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The differences between operations specialists and operations associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an operations specialist has an average salary of $54,752, which is higher than the $52,703 average annual salary of an operations associate.
The top three skills for an operations specialist include customer service, logistics and basic math. The most important skills for an operations associate are customer service, sales floor, and basic math.
| Operations Specialist | Operations Associate | |
| Yearly salary | $54,752 | $52,703 |
| Hourly rate | $26.32 | $25.34 |
| Growth rate | 10% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 109,181 | 70,275 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
An operations specialist is responsible for optimizing the business' daily operations, ensuring smooth process flow to provide the best services to clients. Operations specialists' duties include analyzing business procedures, identifying opportunities for business improvement, tracking the department's metrics and activities, providing assistance to colleagues, suggesting strategies for operations efficiency, and managing customer's inquiries and complaints. An operations specialist must be an excellent team player and detail-oriented, as well as proven time-management and decision-making skills to meet clients' needs and support the business' objectives.
An operations associate is responsible for performing administrative and clerical tasks to support the organization's daily operations. An operations associate must have excellent organizational skills to perform various duties for different business functions under the supervision of an operations manager. Operations associates respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, prepare meeting reports, schedule appointments, assisting on payroll release, update employees' information on the database, process contract agreements, and help the senior management to identify business opportunities that would generate revenues.
Operations specialists and operations associates have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Operations Specialist | Operations Associate | |
| Average salary | $54,752 | $52,703 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $85,000 | Between $28,000 And $95,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | New York |
| Best paying company | Coatue Management | Biogen |
| Best paying industry | Government | - |
There are a few differences between an operations specialist and an operations associate in terms of educational background:
| Operations Specialist | Operations Associate | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between operations specialists' and operations associates' demographics:
| Operations Specialist | Operations Associate | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.6% Female, 49.4% | Male, 50.2% Female, 49.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |