Clerical associate vs office specialist

The differences between clerical associates and office specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a clerical associate and an office specialist. Additionally, an office specialist has an average salary of $33,477, which is higher than the $30,024 average annual salary of a clerical associate.

The top three skills for a clerical associate include patients, data entry and customer service. The most important skills for an office specialist are customer service, data entry, and patients.

Clerical associate vs office specialist overview

	Clerical Associate	Office Specialist
Yearly salary	$30,024	$33,477
Hourly rate	$14.43	$16.09
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	78,648	98,760
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does a clerical associate do?

A clerical associate is someone who carries out administrative tasks. Clerical associates photocopy, distribute mail, put together mailings, send faxes, respond to emails, and type letters. The associate's order office supplies, convey messages to staff members, handle payroll, and manage conference rooms. They check records for information accuracy and policy and procedure conformity. It is part of their responsibilities to perform projects for patient care facilitation. Also, they provide support to the mental health clinic in terms of patient care and satisfaction survey distribution and collection.

What does an office specialist do?

An office specialist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the organization's daily operations. Office specialists must be highly organizational, as well as having excellent time-management skills to handle work units. They have duties including data entry procedures, greeting visitors, responding to customers' inquiries through phone calls and e-mails, and filing and sorting documents. Office specialists are responsible for creating meeting reports, scheduling appointments, evaluating financial statements, coordinating with other staff for event planning, and assisting the senior management with complex functions.

Clerical associate vs office specialist salary

Clerical associates and office specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clerical Associate	Office Specialist
Average salary	$30,024	$33,477
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $37,000	Between $25,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	Bakersfield, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Alaska	Massachusetts
Best paying company	GBS	Brookhaven National Laboratory
Best paying industry	Government	Finance

Differences between clerical associate and office specialist education

There are a few differences between a clerical associate and an office specialist in terms of educational background:

	Clerical Associate	Office Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Western Carolina University

Clerical associate vs office specialist demographics

Here are the differences between clerical associates' and office specialists' demographics:

	Clerical Associate	Office Specialist
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 20.3% Female, 79.7%	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 22.0% Asian, 7.7% White, 53.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 8.4% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between clerical associate and office specialist duties and responsibilities

Clerical associate example responsibilities.

Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Apply ICD-9, CPT and HCPCS codes for outpatient treatments.
Obtain and properly distributes messages using EMR.
Fax radiology reports and make calls regarding abnormal reports.
Coordinate patient radiology exams as well as patient procedures.
Update clinical records associate with patient visits in MYSIS EMR system.

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Office specialist example responsibilities.

Provide support for enrolling patients into health coverage programs and manage sensitive patient information to ensure accuracy and confidentiality.
Manage and maintain patients' medical records by utilizing computer applications management database processing system to ensure county compliance.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Provide assistance to office staff including preparing and proofreading memos and grants, transcribing meeting minutes for staff and answering phones.
Perform multiple bookkeeping duties including departmental payroll, print financial reports and other financial material as needed.
Communicate HIPAA compliance to staff, field and outside agencies.

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Clerical associate vs office specialist skills

Common clerical associate skills

Patients, 23%
Data Entry, 11%
Customer Service, 11%
Phone Calls, 5%
Clerical Functions, 5%
Patient Care, 5%

Common office specialist skills

Customer Service, 18%
Data Entry, 10%
Patients, 9%
Office Equipment, 6%
Phone Calls, 6%
Word Processing, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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