Administrative support specialist vs administrative staff

The differences between administrative support specialists and administrative staff 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 support specialist and an administrative staff. Additionally, an administrative staff has an average salary of $77,101, which is higher than the $38,244 average annual salary of an administrative support specialist.

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

Administrative support specialist vs administrative staff overview

	Administrative Support Specialist	Administrative Staff
Yearly salary	$38,244	$77,101
Hourly rate	$18.39	$37.07
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	139,654	119,030
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	2	2

What does an administrative support specialist do?

An administrative support specialist is an individual who is involved in the office management, clerical tasks, and back-office duties of an organization. To run the office smoothly, administrative support specialists must manage the purchasing and inventory of office supplies as well as schedule the maintenance of office equipment. They serve as a liaison for executives by screening incoming calls and emails, sorting mails, and setting appointments with employees, customers, and vendors. Administrative support specialists must also be able to draft memos and edit report proposals and other business documents.

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.

Administrative support specialist vs administrative staff salary

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

	Administrative Support Specialist	Administrative Staff
Average salary	$38,244	$77,101
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $49,000	Between $58,000 And $101,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Connecticut	California
Best paying company	King County	NVIDIA
Best paying industry	Government	Professional

Differences between administrative support specialist and administrative staff education

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

	Administrative Support Specialist	Administrative Staff
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	University of Pennsylvania

Administrative support specialist vs administrative staff demographics

Here are the differences between administrative support specialists' and administrative staff' demographics:

	Administrative Support Specialist	Administrative Staff
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 20.5% Female, 79.5%	Male, 31.9% Female, 68.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	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%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between administrative support specialist and administrative staff duties and responsibilities

Administrative support specialist example responsibilities.

Create PowerPoint presentations, manage spreadsheet information/graphs and provide reports as necessary.
Participate in committee meetings by preparing minutes and presentation summaries, planning meeting agendas, and organizing and managing meeting logistics.
Assist SharePoint intranet creation and documentation.
Generate PowerPoint presentations for meetings and training.
Maintain and post unit documents utilizing SharePoint.
Maintain files on all division civilian personnel, submit accurate payroll sheets for assign civilian personnel.

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 support specialist vs administrative staff skills

Common administrative support specialist skills

Customer Service, 16%
Data Entry, 8%
Patients, 6%
PowerPoint, 5%
Administrative Functions, 4%
Office Equipment, 4%

Common administrative staff skills

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

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Office and Administrative Industry
Administrative Support Specialist
Administrative Support Specialist vs Administrative Staff

Updated January 8, 2025

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