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The differences between executive assistants/human resources and executive secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an executive assistant/human resources, becoming an executive secretary takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an executive assistant/human resources has an average salary of $65,940, which is higher than the $46,594 average annual salary of an executive secretary.
The top three skills for an executive assistant/human resources include human resources, payroll and powerpoint. The most important skills for an executive secretary are office procedures, payroll, and word processing.
| Executive Assistant/Human Resources | Executive Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $65,940 | $46,594 |
| Hourly rate | $31.70 | $22.40 |
| Growth rate | 7% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 107,560 | 103,802 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Average age | 47 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
Executive Assistants/Human Resources are employees who work under the company's executives. They manage executives' appointments and schedules. They ensure that the calendar is updated at all times. They also provide information to meeting requestors on the availability, assist in creating presentation materials, interpret company data, and retrieve information from other departments. At times, they would even be asked to represent the executive in meetings. They may also assist in other human resources-related projects and facets.
The primary role of executive secretaries is to provide clerical support to an executive or a high-level administrator. They are the ones who conduct the different administrative support tasks for executives which include managing the calendar of executives, answering phone calls, conducting research and sorting important files, preparing and proofreading monthly reports and industry documents that are relevant to the role of executives, and performing some bookkeeping activities such as invoice creation and office inventory tracking.
Executive assistants/human resources and executive secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Executive Assistant/Human Resources | Executive Secretary | |
| Average salary | $65,940 | $46,594 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $95,000 | Between $31,000 And $69,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | New York |
| Best paying company | Citi | InfosysPublicService |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Government |
There are a few differences between an executive assistant/human resources and an executive secretary in terms of educational background:
| Executive Assistant/Human Resources | Executive Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between executive assistants/human resources' and executive secretaries' demographics:
| Executive Assistant/Human Resources | Executive Secretary | |
| Average age | 47 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 6.8% Female, 93.2% | Male, 7.7% Female, 92.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 5.7% White, 70.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 18% | 10% |