Office assistant vs front desk administrative assistant

The differences between office assistants and front desk administrative 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 a front desk administrative assistant. Additionally, a front desk administrative assistant has an average salary of $33,037, 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 a front desk administrative assistant are customer service, patients, and data entry.

Office assistant vs front desk administrative assistant overview

	Office Assistant	Front Desk Administrative Assistant
Yearly salary	$31,517	$33,037
Hourly rate	$15.15	$15.88
Growth rate	-5%	-8%
Number of jobs	103,293	95,732
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 42%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age	47	50
Years of experience	2	2

What does an office assistant do?

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.

What does a front desk administrative assistant do?

A front desk administrative assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties to support daily business functions and operations. Front desk administrative assistants assist guests, respond to their inquiries and concerns, and direct them to the appropriate personnel for their needs. They also monitor office inventories, write purchase requests, and distribute mails across the departments. A front desk administrative assistants review business and financial transactions to generate reports, update information on the company's database, and sort documents for reference.

Office assistant vs front desk administrative assistant salary

Office assistants and front desk administrative assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Office Assistant	Front Desk Administrative Assistant
Average salary	$31,517	$33,037
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $41,000	Between $27,000 And $39,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Springfield, MA
Highest paying state	Vermont	Connecticut
Best paying company	Analysis Group	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Government	Professional

Differences between office assistant and front desk administrative assistant education

There are a few differences between an office assistant and a front desk administrative assistant in terms of educational background:

	Office Assistant	Front Desk Administrative Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 42%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Office assistant vs front desk administrative assistant demographics

Here are the differences between office assistants' and front desk administrative assistants' demographics:

	Office Assistant	Front Desk Administrative Assistant
Average age	47	50
Gender ratio	Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7%	Male, 10.0% Female, 90.0%
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, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between office assistant and front desk administrative assistant duties and responsibilities

Office assistant example responsibilities.

Manage filing, photocopying, collating, and faxing public and seal case documents.
Manage CI s SharePoint pages and serve as CI s subject matter expert on SharePoint working groups.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Compile payroll records, detect and reconcile discrepancies, accurately report outcomes using QuickBooks.
Maintain office services by organizing office operations and procedures, preparing payroll, controlling correspondences, and designing filing systems.
File client paperwork upholding HIPAA standards.

Front desk administrative assistant example responsibilities.

Manage day-to-day operations including scheduling and coordinating appointments, verify patient insurance, prepare correspondences between medical providers and their patients.
Process member and team member paperwork; including member cancellations, updates, new hires/terminations/status changes, and payroll paperwork.
Monitor and complete payroll information.
Demonstrate great initiative in assisting tech team with minor technical issues and create PowerPoint presentations for business strategic purposes.
Register patients, verify eligibility of insurance, interview them in order to obtain other demographic information that are needed.
Manage day-to-day operations including scheduling and coordinating appointments, verify patient insurance, prepare correspondences between medical providers and their patients.

Office assistant vs front desk administrative assistant skills

Common office assistant skills

Data Entry, 16%
Patients, 14%
Customer Service, 9%
Telephone Calls, 7%
Scheduling Appointments, 6%
Front Desk, 6%

Common front desk administrative assistant skills

Customer Service, 15%
Patients, 12%
Data Entry, 8%
Phone Calls, 8%
Front Desk Operations, 7%
Check-In, 4%

Office Assistant vs. similar jobs

Office Assistant related careers

Office Assistant related jobs

Office Assistant jobs by location

Zippia Careers
Office and Administrative Industry
Office Assistant
Office Assistant vs Front Desk Administrative Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse office and administrative jobs