Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between receptionist secretaries and office 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 an office secretary. Additionally, an office secretary has an average salary of $33,118, 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 an office secretary are data entry, phone calls, and telephone calls.
| Receptionist Secretary | Office Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $29,343 | $33,118 |
| Hourly rate | $14.11 | $15.92 |
| Growth rate | - | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 61,892 | 87,771 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 42% |
| 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.
An office secretary is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to ensure the smooth flow of operations and prevent delays with project deliverables. Office secretaries also welcome guests, respond to their inquiries and concerns, and direct them to the appropriate department or personnel for their appointments. They schedule meetings, sort documents, handle incoming and outgoing mail, as well as manage inventories for the adequacy of office supplies. An office secretary must have excellent time-management and multitasking skills to conduct tasks within a strict deadline and minimal supervision.
Receptionist secretaries and office secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Receptionist Secretary | Office Secretary | |
| Average salary | $29,343 | $33,118 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $35,000 | Between $25,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Lake Oswego, OR | Santa Rosa, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Illinois Institute of Technology | Guidehouse |
| Best paying industry | Government | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a receptionist secretary and an office secretary in terms of educational background:
| Receptionist Secretary | Office Secretary | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 42% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between receptionist secretaries' and office secretaries' demographics:
| Receptionist Secretary | Office Secretary | |
| Average age | 42 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% | Male, 14.7% Female, 85.3% |
| 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, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |