Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between managers's assistant/administrative assistant and senior secretaries 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 a senior secretary takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a manager's assistant/administrative assistant has an average salary of $44,190, which is higher than the $33,120 average annual salary of a senior secretary.
The top three skills for a manager's assistant/administrative assistant include inventory control, customer service and financial reports. The most important skills for a senior secretary are patients, routine correspondence, and data entry.
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Senior Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $44,190 | $33,120 |
| Hourly rate | $21.25 | $15.92 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 40,349 | 37,284 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| 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.
A Senior Secretary is responsible for maintaining office records, receiving and directing telephone calls, and writing various reports for managers. They also schedule appointments and meetings for supervisors and assist in the process of new hires.
Managers's assistant/administrative assistant and senior secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Senior Secretary | |
| Average salary | $44,190 | $33,120 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $71,000 | Between $26,000 And $40,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Santa Rosa, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Bain & Company | Columbia University in the City of New York |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Pharmaceutical |
There are a few differences between a manager's assistant/administrative assistant and a senior secretary in terms of educational background:
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Senior Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| 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 senior secretaries' demographics:
| Manager's Assistant/Administrative Assistant | Senior Secretary | |
| Average age | 50 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 33.9% Female, 66.1% | Male, 5.9% Female, 94.1% |
| 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% |