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The differences between receptionists and receptionist secretaries can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a receptionist and a receptionist secretary. Additionally, a receptionist has an average salary of $30,571, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.
The top three skills for a receptionist include patients, phone calls and customer service. The most important skills for a receptionist secretary are patients, data entry, and phone calls.
| Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $30,571 | $29,343 |
| Hourly rate | $14.70 | $14.11 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 65,671 | 61,892 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Receptionists are employees assigned at the entrances or lobbies of offices. They welcome guests, check identification, issue visitor badges, attend to questions or inquiries, and direct guests to where they are supposed to go. They also receive general mail or packages, answer calls, and manage schedules. Receptionists perform various clerical or administrative functions as assigned by their supervisors. They should have good client relations skills.
A receptionist secretary is responsible for providing the best customer service, as well as attending to the needs of existing and potential clients. Duties of a receptionist secretary include managing customer's inquiries and forwarding important calls to the appropriate department, performing administrative and clerical tasks, escalating high-level of client's concerns to the management, keeping the reception area clean, monitoring office supplies and request stocks as needed, and maintaining an organized record of meetings and events. A receptionist secretary must have strong communication and multi-tasking skills to handle workloads of daily operations.
Receptionists and receptionist secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average salary | $30,571 | $29,343 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $38,000 | Between $24,000 And $35,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Lake Oswego, OR |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Washington |
| Best paying company | Gensler | Illinois Institute of Technology |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Government |
There are a few differences between a receptionist and a receptionist secretary in terms of educational background:
| Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 33% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between receptionists' and receptionist secretaries' demographics:
| Receptionist | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 8.4% Female, 91.6% | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 23.5% Asian, 6.1% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 6.3% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |