Internship vs office specialist

The differences between interns and office specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an internship and an office specialist. Additionally, an internship has an average salary of $35,254, which is higher than the $33,477 average annual salary of an office specialist.

The top three skills for an internship include powerpoint, financial statements and C++. The most important skills for an office specialist are customer service, data entry, and patients.

Internship vs office specialist overview

	Internship	Office Specialist
Yearly salary	$35,254	$33,477
Hourly rate	$16.95	$16.09
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	51,064	98,760
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does an internship do?

Interns are trainees who are engaged by a company to work for them for a brief period. Interns usually use this opportunity to gain actual work experience, fulfill university or college requirements, and ensure that they are working towards the right career path for them. They sign on for a fixed amount of time. The responsibilities of interns depend on the company and the department that handles them. They do a variety of tasks that exposes them to the type of work that the company is engaged in and to the different aspects of the professional world.

What does an office specialist do?

An office specialist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support the organization's daily operations. Office specialists must be highly organizational, as well as having excellent time-management skills to handle work units. They have duties including data entry procedures, greeting visitors, responding to customers' inquiries through phone calls and e-mails, and filing and sorting documents. Office specialists are responsible for creating meeting reports, scheduling appointments, evaluating financial statements, coordinating with other staff for event planning, and assisting the senior management with complex functions.

Internship vs office specialist salary

Interns and office specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Internship	Office Specialist
Average salary	$35,254	$33,477
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $49,000	Between $25,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Alaska	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Qorvo	Brookhaven National Laboratory
Best paying industry	Telecommunication	Finance

Differences between internship and office specialist education

There are a few differences between an internship and an office specialist in terms of educational background:

	Internship	Office Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Internship vs office specialist demographics

Here are the differences between interns' and office specialists' demographics:

	Internship	Office Specialist
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 42.0% Female, 58.0%	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 10.3% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 8.4% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between internship and office specialist duties and responsibilities

Internship example responsibilities.

Lead enrollment process efficiently through securing proper registration forms, official transcripts, immunization records, and IEP documentation as needed.
Manage all company financial transactions through QuickBooks.
Design PHP application to automate schedule updating process.
Manage a web-base graphical interface that utilize a SQL database to better track fabrication lab operations.
Organize online recipe content through the blog, design flyers for it and spread the contest word through twitter and blog.
Develop sponsored post strategy for LinkedIn and Facebook.

Show more

Office specialist example responsibilities.

Provide support for enrolling patients into health coverage programs and manage sensitive patient information to ensure accuracy and confidentiality.
Manage and maintain patients' medical records by utilizing computer applications management database processing system to ensure county compliance.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Provide assistance to office staff including preparing and proofreading memos and grants, transcribing meeting minutes for staff and answering phones.
Perform multiple bookkeeping duties including departmental payroll, print financial reports and other financial material as needed.
Communicate HIPAA compliance to staff, field and outside agencies.

Show more

Internship vs office specialist skills

Common internship skills

PowerPoint, 10%
Financial Statements, 6%
C++, 5%
Mental Health, 5%
Data Analysis, 4%
Facebook, 4%

Common office specialist skills

Customer Service, 18%
Data Entry, 10%
Patients, 9%
Office Equipment, 6%
Phone Calls, 6%
Word Processing, 4%

Internship vs. similar jobs

Internship related careers

Internship related jobs

Internship jobs by location

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z