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The differences between office assistants and administrative office assistants 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 assistant and an administrative office assistant. Additionally, an administrative office assistant has an average salary of $33,318, which is higher than the $31,517 average annual salary of an office assistant.
The top three skills for an office assistant include data entry, patients and customer service. The most important skills for an administrative office assistant are customer service, data entry, and phone calls.
| Office Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $31,517 | $33,318 |
| Hourly rate | $15.15 | $16.02 |
| Growth rate | -5% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 103,293 | 81,528 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 47 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Office assistants perform various tasks to ensure that the business runs organized and efficient. An office assistant must possess excellent communication and multi-tasking skills to handle essential duties such as scheduling meetings, monitoring office supplies, storing documents and necessary paperwork, handling customer inquiries and appointments, coordinating in company events, and accomplishing other clerical tasks and administrative support. Office assistants are also required to communicate any observation that would possibly make an impact on the company's performance.
An administrative office assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties to assist in daily management operations. These duties include taking calls and responding to client and customers' inquiries and concerns, scheduling meetings and conferences, organizing files and submitting required documents, sorting invoices for release, processing travel arrangements, receiving emails, forwarding reports to the appropriate department, and coordinating with company's events. An administrative assistant must be detail-oriented, as well as having excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform duties even under minimal supervision.
Office assistants and administrative office assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Office Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Average salary | $31,517 | $33,318 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $41,000 | Between $25,000 And $43,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Sacramento, CA |
| Highest paying state | Vermont | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Analysis Group | Buckley King |
| Best paying industry | Government | Government |
There are a few differences between an office assistant and an administrative office assistant in terms of educational background:
| Office Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between office assistants' and administrative office assistants' demographics:
| Office Assistant | Administrative Office Assistant | |
| Average age | 47 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7% | Male, 14.7% Female, 85.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |