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The differences between administrative specialists and assistant secretaries 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 assistant secretary. Additionally, an assistant secretary has an average salary of $107,366, which is higher than the $38,758 average annual salary of an administrative specialist.
The top three skills for an administrative specialist include customer service, data entry and powerpoint. The most important skills for an assistant secretary are telephone calls, payroll, and scheduling appointments.
| Administrative Specialist | Assistant Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $38,758 | $107,366 |
| Hourly rate | $18.63 | $51.62 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 71,227 | 52,165 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
An assistant secretary is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the daily operations of various departments and management personnel and ensure the efficiency of business functions. Assistant secretaries usually assist in business communications, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, reaching out to existing clients to schedule appointments, welcoming guests on the office, and routing calls to the appropriate department. They also handle data entry procedures, updating customer information on the database, as well as creating reports on business and financial transactions.
Administrative specialists and assistant secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Administrative Specialist | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average salary | $38,758 | $107,366 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $58,000 | Between $38,000 And $302,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Meta | Elanco |
| Best paying industry | Technology | - |
There are a few differences between an administrative specialist and an assistant secretary in terms of educational background:
| Administrative Specialist | Assistant Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between administrative specialists' and assistant secretaries' demographics:
| Administrative Specialist | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6% | Male, 21.7% Female, 78.3% |
| 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, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |