Office specialist vs administrative support specialist

The differences between office specialists and administrative support 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 specialist and an administrative support specialist. Additionally, an administrative support specialist has an average salary of $38,244, which is higher than the $33,477 average annual salary of an office specialist.

The top three skills for an office specialist include customer service, data entry and patients. The most important skills for an administrative support specialist are customer service, data entry, and patients.

Office specialist vs administrative support specialist overview

	Office Specialist	Administrative Support Specialist
Yearly salary	$33,477	$38,244
Hourly rate	$16.09	$18.39
Growth rate	-5%	-8%
Number of jobs	98,760	139,654
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	47	50
Years of experience	2	2

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.

What does an administrative support specialist do?

An administrative support specialist is an individual who is involved in the office management, clerical tasks, and back-office duties of an organization. To run the office smoothly, administrative support specialists must manage the purchasing and inventory of office supplies as well as schedule the maintenance of office equipment. They serve as a liaison for executives by screening incoming calls and emails, sorting mails, and setting appointments with employees, customers, and vendors. Administrative support specialists must also be able to draft memos and edit report proposals and other business documents.

Office specialist vs administrative support specialist salary

Office specialists and administrative support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Office Specialist	Administrative Support Specialist
Average salary	$33,477	$38,244
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $43,000	Between $29,000 And $49,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Connecticut
Best paying company	Brookhaven National Laboratory	King County
Best paying industry	Finance	Government

Differences between office specialist and administrative support specialist education

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

	Office Specialist	Administrative Support Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Office specialist vs administrative support specialist demographics

Here are the differences between office specialists' and administrative support specialists' demographics:

	Office Specialist	Administrative Support Specialist
Average age	47	50
Gender ratio	Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7%	Male, 20.5% Female, 79.5%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between office specialist and administrative support specialist duties and responsibilities

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.

Administrative support specialist example responsibilities.

Create PowerPoint presentations, manage spreadsheet information/graphs and provide reports as necessary.
Participate in committee meetings by preparing minutes and presentation summaries, planning meeting agendas, and organizing and managing meeting logistics.
Assist SharePoint intranet creation and documentation.
Generate PowerPoint presentations for meetings and training.
Maintain and post unit documents utilizing SharePoint.
Maintain files on all division civilian personnel, submit accurate payroll sheets for assign civilian personnel.

Office specialist vs administrative support specialist skills

Common office specialist skills

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

Common administrative support specialist skills

Customer Service, 16%
Data Entry, 8%
Patients, 6%
PowerPoint, 5%
Administrative Functions, 4%
Office Equipment, 4%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Office Specialist
Office Specialist vs Administrative Support Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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