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The differences between managers's assistant/administrative assistant and executive assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a manager's assistant/administrative assistant, becoming an executive assistant takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an executive assistant has an average salary of $50,539, which is higher than the $44,190 average annual salary of a manager's assistant/administrative assistant.
The top three skills for a manager's assistant/administrative assistant include inventory control, customer service and financial reports. The most important skills for an executive assistant are powerpoint, customer service, and phone calls.
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $44,190 | $50,539 |
| Hourly rate | $21.25 | $24.30 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 40,349 | 93,116 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 4.4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 50 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A manager's assistant, or administrative assistant, is responsible for providing support to the management by performing administrative and clerical tasks as needed. Some of the administrative assistant's duties include receiving and responding to customer's inquiries and concerns through e-mail, phone calls, and personal visits, scheduling meetings or important events, generating operations reports, keeping records of the company's expenses, and monitoring office supplies. An administrative assistant must have exceptional work ethics and time-management skills, as well as the ability to multi-task to perform multiple tasks under minimal supervision.
Executive assistants are employees who are assigned to work under the supervision of company executives. They manage the activities of the executives they are assigned to by manning the executive's calendar, scheduling appointments, setting meetings, ensuring that the executives are familiar with their schedule for the day, and taking note of any deliverable that may be needed. They are also responsible for taking care of any document or paperwork that the executive needs, as well as preparing presentation materials or briefers for meetings. Executive assistants are also usually exposed to actual company operations to further understand how the business works and to be of better help to the executive.
Managers's assistant/administrative assistant and executive assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Average salary | $44,190 | $50,539 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $71,000 | Between $35,000 And $71,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | Bain & Company | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a manager's assistant/administrative assistant and an executive assistant in terms of educational background:
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between managers's assistant/administrative assistant' and executive assistants' demographics:
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Average age | 50 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 33.9% Female, 66.1% | Male, 13.1% Female, 86.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 10% |