Office aide vs office specialist

The differences between office aides 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 office aide and an office specialist. Additionally, an office specialist has an average salary of $33,477, which is higher than the $29,255 average annual salary of an office aide.

The top three skills for an office aide include data entry, phone calls and telephone calls. The most important skills for an office specialist are customer service, data entry, and patients.

Office aide vs office specialist overview

	Office Aide	Office Specialist
Yearly salary	$29,255	$33,477
Hourly rate	$14.06	$16.09
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	76,712	98,760
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does an office aide do?

Also called an office assistant, an office aide is someone whose responsibility focuses on secretarial and administrative tasks in health practices, schools, businesses, or any other institution. Office aides help with logistical and clerical needs like copying files, curating schedules, and answering phones. They manage and organize files, receive and direct visitors, create presentations, and answer emails. The skills they need include computer and email use, filing documents, answering multiline phone systems, and typing.

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.

Office aide vs office specialist salary

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

	Office Aide	Office Specialist
Average salary	$29,255	$33,477
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $37,000	Between $25,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	Olympia, WA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Washington	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Community Solutions	Brookhaven National Laboratory
Best paying industry	Health Care	Finance

Differences between office aide and office specialist education

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

	Office Aide	Office Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Western Carolina University

Office aide vs office specialist demographics

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

	Office Aide	Office Specialist
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 24.2% Female, 75.8%	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 23.5% Asian, 8.3% White, 52.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	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 office aide and office specialist duties and responsibilities

Office aide example responsibilities.

Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Handle bulk mailings for annual donations, alumni & target donors.
Elaborate letters, PowerPoint presentations.
Create PowerPoint presentations used for school development.
Administer executive responsibilities to assist the office manager with administrative task and operating QuickBooks.
Ensure sensitive information pertaining to veterans are kept secure.

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.

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Office aide vs office specialist skills

Common office aide skills

Data Entry, 16%
Phone Calls, 15%
Telephone Calls, 8%
Customer Service, 6%
Front Desk, 5%
Database Systems, 5%

Common office specialist skills

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

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Updated January 8, 2025

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