Front desk office assistant vs office assistant

The differences between front desk office assistants and office assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a front desk office assistant and an office assistant. Additionally, an office assistant has an average salary of $31,517, which is higher than the $31,361 average annual salary of a front desk office assistant.

The top three skills for a front desk office assistant include front desk, patients and customer service. The most important skills for an office assistant are data entry, patients, and customer service.

Front desk office assistant vs office assistant overview

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Office Assistant
Yearly salary	$31,361	$31,517
Hourly rate	$15.08	$15.15
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	113,589	103,293
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 42%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	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 an office assistant do?

Office assistants perform various tasks to ensure that the business runs organized and efficient. An office assistant must possess excellent communication and multi-tasking skills to handle essential duties such as scheduling meetings, monitoring office supplies, storing documents and necessary paperwork, handling customer inquiries and appointments, coordinating in company events, and accomplishing other clerical tasks and administrative support. Office assistants are also required to communicate any observation that would possibly make an impact on the company's performance.

Front desk office assistant vs office assistant salary

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

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Office Assistant
Average salary	$31,361	$31,517
Salary range	Between $20,000 And $46,000	Between $24,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	Vermont
Best paying company	-	Analysis Group
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between front desk office assistant and office assistant education

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

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Office Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 42%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Western Carolina University

Front desk office assistant vs office assistant demographics

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

	Front Desk Office Assistant	Office Assistant
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 14.1% Female, 85.9%	Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7%
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, 10.1% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between front desk office assistant and office 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

Office assistant example responsibilities.

Manage filing, photocopying, collating, and faxing public and seal case documents.
Manage CI s SharePoint pages and serve as CI s subject matter expert on SharePoint working groups.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Compile payroll records, detect and reconcile discrepancies, accurately report outcomes using QuickBooks.
Maintain office services by organizing office operations and procedures, preparing payroll, controlling correspondences, and designing filing systems.
File client paperwork upholding HIPAA standards.

Front desk office assistant vs office 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 office assistant skills

Data Entry, 16%
Patients, 14%
Customer Service, 9%
Telephone Calls, 7%
Scheduling Appointments, 6%
Front Desk, 6%

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

Updated January 8, 2025

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