Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between experts and associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an expert has an average salary of $94,068, which is higher than the $69,556 average annual salary of an associate.
The top three skills for an expert include sales floor, strong customer service and product knowledge. The most important skills for an associate are customer service, sales floor, and patients.
| Expert | Associate | |
| Yearly salary | $94,068 | $69,556 |
| Hourly rate | $45.23 | $33.44 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 11,893 | 569,041 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
An expert has extensive knowledge on a subject gained from a significant amount of experience. Although the tasks will vary on the line of work or organization, an expert's role will often revolve around sharing expertise through discussion, evaluation, and influencing. There's also an opportunity for teaching, training, selling, and even promoting. Being an expert requires a great deal of communication and coordination; the duties will always involve engaging with other people and building rapport.
Associates are typically entry-level positions for employees who are taking on their first job or organizational role. They are assigned to teams or departments that are related to their skills or educational background. They usually start with smaller tasks that may not seem as impactful but are still essential to the department. Associates are trained by more tenured team members on the ins and outs of the department and the organization. As they grow with the organization, they are given more responsibilities that directly impact the results of the department's initiatives as they work towards their goals.
Experts and associates have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Expert | Associate | |
| Average salary | $94,068 | $69,556 |
| Salary range | Between $54,000 And $161,000 | Between $34,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | McKinsey & Company Inc | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between an expert and an associate in terms of educational background:
| Expert | Associate | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between experts' and associates' demographics:
| Expert | Associate | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.6% Female, 44.4% | Male, 50.4% Female, 49.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 8.3% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 8.3% White, 57.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |