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The differences between department secretaries and assistant secretaries 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 assistant secretary. Additionally, an assistant secretary has an average salary of $107,366, 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 assistant secretary are telephone calls, payroll, and scheduling appointments.
| Department Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $35,473 | $107,366 |
| Hourly rate | $17.05 | $51.62 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 80,303 | 52,165 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| 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.
An assistant secretary is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the daily operations of various departments and management personnel and ensure the efficiency of business functions. Assistant secretaries usually assist in business communications, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, reaching out to existing clients to schedule appointments, welcoming guests on the office, and routing calls to the appropriate department. They also handle data entry procedures, updating customer information on the database, as well as creating reports on business and financial transactions.
Department secretaries and assistant secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Department Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average salary | $35,473 | $107,366 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $47,000 | Between $38,000 And $302,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oakland, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Elanco |
| Best paying industry | Government | - |
There are a few differences between a department secretary and an assistant secretary in terms of educational background:
| Department Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between department secretaries' and assistant secretaries' demographics:
| Department Secretary | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 7.0% Female, 93.0% | Male, 21.7% Female, 78.3% |
| 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, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |