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The differences between department secretaries and administrative supports can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a department secretary and an administrative support. Additionally, an administrative support has an average salary of $37,692, which is higher than the $35,473 average annual salary of a department secretary.
The top three skills for a department secretary include patients, customer service and data entry. The most important skills for an administrative support are customer service, administrative tasks, and data entry.
| Department Secretary | Administrative Support | |
| Yearly salary | $35,473 | $37,692 |
| Hourly rate | $17.05 | $18.12 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 80,303 | 114,480 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A department secretary is responsible for providing administrative and clerical support to a specific department, ensuring smooth operations to maintain high-quality services to the customers and business partners. Department secretaries should have excellent knowledge of office management principles, especially on data processing procedures and customer service processes. They handle the scheduling of meetings and conferences, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, directing visitors to the appropriate personnel and department, sorting files, and submitting business transactions and financial reports. A department secretary also recommends strategic procedures to generate more revenues and increase the company's profitability.
Administrative support specialists provide different types of governmental assistance. They carry out varied clerical duties in almost all industries. Most of these duties revolve around supervising and distributing information within an organization. This typically includes taking memos, answering phone calls, and managing, storing, and organizing files. They are also responsible for receiving and sending correspondence and greeting customers and clients. Some administrative support may be required to have vast professional knowledge as their duties are more specialized than the others.
Department secretaries and administrative supports have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Department Secretary | Administrative Support | |
| Average salary | $35,473 | $37,692 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $47,000 | Between $26,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oakland, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Pacific Investment Management Company LLC |
| Best paying industry | Government | Technology |
There are a few differences between a department secretary and an administrative support in terms of educational background:
| Department Secretary | Administrative Support | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between department secretaries' and administrative supports' demographics:
| Department Secretary | Administrative Support | |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 7.0% Female, 93.0% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |