Associate vs Partner

There are many different associate titles in a variety of industries, including operations associates, associate professors, sales associates, and associate managers, just to name a few.

Partners are people who usually own a portion of the company or business, and are high-ranking within the structure of power. Partners may set company goals or business objectives and give instructions to subordinates.

There are a variety of partners in different industries, such as law partners, business partners, real estate partners, as well as many others.

Here are the key differences between an associate and a partner:

• Seniority - Associates are entry-level employees who report to superiors, while partners are some of the highest-ranking employees at a company or firm

• Ownership - Associates do not own any of the company and do not invest in it, while partners do own portions of a company and are usually investors in it

• Pay - Associates have lower salaries than partners, and partners usually have the highest income earning potential at a company

• Experience - Associates have less professional experience than partners

• Control - Partners have significant control over a company because of their partial ownership, while associates may be influential in some decisions, though they have nowhere near the amount of control a partner does

• Responsibilities - Associates usually perform more basic and general duties, while partners have a more focused field of responsibilities and work

• Risk - Partners have more exposure to risk factors than associates because of their ownership of a company