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The differences between assistants and 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 office assistant. Additionally, an assistant has an average salary of $37,363, which is higher than the $31,517 average annual salary of an office assistant.
The top three skills for an assistant include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for an office assistant are data entry, patients, and customer service.
| Assistant | Office Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $37,363 | $31,517 |
| Hourly rate | $17.96 | $15.15 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 557,900 | 103,293 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 42% |
| Average age | 50 | 47 |
| 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.
Office assistants perform various tasks to ensure that the business runs organized and efficient. An office assistant must possess excellent communication and multi-tasking skills to handle essential duties such as scheduling meetings, monitoring office supplies, storing documents and necessary paperwork, handling customer inquiries and appointments, coordinating in company events, and accomplishing other clerical tasks and administrative support. Office assistants are also required to communicate any observation that would possibly make an impact on the company's performance.
Assistants and office assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Assistant | Office Assistant | |
| Average salary | $37,363 | $31,517 |
| Salary range | Between $16,000 And $82,000 | Between $24,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Vermont |
| Best paying company | Latham & Watkins | Analysis Group |
| Best paying industry | Education | Government |
There are a few differences between an assistant and an office assistant in terms of educational background:
| Assistant | Office Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 42% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between assistants' and office assistants' demographics:
| Assistant | Office Assistant | |
| Average age | 50 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 40.7% Female, 59.3% | Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7% |
| 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, 10.1% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |