Front desk office assistant vs desk assistant

The differences between front desk office assistants and desk assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a front desk office assistant has an average salary of $31,361, which is higher than the $27,353 average annual salary of a desk assistant.

The top three skills for a front desk office assistant include front desk, patients and customer service. The most important skills for a desk assistant are customer service, residential life, and phone calls.

Front desk office assistant vs desk assistant overview

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Desk Assistant
Yearly salary	$31,361	$27,353
Hourly rate	$15.08	$13.15
Growth rate	-5%	-
Number of jobs	113,589	25,019
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	47	37
Years of experience	2	-

What does a front desk office assistant do?

Front desk office assistants are the first point of contact for anyone visiting a business or an office. They greet workers and clients and perform routine administrative tasks around the office. These tasks include taking phone calls, scheduling appointments, responding to inquiries and concerns of guests, maintaining and arranging office files, taking and delivering messages, and sending mail. Being polite, jovial, and firm are key characteristics in this role.

What does a desk assistant do?

A desk assistant is primarily responsible for providing customer service support through calls or desk appointments, ensuring client satisfaction. Typically, they are responsible for answering inquiries and correspondence, addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, and providing corrective measures or advice when necessary. Should the problems be challenging to handle, one can elevate the matter to a supervising manager. Moreover, a desk assistant may have clerical duties such as processing paperwork, maintaining documentation and a database, managing schedules, and updating systems.

Front desk office assistant vs desk assistant salary

Front desk office assistants and desk assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Desk Assistant
Average salary	$31,361	$27,353
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $46,000	Between $12,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	-	New York, NY
Highest paying state	-	New York
Best paying company	-	Massachusetts General Hospital
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between front desk office assistant and desk assistant education

There are a few differences between a front desk office assistant and a desk assistant in terms of educational background:

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Desk Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Business	Psychology
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	-

Front desk office assistant vs desk assistant demographics

Here are the differences between front desk office assistants' and desk assistants' demographics:

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Desk Assistant
Average age	47	37
Gender ratio	Male, 14.1% Female, 85.9%	Male, 35.5% Female, 64.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 23.5% Asian, 7.6% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 6.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.6% Asian, 11.7% White, 51.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%
LGBT Percentage	6%	13%

Differences between front desk office assistant and desk assistant duties and responsibilities

Front desk office assistant example responsibilities.

Manage front-line customer service efforts and deliver maximum revenue generation by scheduling patients and maintaining substantial client database.
Enter patient demographics into EMR.
Track patient files records, and other information including entry of data into EMR.
Follow health center and departmental protocols for communication with patients and providers.
Respond to incoming patient calls, including conducting phone triage to determine necessity of scheduling appointments
Enhance student body knowledge by researching key facts to create educational PowerPoint slides to be publish throughout campus

Desk assistant example responsibilities.

Use EMR software to manage patient records and files; reinforce and uphold patient confidentiality as required by HIPAA.
Fulfill front desk duties such as: customer service, operating cash register, scheduling reservations, answering phone calls and housekeeping
Check ids, close the weight room, put weights away, answer phones
Check in/out guests and operate hotel booking software.
Answer calls, complete paperwork, and ensure the hall run smoothly
Check in residents after midnight, and run check out of dorm equipment.

Front desk office assistant vs desk assistant skills

Common front desk office assistant skills

Front Desk, 20%
Patients, 18%
Customer Service, 9%
Phone Calls, 9%
Data Entry, 8%
Appointment Scheduling, 5%

Common desk assistant skills

Customer Service, 22%
Residential Life, 18%
Phone Calls, 16%
Front Desk Coverage, 8%
Administrative Tasks, 7%
Emergency Situations, 4%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Front Desk Office Assistant
Front Desk Office Assistant vs Desk Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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