Administrative office assistant vs administrative professional

The differences between administrative office assistants and administrative professionals can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an administrative office assistant and an administrative professional. Additionally, an administrative professional has an average salary of $39,486, which is higher than the $33,318 average annual salary of an administrative office assistant.

The top three skills for an administrative office assistant include customer service, data entry and phone calls. The most important skills for an administrative professional are customer service, powerpoint, and data entry.

Administrative office assistant vs administrative professional overview

	Administrative Office Assistant	Administrative Professional
Yearly salary	$33,318	$39,486
Hourly rate	$16.02	$18.98
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	81,528	87,372
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 46%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	2	2

What does an administrative office assistant do?

An administrative office assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties to assist in daily management operations. These duties include taking calls and responding to client and customers' inquiries and concerns, scheduling meetings and conferences, organizing files and submitting required documents, sorting invoices for release, processing travel arrangements, receiving emails, forwarding reports to the appropriate department, and coordinating with company's events. An administrative assistant must be detail-oriented, as well as having excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform duties even under minimal supervision.

What does an administrative professional do?

An administrative professional specializes in performing administrative support and clerical tasks in a company or office, ensuring accuracy and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities typically revolve around managing schedules, arranging appointments and meetings, producing progress reports and presentations, delegating tasks, and attending meetings on behalf of executives or staff. There are also instances when an administrative assistant must answer calls and correspondence, respond to inquiries and concerns, welcome guests, relay messages, and provide staff with any support tasks or documents.

Administrative office assistant vs administrative professional salary

Administrative office assistants and administrative professionals have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Administrative Office Assistant	Administrative Professional
Average salary	$33,318	$39,486
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $43,000	Between $23,000 And $65,000
Highest paying City	Sacramento, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Connecticut
Best paying company	Buckley King	HomeOwners Advantage
Best paying industry	Government	-

Differences between administrative office assistant and administrative professional education

There are a few differences between an administrative office assistant and an administrative professional in terms of educational background:

	Administrative Office Assistant	Administrative Professional
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 46%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Administrative office assistant vs administrative professional demographics

Here are the differences between administrative office assistants' and administrative professionals' demographics:

	Administrative Office Assistant	Administrative Professional
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 14.7% Female, 85.3%	Male, 17.4% Female, 82.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between administrative office assistant and administrative professional duties and responsibilities

Administrative office assistant example responsibilities.

Develop and manage external financial relationships between clients and the IRS.
Manage the receptionist area, including greeting visitors and responding to telephone and in-person requests for information.
Establish and maintain effective communications and cohesive working relationships with company associates, telephone and walk-in customers, and site visitors.
Dust offices and clean windows and doors.
Update information in CATT database, as well as make appointments for therapists and psychiatrists in Sharepoint.
Create electronic filing system to alleviate paper copies and recruit fellow co-workers to get on board with SharePoint.

Administrative professional example responsibilities.

Manage documentation, folder structures and user permissions in SharePoint.
Participate in committee meetings by preparing minutes and presentation summaries, planning meeting agendas, and organizing and managing meeting logistics.
Keep vendors accounts up to date, process payroll, collect on accounts receivable, keep accounts payable up to date.
Create document libraries for several hospital initiatives in SharePoint.
Receive and distribute payroll garnishment/bankruptcy notification letters to employees.
Develop and maintain relevant organizational charts, facilitating retrieval of staff data in PowerPoint format.

Administrative office assistant vs administrative professional skills

Common administrative office assistant skills

Customer Service, 14%
Data Entry, 13%
Phone Calls, 7%
Payroll, 5%
PowerPoint, 4%
Database Management, 4%

Common administrative professional skills

Customer Service, 16%
PowerPoint, 12%
Data Entry, 11%
Travel Arrangements, 7%
Administrative Tasks, 3%
Office Equipment, 3%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Administrative Office Assistant
Administrative Office Assistant vs Administrative Professional

Updated January 8, 2025

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