There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an administrative assistant/payroll assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.3 an hour? That's $35,975 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -7% and produce -276,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
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.
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As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an administrative assistant/payroll assistant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as payroll specialist, progress to a title such as payroll administrator and then eventually end up with the title office manager.
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Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Administrative Assistant/Payroll Assistant. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Administrative Assistant/Payroll Assistant Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Administrative Assistant/Payroll Assistant resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationPhiladelphia, PA
Cullowhee, NC
Evanston, IL
Muncie, IN
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Bowling Green, OH
Vestal, NY
Allentown, PA
Villanova, PA
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 26.2% of administrative assistants/payroll assistants listed payroll on their resume, but soft skills such as math skills and writing skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an administrative assistant/payroll assistant. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, New Jersey, California, and Massachusetts. Administrative assistants/payroll assistants make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $53,443. Whereas in New Jersey and California, they would average $47,646 and $47,094, respectively. While administrative assistants/payroll assistants would only make an average of $46,915 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Massachusetts
$46,916
Avg. Salary
2. California
$47,094
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$42,698
Avg. Salary