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The differences between personal advocates and program assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a personal advocate and a program assistant. Additionally, a personal advocate has an average salary of $36,577, which is higher than the $35,193 average annual salary of a program assistant.
The top three skills for a personal advocate include mental health, inbound calls and social work. The most important skills for a program assistant are patients, customer service, and data entry.
| Personal Advocate | Program Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $36,577 | $35,193 |
| Hourly rate | $17.59 | $16.92 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 70,768 | 96,901 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Personal advocates must have skills in communication, collaboration, and presentation. They also need a bachelor's or associate's degree in a health-related discipline, and their salary may range from $55K to over $100K per year depending on their degree. Personal advocates encourage and facilitate customer choices and support these choices in order to promote independence and personal growth.
Program assistants are usually entry-level or junior employees assigned to a department that handles a specific program in the organization. They assist the team they are assigned to in the implementation of the programs. They usually take care of administrative or clerical activities while also getting exposure to actual program management. Program assistants get trained to handle agendas from inception, to sourcing, to implementation, to evaluation. They may also handle documentary support for business cases or other presentation materials that the team may need for a specific part of the program management cycle.
Personal advocates and program assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Personal Advocate | Program Assistant | |
| Average salary | $36,577 | $35,193 |
| Salary range | Between $29,000 And $45,000 | Between $27,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Cigna | The Aspen Institute |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Government |
There are a few differences between a personal advocate and a program assistant in terms of educational background:
| Personal Advocate | Program Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Business |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between personal advocates' and program assistants' demographics:
| Personal Advocate | Program Assistant | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 14.0% Female, 86.0% | Male, 24.8% Female, 75.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 6.1% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.7% | Black or African American, 13.8% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 6.7% White, 53.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |