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.
Administrative specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real administrative specialist resumes:
- 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.
- Assist with SharePoint database enhancements/change requests and provide guidance to users regarding accessing and navigation through this database.
- Interact and communicate extensively with patients to address needs and grow strong, positive relationships; diplomatically addressed difficult situations.
- Propose plans for paperless processing of payroll for hourly and salary personnel, resulting in significant cost- and time-savings company-wide.
- Educate and counsele patients to expand overall disease understanding, compliance for specify disease management, understanding importance of medication adherence.
- Schedule and coordinate travel logistics for meetings and conferences including transportation, hotel and catering reservations, and creating detail itineraries.
- Serve as security representative for a DoD secure office area, enforcing security guidelines for protecting classify secret documents and equipment.
- Coordinate travel arrangements in DTS; schedule mode of transportation, prepare trip folders, arrange lodging reservations and develop itineraries.
- Used MDT to deploy applications to the users within the company and to deploy windows.
- Maintain strict confidentiality of all information within the facility per HIPAA regulations.
Administrative specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Administrative Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Data Entry, and PowerPoint. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Administrative Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 14%
Answered incoming election-related calls to the King County Elections Phone Center, providing pertinent voter information and excellent customer service.
- Data Entry, 6%
Process freshman and readmit applications in compliance with admissions requirements using data entry and grade point average computation.
- PowerPoint, 6%
Promoted to the Administrative Specialist position and added the responsibility of creating PowerPoint presentations and handouts for client training programs.
- Office Procedures, 5%
Managed administrative office procedures and prepared reports, correspondence, and personnel transactions for a community of 4,000 personnel.
- Patients, 5%
Educated and counseled patients to expand overall disease understanding, compliance for specified disease management, understanding importance of medication adherence.
- Payroll, 4%
Proposed plans for paperless processing of payroll for hourly and salaried personnel, resulting in significant cost- and time-savings company-wide.
Common skills that an administrative specialist uses to do their job include "customer service," "data entry," and "powerpoint." You can find details on the most important administrative specialist responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for an administrative specialist to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what administrative specialists do because "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." Additionally, an administrative specialist resume shows how administrative specialists use interpersonal skills: "improved software skills, internet research skills, interpersonal skills, and and interpretation along with gaining word processing spreadsheets experience. "
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform administrative specialist duties is organizational skills. Administrative specialists responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently." Administrative specialists also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "interpret and communicate dod policy regarding military pay entitlement, force structure and other organizational policies to staff. "
Writing skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of administrative specialists is writing skills. This skill is critical to many everyday administrative specialist duties, as "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "performed data processing, report writing, operation of general office machines, copier, fax, computer and switchboard. "
The three companies that hire the most administrative specialists are:
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Compare different administrative specialists
Administrative specialist vs. Executive administrator
An executive administrator is responsible for assisting the senior management staff in planning strategies and analyzing business decisions to achieve the company's goals and objectives. Executive administrators schedule meetings and handle appointments, as well as helping with the implementation of training and programs for the employees to reach their maximum operational potential and increase productivity to meet projects' demands and ensure the highest customer satisfaction. They must have exceptional time-management and organizational skills, especially on performing administrative and clerical duties as needed, as well as excellent communication skills to respond to clients' inquiries, concerns, and requests.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an administrative specialist are more likely to require skills like "patients," "travel arrangements," "database management," and "logistics." On the other hand, a job as an executive administrator requires skills like "calendar management," "presentation materials," "executive administrative support," and "executive support." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Executive administrators really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $58,323. Comparatively, administrative specialists tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $50,521.The education levels that executive administrators earn slightly differ from administrative specialists. In particular, executive administrators are 3.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an administrative specialist. Additionally, they're 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Administrative specialist vs. Receptionist/administrator support
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real administrative specialist resumes. While administrative specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "office procedures," "patients," "provides administrative support," and "human resources," receptionist/administrator supports use skills like "phone calls," "inbound calls," "telephone switchboard," and "direct calls."
On average, receptionist/administrator supports earn a lower salary than administrative specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, receptionist/administrator supports earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $34,049. Whereas administrative specialists have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $50,521.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Receptionist/administrator supports tend to reach lower levels of education than administrative specialists. In fact, they're 5.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Administrative specialist vs. Specialist
Clerical specialists are office assistants or executive secretaries offering administrative support. The specialists schedule conference meetings or calls, prepare statistical reports and correspondence, and maintain sensitive data. They manage both incoming and outgoing mails and the distribution of letters and packages to administrative offices and staff. Their job includes the redesign and reorganization of the existing filing systems of client and internal documents. They comply with corporate confidentiality, regulations, and guidelines. Skills in data entry, customer service, and medical records are necessary for this job.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an administrative specialist is likely to be skilled in "data entry," "office procedures," "provides administrative support," and "human resources," while a typical specialist is skilled in "work ethic," "patient care," "exceptional client," and "troubleshoot."
When it comes to education, specialists tend to earn similar degree levels compared to administrative specialists. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Administrative specialist vs. Clerical specialist
Types of administrative specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
