Administrative Assistant/Payroll Assistant Overview

There are certain skills that many administrative assistants/payroll assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed math skills, writing skills and communication skills.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be an administrative assistant/payroll assistant, we found that a lot of resumes listed 26.2% of administrative assistants/payroll assistants included payroll, while 8.0% of resumes included data entry, and 5.7% of resumes included personnel files. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the administrative assistant/payroll assistant job title. But what industry to start with? Most administrative assistants/payroll assistants actually find jobs in the retail and manufacturing industries.

If you're interested in becoming an administrative assistant/payroll assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 34.7% of administrative assistants/payroll assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.2% of administrative assistants/payroll assistants have master's degrees. Even though some administrative assistants/payroll assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an administrative assistant/payroll assistant. When we researched the most common majors for an administrative assistant/payroll assistant, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on administrative assistant/payroll assistant resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an administrative assistant/payroll assistant. In fact, many administrative assistant/payroll assistant jobs require experience in a role such as administrative assistant. Meanwhile, many administrative assistants/payroll assistants also have previous career experience in roles such as customer service representative or office manager.