Admin clerk CV example

A complete example CV for a admin clerk in South Africa, then the bullets that make it work, rewritten from weaker versions with the reason for each change.

A fictional example. Thandeka Mokoena is not a real person, and the employers, dates and numbers are made up to show the shape of a good CV. Use your own facts: never copy someone else's.

Thandeka Mokoena

Admin clerk

Germiston, Gauteng · Cell: 0XX XXX XXXX · thandeka@example.com

Profile

Admin clerk with four years in a busy logistics office: supplier invoices on Pastel, filing, petty cash and reception cover. Accurate with numbers, comfortable in Excel, and used to working to month-end deadlines.

Skills

Microsoft Excel (VLOOKUP, pivot tables)
Microsoft Word and Outlook
Pastel Partner: supplier invoices, creditors
Filing and record keeping
Minute taking
Petty cash

Work experience

Admin clerkMar 2022 to present

Logistics company, Germiston

Capture about 300 supplier invoices a month on Pastel and match them to purchase orders before month-end.
Set up a shared Excel tracker for delivery notes, cutting the time to find a signed POD from a day to minutes.
Run petty cash of R5,000 a month; every cash-up reconciled with no shortages in the last audit.
Take and type minutes for the weekly operations meeting and follow up on action items.

Receptionist and admin assistantJan 2021 to Feb 2022

Property management office, Boksburg

Answered a five-line switchboard and booked the boardroom for a team of 20.
Kept tenant files up to date and archived 600 old lease files to a numbered box system.

Education and qualifications

National Certificate (Vocational): Office Administration, NQF level 4. TVET college, Ekurhuleni, 2020
National Senior Certificate (matric), 2017

Languages

English, isiZulu, Sesotho (spoken and written)

Licence

Code 08 (B)

References

Available on request

Before and after: the bullets that make it work

Before: ~~Responsible for invoices.~~
After: Capture about 300 supplier invoices a month on Pastel and match them to purchase orders before month-end.
Why: Says what you did, how much of it, in which system and to what deadline. "Responsible for" says nothing about how well.
Before: ~~Good with Excel.~~
After: Set up a shared Excel tracker for delivery notes, cutting the time to find a signed POD from a day to minutes.
Why: Proves the skill with something you built and the difference it made.
Before: ~~Handled petty cash.~~
After: Run petty cash of R5,000 a month; every cash-up reconciled with no shortages in the last audit.
Why: Size and accuracy are what an employer worries about with cash. Answer both.

South African details to get right

Give each qualification its NQF level: matric (the National Senior Certificate) is at level 4, and employers use the levels to compare qualifications. If you're unsure of a level, the institution or SAQA can tell you. Source: SAQA: NQF level descriptors.
Many admin adverts ask for a driver's licence for bank and post office runs. If you have one, give its code. Source: gov.za: Apply for a driving licence.
Leave out your ID number, date of birth, marital status and a photo unless the advert asks for them. Contact details, your area and your work history are enough to be shortlisted.
Keep it in one column with plain headings (Profile, Skills, Work experience, Education). Tables, text boxes and two-column templates often confuse the software that reads CVs first.

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