Administrative staff vs administrative assistant

The differences between administrative staff and administrative assistants 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 staff and an administrative assistant. Additionally, an administrative staff has an average salary of $77,101, which is higher than the $34,945 average annual salary of an administrative assistant.

The top three skills for an administrative staff include telephone calls, word processing and travel arrangements. The most important skills for an administrative assistant are customer service, data entry, and powerpoint.

Administrative staff vs administrative assistant overview

	Administrative Staff	Administrative Assistant
Yearly salary	$77,101	$34,945
Hourly rate	$37.07	$16.80
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	119,030	65,769
Job satisfaction	-	4.14
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	2	2

What does an administrative staff do?

As the administrative staff, they primarily provide administrative and secretarial support for the department. Typically, they do report-writing, filing and scheduling, and payroll. They plan department weekly meetings, schedule conference calls, and work on solving administrative related concerns and issues. They do a complex task that involves multi-tasking from the preparation of department reports, analyzing data, and finding solutions. It is a requirement to be an experienced, collaborator, and trained cross-functional communicator. Moreover, other duties will include scheduling company-initiated activities, meetings, and events.

What does an administrative assistant do?

Administrative assistants, or admin assistants, do general clerical and administrative activities. Their duties involve organizing and maintaining files and records, preparing documents, scheduling meetings and appointments, and providing general support in the office. Administrative assistants handle incoming and outgoing official correspondences, take minutes of important meetings and manage calls to the main office number. They also assist executives in providing structure to their day by managing their schedule, drafting e-mails, and other activities that executives may need assistance in. Administrative assistants should have the following skills: organizing, business writing, decision-making, and communication.

Administrative staff vs administrative assistant salary

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

	Administrative Staff	Administrative Assistant
Average salary	$77,101	$34,945
Salary range	Between $58,000 And $101,000	Between $26,000 And $46,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	NVIDIA	Westfield State University
Best paying industry	Professional	-

Differences between administrative staff and administrative assistant education

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

	Administrative Staff	Administrative Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Western Carolina University

Administrative staff vs administrative assistant demographics

Here are the differences between administrative staff' and administrative assistants' demographics:

	Administrative Staff	Administrative Assistant
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 31.9% Female, 68.1%	Male, 12.7% Female, 87.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.0% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between administrative staff and administrative assistant duties and responsibilities

Administrative staff example responsibilities.

Support medical doctors, manage sensitive and confidential records pertaining to high risk patients with emphasis on accuracy.
Prepare PowerPoint presentations for management distribution.
Maintain payroll information by collect, calculate and enter data.
Prepare briefing slides and presentation material using PowerPoint and Visio.
Maintain accounting statements, databases, and other financial information such as payroll coding and budget preparation
Provide cloud base customer relationship management with Salesforce for optimization in coordination of the workforce development program and other community orient events

Administrative assistant example responsibilities.

Manage time and attendance using Kronos software for entire department.
Participate in national projects, manage new customer conversions to MCI from other carriers.
Manage FEDEX delivery requirements ensuring compliance with company policy.
Manage and update social media outlets including Facebook and LinkedIn.
Manage company finances using QuickBooks software, including monitoring the operating budget and collecting on unpaid invoices.
Manage and develop the daily clinical schedule for the in-patient rehabilitation staff taking into consideration Medicare guidelines and staffing ratios.

Administrative staff vs administrative assistant skills

Common administrative staff skills

Telephone Calls, 19%
Word Processing, 16%
Travel Arrangements, 7%
Payroll, 6%
Personnel Actions, 6%
Financial Reports, 5%

Common administrative assistant skills

Customer Service, 14%
Data Entry, 11%
PowerPoint, 6%
Travel Arrangements, 5%
Database Management, 5%
Word Processing, 5%

Administrative Staff vs. similar jobs

Administrative Staff related careers

Administrative Staff related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Office and Administrative Industry
Administrative Staff
Administrative Staff vs Administrative Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs