Management assistant vs management trainee

The differences between management assistants and management trainees can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a management assistant, becoming a management trainee takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a management trainee has an average salary of $48,477, which is higher than the $44,020 average annual salary of a management assistant.

The top three skills for a management assistant include patients, word processing and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a management trainee are enterprise management, management training, and customer service.

Management assistant vs management trainee overview

	Management Assistant	Management Trainee
Yearly salary	$44,020	$48,477
Hourly rate	$21.16	$23.31
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	107,324	88,275
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Average age	50	43
Years of experience	2	6

What does a management assistant do?

A management assistant is responsible for organizing all clerical and administrative tasks in an organization by setting up appointments and meetings, updating records, writing reports, and preparing important documents. They can do multitasking and possess excellent communication and strong decision-making skills to be able to recruit and train sales associates, inventory monitoring, and ordering merchandise that is on-demand aside from conducting research about competitive products and analyzing customer behavior to meet customer expectations.

What does a management trainee do?

A management trainee's responsibilities will vary in the assigned industry or department. Most of the time, they function as administrative support where the tasks include processing documents and keeping records, preparing presentations, and analyzing reports. There are also instances when a management trainee must take part in implementing policies, crafting strategies, and observe in handling revenue and budget reports. Furthermore, a management trainee works under the supervision of a manager or supervisor, and it is essential to adhere to all policies and regulations at all times.

Management assistant vs management trainee salary

Management assistants and management trainees have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Management Assistant	Management Trainee
Average salary	$44,020	$48,477
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $62,000	Between $38,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	New Jersey
Best paying company	Nokia	BNSF Railway
Best paying industry	Health Care	Manufacturing

Differences between management assistant and management trainee education

There are a few differences between a management assistant and a management trainee in terms of educational background:

	Management Assistant	Management Trainee
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 81%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	University of Pennsylvania

Management assistant vs management trainee demographics

Here are the differences between management assistants' and management trainees' demographics:

	Management Assistant	Management Trainee
Average age	50	43
Gender ratio	Male, 41.7% Female, 58.3%	Male, 61.8% Female, 38.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	9%

Differences between management assistant and management trainee duties and responsibilities

Management assistant example responsibilities.

Manage the operations for FOH and BOH facilities.
Develop management and leadership principles while managing, training, and motivating employees in fast-pace, high-volume sales/customer service business.
Work with HQ in resolving payroll, personnel, performance, conduct, EEO, congressional, and legal issues.
Used QuickBooks to facilitate small business accounting.
Receive and process visit requests through JPAS.
Start as cashier, learned the register POS system.

Management trainee example responsibilities.

Manage internal marketing programs including telemarketing and email campaigns to increase customer activity.
Manage payroll, payments, social security calculations, all administrative functions and vacation rolls coordination.
Develop management and leadership principles while managing, training, and motivating employees in fast-pace, high-volume sales/customer service business.
Develop workforce management, inventory management, leadership, time-management and prioritization skills through working closely with store and department management.
Perform successful sales in roofing and general construction.
Create Instagram and Facebook posts having to do with new clothing shipments.

Management assistant vs management trainee skills

Common management assistant skills

Patients, 13%
Word Processing, 12%
Customer Satisfaction, 11%
PowerPoint, 6%
Payroll, 6%
Statistical Data, 5%

Common management trainee skills

Enterprise Management, 14%
Management Training, 11%
Customer Service, 9%
Product Knowledge, 8%
Cash Management, 5%
Store Training, 4%

Management Assistant vs. similar jobs

Management Assistant related careers

Management Assistant related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Office and Administrative Industry
Management Assistant
Management Assistant vs Management Trainee

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs