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The differences between assistants and administrative office 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 assistant and an administrative office assistant. Additionally, an assistant has an average salary of $37,363, which is higher than the $33,318 average annual salary of an administrative office assistant.
The top three skills for an assistant include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for an administrative office assistant are customer service, data entry, and phone calls.
| Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $37,363 | $33,318 |
| Hourly rate | $17.96 | $16.02 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 557,900 | 81,528 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An assistant intern is responsible for facilitating administrative and clerical tasks as assigned by the management. Assistant interns' duties include keeping records of meetings, receiving calls and handling customer inquiries, assisting on writing reports and data entry processing, cooperating and providing support for business events, and adhering to company policies and regulatory procedures. Successful assistant interns must have excellent time-management, multi-tasking, and communication skills. They must be a team player and fast-learner to handle various tasks in the corporate industry.
An administrative office assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties to assist in daily management operations. These duties include taking calls and responding to client and customers' inquiries and concerns, scheduling meetings and conferences, organizing files and submitting required documents, sorting invoices for release, processing travel arrangements, receiving emails, forwarding reports to the appropriate department, and coordinating with company's events. An administrative assistant must be detail-oriented, as well as having excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform duties even under minimal supervision.
Assistants and administrative office assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Average salary | $37,363 | $33,318 |
| Salary range | Between $16,000 And $82,000 | Between $25,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Sacramento, CA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Latham & Watkins | Buckley King |
| Best paying industry | Education | Government |
There are a few differences between an assistant and an administrative office assistant in terms of educational background:
| Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between assistants' and administrative office assistants' demographics:
| Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 40.7% Female, 59.3% | Male, 14.7% Female, 85.3% |
| 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, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |