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The differences between department secretaries 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 department secretary and an office specialist. Additionally, a department secretary has an average salary of $35,473, which is higher than the $33,477 average annual salary of an office specialist.
The top three skills for a department secretary include patients, customer service and data entry. The most important skills for an office specialist are customer service, data entry, and patients.
| Department Secretary | Office Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $35,473 | $33,477 |
| Hourly rate | $17.05 | $16.09 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 80,303 | 98,760 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Average age | 50 | 47 |
| 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 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.
Department secretaries and office specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Department Secretary | Office Specialist | |
| Average salary | $35,473 | $33,477 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $47,000 | Between $25,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oakland, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Brookhaven National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | Government | Finance |
There are a few differences between a department secretary and an office specialist in terms of educational background:
| Department Secretary | Office Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 39% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between department secretaries' and office specialists' demographics:
| Department Secretary | Office Specialist | |
| Average age | 50 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 7.0% Female, 93.0% | Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7% |
| 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, 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% |