What ATS Score Do Administrative Assistants Need?
Most Administrative Assistant resumes score around 47 — well below the 65+ needed to pass ATS filters at most employers. Here's exactly what the numbers mean and how to improve yours.
ATS Score Benchmarks — Administrative Assistant
Where does your score put you in the hiring funnel for Administrative Assistant roles?
| Score Range | What It Means | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 80–100 | 70–100: Strong candidate — software stack, volume metrics, and coordination skills clear | Shortlisted ✓ |
| 65–79 | 55–69: Competitive — likely missing a key software name or measurable outcome | Usually passes ATS |
| 45–64 | 35–54: Generic resume — software tools not listed or no quantified impact | At risk of filtering |
| Below 45 | Below 35: Will not pass standard corporate ATS filters | Filtered out ✗ |
Average Administrative Assistant resume score: 47. This means the majority of applicants are filtered before a recruiter sees their resume.
How ATS Calculates Your Score
ATS systems don't grade your writing — they measure keyword match, section completeness, and formatting parseability. For Administrative Assistant roles, Administrative assistant roles receive some of the highest application volumes of any position. Taleo and Workday (dominant in corporate hiring) filter by software names — "MS Office" is weaker than listing each application individually. "Calendar management" and "travel coordination" are near-universal ATS keywords. Confidentiality is a binary keyword filter for roles supporting C-suite executives.
~50%
Keyword Match
How many of the Administrative Assistant-specific keywords from the job description appear in your resume
~30%
Section Completeness
Presence and correct labelling of Summary, Experience, Skills, Education sections
~20%
Format Parseability
Whether ATS can read your resume — columns, tables, and images often cause parsing failures
Why Most Administrative Assistant Resumes Score 47
The average score of 47 comes down to three consistent patterns we see across thousands of Administrative Assistant resumes:
Generic skills section
Administrative Assistant resumes frequently list broad terms when ATS is filtering for specific tool and platform names. Exact keyword matching matters.
Missing role-critical keywords
Resumes submitted without tailoring miss the specific terminology used in each job description, cutting keyword-match scores dramatically.
ATS-unfriendly formatting
Multi-column layouts, tables, and custom fonts prevent ATS from parsing the resume at all — resulting in a near-zero score even for a highly qualified candidate.
ATS Platforms Used for Administrative Assistant Hiring
Each platform has slightly different parsing logic, but all perform keyword matching against the job description.
More Administrative Assistant Resume Tools
See Your Actual ATS Score
Upload your Administrative Assistant resume and a job description. Get your score in 30 seconds.
Check My Score Free →Free · No signup · Instant results