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The differences between purchasing administrative assistants and administrative supports can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a purchasing administrative assistant and an administrative support. Additionally, a purchasing administrative assistant has an average salary of $37,889, which is higher than the $37,692 average annual salary of an administrative support.
The top three skills for a purchasing administrative assistant include purchase orders, data entry and customer service. The most important skills for an administrative support are customer service, administrative tasks, and data entry.
| Purchasing Administrative Assistant | Administrative Support | |
| Yearly salary | $37,889 | $37,692 |
| Hourly rate | $18.22 | $18.12 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 48,872 | 114,480 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Purchasing Administrative Assistants will require a high school diploma or GED, but an associate degree or higher is preferred, as well as three or more years in a purchasing role. This career will require skills in communication and negotiation, as well as a proven history of good supply management and the ability to create and administer task priority lists based on the needs of the respective company. Paying an average salary of $42K per year, but ranging between $37K and $49K, this career choice will demand the provision of support to the purchasing process and department staff, processing documents and materials and responding to inquiries, as well as maintaining information and inventories about vendors and sources.
Administrative support specialists provide different types of governmental assistance. They carry out varied clerical duties in almost all industries. Most of these duties revolve around supervising and distributing information within an organization. This typically includes taking memos, answering phone calls, and managing, storing, and organizing files. They are also responsible for receiving and sending correspondence and greeting customers and clients. Some administrative support may be required to have vast professional knowledge as their duties are more specialized than the others.
Purchasing administrative assistants and administrative supports have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Purchasing Administrative Assistant | Administrative Support | |
| Average salary | $37,889 | $37,692 |
| Salary range | Between $29,000 And $48,000 | Between $26,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Milpitas, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Aspen Snowmass | Pacific Investment Management Company LLC |
| Best paying industry | Construction | Technology |
There are a few differences between a purchasing administrative assistant and an administrative support in terms of educational background:
| Purchasing Administrative Assistant | Administrative Support | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between purchasing administrative assistants' and administrative supports' demographics:
| Purchasing Administrative Assistant | Administrative Support | |
| Average age | 50 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 8.3% Female, 91.7% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |