A contract administrative assistant helps in the effective enforcement of contracts made with the government, contractors, employees, suppliers, or clients. They are very often tasked with the following responsibilities: closely reviewing contract documents closely for accuracy, preparing and distributing contract documents for execution, reviewing incoming and outgoing correspondence, maintaining and organizing physical and electronic contract files, preparing reports for both prime contracts and subcontract files.
The role of a contract administrative assistant best fits individuals with an acute eye for details as well as organizational skills. The most common pathway to becoming an entry-level contract administrative assistant is pursuing at least an associate degree in contract management or acquisition. A more advanced role would require one to earn a bachelor's degree. In exchange for their expertise, contract administrative assistants in the United States earn an average annual salary of $32,190.
How to Become a Contract Administrative Assistant
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a contract administrative assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.27 an hour? That's $35,928 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -7% and produce -276,700 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Contract Administrative Assistant Do
There are certain skills that many contract administrative assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, organizational skills and writing skills.
How To Become a Contract Administrative Assistant
If you're interested in becoming a contract administrative assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 50.8% of contract administrative assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.6% of contract administrative assistants have master's degrees. Even though most contract administrative assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a contract administrative assistant. When we researched the most common majors for a contract administrative assistant, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on contract administrative assistant resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a contract administrative assistant. In fact, many contract administrative assistant jobs require experience in a role such as administrative assistant. Meanwhile, many contract administrative assistants also have previous career experience in roles such as executive assistant or customer service representative.
Contract Administrative Assistant Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a contract administrative assistant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as executive assistant, progress to a title such as office manager and then eventually end up with the title business manager.
Average Salary for a Contract Administrative Assistant
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Contract Administrative Assistants
1. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Private
2. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
3. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Private
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH • Private
6. Cedar Crest College
Allentown, PA • Private
7. Morgan State University
Baltimore, MD • Private
8. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
9. Siena Heights University
Adrian, MI • Private
10. University of Akron
Akron, OH • Private
Top Skills For a Contract Administrative Assistant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.0% of contract administrative assistants listed data entry on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and organizational skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Contract Administrative Assistant Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Contract Administrative Assistant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Contract Administrative Assistant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Contract Administrative Assistant Demographics
Contract Administrative Assistant Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among contract administrative assistants, 89.8% of them are women, while 10.2% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among contract administrative assistants is White, which makes up 70.1% of all contract administrative assistants.
- The most common foreign language among contract administrative assistants is Spanish at 67.4%.
Online Courses For Contract Administrative Assistant That You May Like
Contracts Management, Contract Administration, FIDIC, Bank Guarantees, Contracts, Letter Drafting, Quantity Surveying...
Learn the principles of drafting, reviewing & negotiating contracts and agreements & save on spending for lawyer's fee...
Best States For a Contract Administrative Assistant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a contract administrative assistant. The best states for people in this position are Connecticut, Washington, California, and Vermont. Contract administrative assistants make the most in Connecticut with an average salary of $44,742. Whereas in Washington and California, they would average $44,021 and $43,161, respectively. While contract administrative assistants would only make an average of $43,051 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$52,053
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$44,021
Avg. Salary
3. Connecticut
$44,742
Avg. Salary
How Do Contract Administrative Assistant Rate Their Jobs?
Top Contract Administrative Assistant Employers
Most Common Employers For Contract Administrative Assistant
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft | $122,171 | $58.74 | 9 |
| 2 | IBM | $81,895 | $39.37 | 11 |
| 3 | Merck | $57,313 | $27.55 | 8 |
| 4 | Raytheon Technologies | $55,124 | $26.50 | 9 |
| 5 | Chevron | $50,419 | $24.24 | 9 |
| 6 | Pfizer | $42,648 | $20.50 | 8 |
| 7 | Bank of America | $41,629 | $20.01 | 13 |
| 8 | Novartis | $40,664 | $19.55 | 7 |
| 9 | T-Mobile | $37,987 | $18.26 | 8 |
| 10 | SAIC | $37,855 | $18.20 | 10 |