Administrative specialist vs administrative aide

The differences between administrative specialists and administrative aides 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 specialist and an administrative aide. Additionally, an administrative specialist has an average salary of $38,758, which is higher than the $38,714 average annual salary of an administrative aide.

The top three skills for an administrative specialist include customer service, data entry and powerpoint. The most important skills for an administrative aide are customer service, word processing, and proofreading.

Administrative specialist vs administrative aide overview

	Administrative Specialist	Administrative Aide
Yearly salary	$38,758	$38,714
Hourly rate	$18.63	$18.61
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	71,227	96,883
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	2	2

What does an administrative specialist do?

An administrative specialist is in charge of various clerical tasks to support supervisors and management staff. Their responsibility is to act as the main point of contact among clients through answering calls and responding to inquiries, managing schedules, arranging appointments and travel, addressing complaints and resolving internal issues, managing payroll, and keeping an organized database. Furthermore, an administrative specialist can also conduct research and analysis, prepare reports and other forms of documentation, and coordinate workflow in a particular area.

What does an administrative aide do?

An administrative aide performs daily administrative support tasks in an office, helping to keep the workflow smooth and efficient. Their duties typically include organizing and disseminating documents, answering calls and correspondence, forwarding messages, greeting visitors and answering inquiries, and preparing and processing files. They may also participate in monitoring the inventory of office supplies, handling procurement requests when necessary. Furthermore, an administrative aide may also serve as the record-keeper of the office, updating databases in adherence to the company's policies and regulations.

Administrative specialist vs administrative aide salary

Administrative specialists and administrative aides have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Administrative Specialist	Administrative Aide
Average salary	$38,758	$38,714
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $58,000	Between $30,000 And $48,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Windsor, CT
Highest paying state	California	Connecticut
Best paying company	Meta	Columbia University in the City of New York
Best paying industry	Technology	Utilities

Differences between administrative specialist and administrative aide education

There are a few differences between an administrative specialist and an administrative aide in terms of educational background:

	Administrative Specialist	Administrative Aide
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 54%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Administrative specialist vs administrative aide demographics

Here are the differences between administrative specialists' and administrative aides' demographics:

	Administrative Specialist	Administrative Aide
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%	Male, 22.0% Female, 78.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between administrative specialist and administrative aide duties and responsibilities

Administrative specialist example responsibilities.

Participate in committee meetings by preparing minutes and presentation summaries, planning meeting agendas, and organizing and managing meeting logistics.
Process incoming and outgoing medical records with newly implement HIPAA requirements.
Maintain personnel records, electronic databases, oversee and administer department SharePoint website.
Redesign and reformat PowerPoint presentations, customize individual client presentations for specific look & feel.
Create and successfully implement a new faculty form to collect necessary information for payroll forms.
Conduct training of new personnel using spreadsheets & PowerPoint presentations to ensure compliance of organizational policies & procedures.

Administrative aide example responsibilities.

Support medical doctors, manage sensitive and confidential records pertaining to high risk patients with emphasis on accuracy.
Job costing (normal), A/R.
Design charts for GBR-P and UEWR manuals using Powerpoint for the radar group.
Reconcile A/R and A/P; contact vendors and customers to resolve account discrepancies.
Design and prepare PowerPoint presentations.
Process payroll for the department maintaining accuracy on all documentation.

Administrative specialist vs administrative aide skills

Common administrative specialist skills

Customer Service, 14%
Data Entry, 6%
PowerPoint, 6%
Office Procedures, 5%
Patients, 5%
Payroll, 4%

Common administrative aide skills

Customer Service, 15%
Word Processing, 14%
Proofreading, 13%
Data Entry, 10%
Clerical Support, 6%
Database Management, 5%

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Administrative Specialist
Administrative Specialist vs Administrative Aide

Updated January 8, 2025

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