Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between editorial assistants 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 an editorial assistant and an assistant secretary. Additionally, an assistant secretary has an average salary of $107,366, which is higher than the $43,141 average annual salary of an editorial assistant.
The top three skills for an editorial assistant include fact check, fiction and press releases. The most important skills for an assistant secretary are telephone calls, payroll, and scheduling appointments.
| Editorial Assistant | Assistant Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $43,141 | $107,366 |
| Hourly rate | $20.74 | $51.62 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 26,839 | 52,165 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 82% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An editorial assistant is primarily responsible for performing support-related tasks for an editor or editing staff. Most of the duties will be clerical such as writing content for print and media, answering calls and correspondence, responding to inquiries, running errands, and following directives from the editor. There are also instances when an editorial assistant must perform fact-checking or proofreading tasks, arrange appointments and travel documents, process paperwork, greet visitors, and even attend meetings and other work-related events.
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.
Editorial assistants and assistant secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Editorial Assistant | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average salary | $43,141 | $107,366 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $53,000 | Between $38,000 And $302,000 |
| Highest paying City | Denver, CO | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Colorado | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Columbia University in the City of New York | Elanco |
| Best paying industry | Government | - |
There are a few differences between an editorial assistant and an assistant secretary in terms of educational background:
| Editorial Assistant | Assistant Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 82% | Bachelor's Degree, 47% |
| Most common major | English | Business |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between editorial assistants' and assistant secretaries' demographics:
| Editorial Assistant | Assistant Secretary | |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 27.7% Female, 72.3% | Male, 21.7% Female, 78.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.8% 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% |