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Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant resume example

A resume for a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant needs to show the work itself: perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Day to day that means work like this: answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff; schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • Medical Receptionist
  • Medical Secretary
  • Unit Clerk
  • Unit Support Representative
  • Clinic Office Assistant
  • Front Desk Receptionist
  • Medical Office Specialist
  • Physician Office Specialist
  • Secretary
  • Ward Clerk
  • CMMA
  • Administrative Support Specialist
  • Appointment Scheduler
  • Certified Medical Administrative Assistant
  • Client Service Coordinator
  • Dental Front Desk Receptionist
  • Dental Receptionist
  • Dental Secretary

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff.
  • Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
  • Complete insurance or other claim forms.
  • Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff.
  • Transmit correspondence or medical records by mail, e-mail, or fax.
  • Maintain medical records, technical library, or correspondence files.
  • Receive and route messages or documents, such as laboratory results, to appropriate staff.
  • Interview patients to complete documents, case histories, or forms, such as intake or insurance forms.
  • Operate office equipment, such as voice mail messaging systems, and use word processing, spreadsheet, or other software applications to prepare reports, invoices, financial statements, letters, case histories, or medical records.
  • Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records.
  • Perform various clerical or administrative functions, such as ordering and maintaining an inventory of supplies.
  • Transcribe recorded messages or practitioners' diagnoses or recommendations into patients' medical records.

15 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Complete insurance or other claim forms, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Greet visitors, ascertain purpose of visit, and direct them to appropriate staff, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • Accounts payable software
  • Accounts receivable software
  • Addressing software
  • Allscripts Payerpath
  • Allscripts Professional PM
  • Amazing Charts
  • Billing software
  • Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
  • CPSI CPSI System
  • Data entry software
  • Database software
  • dBASE Plus
  • Desktop publishing software
  • eClinicalWorks EHR software

52 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Credit card processing machines
  • Desktop computers
  • Dictaphones
  • Hospital intercom equipment
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser facsimile machines
  • Laser printers
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Notebook computers
  • Personal computers
  • Photocopying equipment
  • Scanners

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

  • schedule appointments

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Speaking
  2. 02Active Listening
  3. 03Service Orientation
  4. 04Reading Comprehension
  5. 05Complex Problem Solving
  6. 06Coordination
  7. 07Critical Thinking
  8. 08Time Management
  9. 09Writing
  10. 10Monitoring

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • English Language
  • Administrative
  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Administration and Management
  • Economics and Accounting

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 48%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
  • 26%Associate's Degree
  • 20%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant do?
Perform secretarial duties using specific knowledge of medical terminology and hospital, clinic, or laboratory procedures. Day to day that includes work like answer telephones and direct calls to appropriate staff and Schedule and confirm patient diagnostic appointments, surgeries, or medical consultations.
What skills should a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant put on a resume?
O*NET rates Speaking, Active Listening, Service Orientation, Reading Comprehension, and Complex Problem Solving among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes Accounts payable software, Accounts receivable software, Addressing software, Allscripts Payerpath, and Allscripts Professional PM. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant work?
O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Medical Receptionist, Medical Secretary, Unit Clerk, and Unit Support Representative. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 48% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistant role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.