Secretary CV: Example and Template
A complete Swiss CV example for secretaries with wording that makes secretarial work measurable.
Currently 25 open Secretary positions in Switzerland, across 5 cantons, 8 of them from the last 7 days. Etat de Fribourg - Staat Freiburg advertises the most.
CV example — two-page template
This template is editable straight away — or upload your existing CV and it is carried into this layout automatically.
Which qualifications belong on a secretary's CV?
State the basic commercial qualification first, followed by secretarial-specific diplomas such as the Bürofachdiplom VSH or the Handelsdiplom VSH.
In Switzerland, the foundation is usually the EFZ as a commercial employee (Kauffrau/Kaufmann), stating the profile (B, E, or M) and the sector, for example Service and Administration. If you arrived by another route, for instance from retail or from abroad, show instead the commercial follow-up qualification: Bürofachdiplom VSH, Handelsdiplom VSH, or the Sachbearbeiterin Administration qualification. For foreign diplomas, add a note on recognition by the SBFI, otherwise an HR department cannot assess the equivalence.
Next come the further training courses that really count for a secretariat: Executive Assistant with a federal professional diploma, Personnel Administration Specialist, Accounting, or a certificate in minute-taking and business correspondence. List these with the institution and year, not just the title. Anyone aiming for a secretarial role in public administration benefits from courses on records management, archiving, and the principle of public access to official documents.
Language diplomas deserve their own line in a secretarial CV, because correspondence and telephone duties are conducted bilingually. Support French or English with DELF, DALF, Cambridge, or Goethe certificates and the level achieved according to the CEFR. Also state where you applied the language, for example when translating minutes or at the front desk, since a diploma from 2014 is only convincing together with proof of practical use.
How do you describe professional experience as a secretary with figures?
Make volume, frequency, and scope of responsibility visible, rather than simply naming general tasks such as correspondence or filing.
Begin each position with a context line: company size, how many managers or employees you provided secretarial support for, languages, and sector. Secretarial support for a three-member executive management at a fiduciary firm differs greatly from a reception role with switchboard duties at a construction company. This context helps the HR manager assess whether your experience profile fits the advertised position.
Then quantify your work using figures common in secretarial roles: number of appointments or trips per year, meetings minuted per year, calls per day, invoices issued or recorded, linear metres of files migrated, number of personnel files managed, or budget responsibility for events, for example CHF 85'000. Add improvements with before-and-after figures, for example minutes delivery reduced from 10 days to 48 hours, or payment terms reduced from 41 to 29 days.
Also name the systems you have worked in, since many job postings filter specifically for these: Abacus, Bexio, SAP, Outlook with delegate rights, SharePoint, DocuWare, or a specialised administrative system. Don't just write the name, but the module and the activity, for example accounts receivable and dunning in Abacus. This credibly demonstrates your user level and avoids the impression of a mere list.
How long should the CV be, and is a photo needed?
Two pages are standard for a secretarial dossier; a professional portrait photo is still customary in Switzerland and is even expected for reception roles.
Keep it to two pages: the first page with contact details, profile, core skills, and the last two positions; the second page with further experience, education, languages, IT skills, and references. With more than fifteen years of experience, summarise early positions in one line per position. Use a calm design, since your CV is also a work sample of your layout skills and attention to detail: consistent font, clean tab spacing, no typos.
A professional portrait photo is still standard practice in Switzerland, especially when the position involves reception, front desk, or customer contact. Add place of residence, nationality or permit (for example, settlement permit C), year of birth, and telephone number in the format 079 000 00 00. Information on religion or marital status is not necessary; a note on your workload percentage or availability from a specific date is, however, helpful.
The complete dossier comprises a cover letter, CV, work references, and diplomas as a single PDF with a descriptive file name, for example CV_Buergisser_Secretariat.pdf. Adapt the profile and core skills to each job posting and adopt the terminology from the posting, such as executive assistance, minute-taking, or invoicing. Two references with their role and phone number, whose consent you have obtained beforehand, round off the dossier.
Where Secretary are hired in Switzerland
How the 25 open positions are spread across the cantons.
Figures as a table
| Canton | postings |
|---|---|
| Freiburg | 5 |
| Genf | 3 |
| Waadt | 2 |
| Bern | 2 |
| Neuenburg | 1 |
Which languages the postings require
Of 19 postings that state a language — in brackets, those requiring professional level.
Figures as a table
| Language | postings |
|---|---|
| French | 19 (18) |
| German | 10 (8) |
| English | 3 (0) |
| Italian | 1 (0) |
Who hires Secretary in Switzerland
Employers with the most open positions. Staffing agencies are excluded.
Figures as a table
| Employer | postings |
|---|---|
| Etat de Fribourg - Staat Freiburg | 5 |
| Spitalzentrum Biel / Centre hospitalier Bienne | 3 |
| HUG - Hopitaux Universitaires de Genève | 3 |
| MedSanté Sàrl | 2 |
| JoBBsquare Belgie | 1 |
| Hôpital du Valais | 1 |
Full-time or part-time?
How the positions are advertised.
Figures as a table
| Workload | postings |
|---|---|
| Vollzeit / plein temps | 21 |
| Teilzeit / partiel | 2 |
| Temporär | 2 |
The CV in full
To read through and reuse.
