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The differences between receptionist secretaries and department 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 secretary and a department secretary. Additionally, a department secretary has an average salary of $35,473, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.
The top three skills for a receptionist secretary include patients, data entry and phone calls. The most important skills for a department secretary are patients, customer service, and data entry.
| Receptionist Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $29,343 | $35,473 |
| Hourly rate | $14.11 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | - | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 61,892 | 80,303 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
A department secretary is responsible for providing administrative and clerical support to a specific department, ensuring smooth operations to maintain high-quality services to the customers and business partners. Department secretaries should have excellent knowledge of office management principles, especially on data processing procedures and customer service processes. They handle the scheduling of meetings and conferences, responding to customers' inquiries and concerns, directing visitors to the appropriate personnel and department, sorting files, and submitting business transactions and financial reports. A department secretary also recommends strategic procedures to generate more revenues and increase the company's profitability.
Receptionist secretaries and department secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Receptionist Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Average salary | $29,343 | $35,473 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $35,000 | Between $26,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | Lake Oswego, OR | Oakland, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Illinois Institute of Technology | Brigham and Women's Hospital |
| Best paying industry | Government | Government |
There are a few differences between a receptionist secretary and a department secretary in terms of educational background:
| Receptionist Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between receptionist secretaries' and department secretaries' demographics:
| Receptionist Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% | Male, 7.0% Female, 93.0% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |