job or not.

Describe your professional experiences on your Assistant Manager Resume

Use the reverse chronological order to list your experience as we discussed early. Start with your most recent experience.

List down all relevant job positions you have worked in and describe each of the experiences with a couple of lines. In describing, put more weight into the most recent ones.

Examples of professional experiences for the Junior Assistant Manager

Here is an example experience section for a junior

INCORRECT

Aug 2019 to Present

Assistant store manager- XYZ Retail

• Inventory control
• Responding to customer inquiries
• Retail layout planning
• Handled the inventory management system
• Store management
• Achieved weekly sales goals
• Hired new employees

CORRECT

Aug 2019 to Present

Assistant store manager- XYZ Retail

• Managed inventories of 6 retail locations including inventory receipts and returns
• Responded to 20+ customer inquiries daily through phone and company website
• Worked closely with the general manager to introduce a new retail layout cutting the cold storage cost by 15%
• Cut down the stock lead time by 10% using the inventory management system

For a junior resume, the focus should be to list down more operational tasks. Identify the difference between two different ways we used to list the same experience. The INCORRECT approach is the one most candidates use. They just list the tasks of their previous job.

In the CORRECT section, we have written the same task, but with describing the achievements in each of these tasks.

What would a typical hiring manager prefer?

Of course the second approach!

Examples of work experience for Senior Assistant Manager

Here is an example experience section for a senior.

INCORRECT

Aug 2016 to Present

Assistant restaurant manager- CarbLife

• Managed the team members
• Introduced a loyalty card promotion
• Increased the customer satisfaction
• Worked with influencers
• Managed the sales representatives

CORRECT

Aug 2016 to Present

Assistant restaurant manager- CarbLife

• Carried out employee management for 12 CarbLife restaurants around NY
• Created a loyalty card promotion structure increasing the loyalty cardholders by 20% in 6 months
• Achieved a review score of 4.9/5 on Facebook and Google My Business making it the all time high in CarbLife history
• Managed an influencer marketing campaign increasing the Christmas sales by 40%
• Communicated the company policies and ensured compliance

Education in the Assistant Manager Resume

The basic education qualification for an assistant manager position would be a high school diploma or a degree.

However, it would depend on the organization you apply for. Some organizations would expect a bachelor’s degree together with a Master’s for assistant manager positions with the intention of promoting to the manager position soon.

Check the job descriptions to see the minimum education qualifications they expect from the candidates.

Should you start with education or work experience for an Assistant Manager Resume?

Give priority to the experience section if you are applying for a senior position.

However, there could be some exceptions,

How to properly list your education in an Assistant Manager Resume?

Use a consistent format to list down your education qualifications. Here is what we suggest.

• Degree type and major

Eg: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Master’s in Retail Operations

• Commencement and graduation years
• Institution name and location

Eg: Columbia University, NY

• Honors, awards

Dean’s list 2014

• GPA if it is above 3.0

Example of the education section of an Assistant Manager Resume

Skills to put in the Assistant Manager Resume

The resume skills section is something you can stand out from 95% of the resumes. Because they all make one mistake. Most other candidates write a list of generic skills in this section.

This is where hiring managers judge your whole resume writing effort. Most of the generic skills you list can not be proved and anyone can list them.

Here is how to write this section,

• Read the job description carefully
• List down all the soft skills, hard skills, and IT skills the recruiter is expecting from you
• List down the skills you possess
• Write a mix of soft, hard, and IT skills

What are the main skills sought for in an Assistant Manager Resume?

Following are three assistant manager skills types that employers are seeking:

Soft Skills

• Time Management
• Business intelligence
• Problem-solving
• Negotiation
• Creative thinking
• Organizational skills
• Teamwork
• Communication skills
• Leadership

Hard Skills and IT skills

• Inventory control
• Supervisory skills
• In-store logistics
• Microsoft Office
• Visual Merchandising
• Lead generation and lead conversion
• Customer service management
• Budgeting
• Social media management

What skills for a Junior Assistant Manager?

A junior assistant manager requires a mix of operational and managerial skills. A junior assistant manager will mainly be involved in executing the operational strategy in a company.

• Teamwork
• Communication
• POS systems
• Customer service management
• Daily record
• Visual merchandising
• Microsoft office suite

What skills for a qualified Senior Assistant Manager?

A senior position is expected to have more leadership skills towards managing a team. However, it is important to showcase the operational skills as you will be executing the manager’s strategic decisions.

• Relationship building
• Negotiation and communication
• Strong leadership
• Budgeting
• Lead generation and lead conversion
• Business development

Additional Headings for your Assistant Manager Resume

Additional headings are a pleasant surprise to the HR manager to shortlist your resume for an interview. If there is one more thing they want to put your resume in the selected folder, this is where you give it to them.

Believe us, this works like magic.

Here are some of the headings you could include in your assistant manager resume

Computer skills and certifications in an Assistant Manager Resume

In this section, your skill certifications are the best type of information to include. There are certain specific skills good to have for an assistant manager such as Human resources, marketing, digital marketing, retail management, sales.

Some of these certifications can be obtained online for free and others are available at most educational institutions.

Interests in an Assistant Manager Resume

This is a section that you should not allocate space on your resume unless it really adds value to your profile. We have seen some candidates write interests such as cycling, badminton, or reading books without them having any relation to the position they apply for.

Remember, your resume space is precious. Such things make your hiring manager think you're just trying to fill the space on your resume rather than having anything important to say.

Languages in an Assistant Manager Resume

If you are fluent in a couple of languages, you may consider writing that in this section. For an assistant manager position, this would look handy as the organization may consist of clients and even employees speaking different languages.

When listing your language skills, try to state the fluency in each language as well.

With our resume builder, you can easily demonstrate your language skills and level of fluency, surpassing all other resumes created in MS Word. Check out our resume templates for some inspiring examples.

Summary: Key Points for Writing a Perfect Assistant Manager Resume

• Write your name and contact details in the header
• Write a professional summary if you are applying for a senior position
• Give priority to your experience over education unless you are lacking experience, then put education first rather than an empty experience section.
• Use numbers as much as possible to prove your achievements
• Present your education section in a consistent manner
• Write a mix of soft, hard, and IT skills in your skills section
• Skill certifications, interests, and languages as additional sections as relevant

Write a Cover Letter That Goes With Your Assistant Manager Resume

Spice up your resume with a cover letter. The cover letter would be the sales pitch you make to the potential employer stating that you would be a great fit for the position.

Also include your specific interests in applying to their organization and how your skills, experience, and expertise would help them achieve their sales and operational targets.

However, if the job description does not mention a cover letter, it is not mandatory to send one.

Frequently Asked Questions for an Assistant Manager Resume