Sandrine Bürgisser
Secretary / Executive Assistant, Bürofachdiplom VSH & Kaufmännischer Berufsattest KV
Bilingual secretary (German/French) with eleven years of experience in executive secretarial support, reception, and administrative processing in SMEs and in public administration. I manage the diaries of three members of the executive management, take minutes in accordance with the standards of the Swiss Association of Commercial Schools (VSH), and draft correspondence according to SN 010130 (the Swiss standard for business letters). My strength is a secretariat that runs without queries: clear deadline tracking, clean file management according to the filing plan, and discreet handling of personnel and payroll data.
What sets me apart
Bilingual secretarial support (German/French): I independently draft and edit business correspondence in German and French, and translate meeting minutes, regulations, and circulars; around 120 documents per year without an external translation agency, saving approximately CHF 9'000.
Standard-compliant correspondence and minutes: All letters, quotations, and contracts follow the Swiss standard SN 010130 with correct address zone and postal addressing according to Swiss Post (Post CH) requirements; I keep resolution and progress minutes for the executive management, board of directors, and staff committee.
Diary and travel management without double bookings: I coordinate appointments for 3 members of the executive management in Outlook with delegate rights, book train and flight travel including an SBB business account, and prepare expense reports according to internal expense regulations; around 180 trips in 2023 without a single complaint.
Discretion with personnel and payroll files: I process employment contracts, references, sick-pay insurance notifications, and withholding tax documents in compliance with the revised Data Protection Act (DSG), and maintain both a physical and digital filing plan with defined retention periods (10 years under Art. 958f CO).
Key achievements
Introduced digital filing. Migrated 14 linear metres of paper files into a structured SharePoint filing system with a filing plan; reduced average search time per file from 6 minutes to under 1 minute, and reduced archive space by 60 percent.
Minutes delivered within 48 hours. Introduced a new template and recording workflow for executive management meetings: resolution minutes have been delivered within 48 hours instead of 10 days since 2022, across 24 meetings per year, with 100 percent follow-up on the action list.
Professionalised reception and switchboard. Created a telephone guide and call-routing matrix for 45 employees; increased the proportion of correctly forwarded calls from 78 to 96 percent, handling around 60 calls per day.
Experience
Executive Secretary — Helvetia Nova Treuhand AG, Fribourg, 2019 - present
Fiduciary and consulting firm with 45 employees, secretarial support for a three-member executive management, bilingual German/French environment.
- Diary management for 3 executive management members with around 2'400 appointments per year, double bookings reduced to zero.
- Minute-taking for 24 executive management meetings and 4 board meetings per year, delivery now within 48 hours.
- Invoicing of around 1'900 fee invoices per year in Abacus, dunning up to the 2nd level; average payment term reduced from 41 to 29 days.
- Organisation of 6 client events per year with 40 to 120 guests each, within a budget of CHF 85'000.
Administrative Clerk, Secretariat — Gemeindeverwaltung Seematt (Canton of Fribourg), 2015 - 2019
Municipal administration with 6'800 residents, front desk, residents' registration office, and municipal council secretariat.
- Front desk and telephone service for around 40 customer contacts per day in German and French.
- Preparation and follow-up of 22 municipal council meetings per year, including dispatch of 9 dossiers each and publication of resolutions in the official gazette.
- Processing of around 1'200 residents' registration notifications (arrivals and departures) per year, with an error rate below 1 percent.
- Introduced digital forms for registrations; reduced processing time per case by 35 percent.
Commercial Employee, Reception and Secretariat — Rhoneblick Bau AG, Bulle, 2013 - 2015
Construction company with 70 employees, reception, quotation management, and support for site management.
- Reception and switchboard duties with around 60 calls daily, improved call-forwarding rate to 96 percent.
- Recording and dispatch of around 300 quotations per year according to site management specifications, 100 percent on-time delivery.
- Checking of 1'400 timesheets per year in preparation for payroll processing, halving queries to the accounting department.
- Built a template library with 25 Word and Excel documents, reducing drafting time for standard letters by 40 percent.
Education
Bürofachdiplom VSH, Secretarial and Administrative Studies — Handelsschule KV Freiburg · 2017
Federal Certificate of Proficiency (EFZ), Commercial Employee, E Profile, Service and Administration sector — Berufsfachschule Bulle · 2013
Continuing education certificate, Minute-taking and Business Correspondence — Kaufmännischer Verband Bern · 2021
Bürofachdiplom VSH (2017) · DELF B2 French (2016) · Data Protection in the Secretariat Certificate under the revised DSG (2023) · MS Excel Advanced, ECDL Standard (2020)
Common questions
- What language should I write my CV in as a Secretary?
- 100% of the adverts are in French — write the CV in French unless the advert itself is in German.
- Where in Switzerland are Secretary most in demand?
- Spread out, Fribourg first at 20%, then Geneva and Vaud. Across a language border, apply with the matching version.
- What language level do Secretary adverts ask for?
- French in 100% of adverts that state a requirement, 95% of them at professional level. "Good knowledge" will not do — give A2 to C2.
- Are Secretary roles offered full or part time?
- 91% full time, only 9% part time. If you need part time, say so early rather than leaving it open.
- Who hires Secretary in Switzerland?
- Currently Etat de Fribourg - Staat Freiburg, Spitalzentrum Biel / Centre hospitalier Bienne, HUG - Hopitaux Universitaires de Genève, among others. Their adverts are the best word list for your own CV.