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The differences between secretaries 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 secretary and a receptionist secretary. Additionally, a secretary has an average salary of $36,442, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.
The top three skills for a secretary include customer service, telephone calls and payroll. The most important skills for a receptionist secretary are patients, data entry, and phone calls.
| Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $36,442 | $29,343 |
| Hourly rate | $17.52 | $14.11 |
| Growth rate | -8% | - |
| Number of jobs | 69,315 | 61,892 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Average age | 50 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Secretaries are employees who are responsible for many of the administrative needs of the office. They are usually assigned to executives or to a specific department. They manage schedules and appointments, often handling the calendar in the office. They are also responsible for keeping files organized, whether physical or digital copies. During office meetings, secretaries are in charge of documenting the minutes of the meeting and highlighting the action steps that need to be taken. They may also be assigned to check on concerned departments who need to present deliverables in the next office meeting.
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.
Secretaries and receptionist secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average salary | $36,442 | $29,343 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $51,000 | Between $24,000 And $35,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Lake Oswego, OR |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith | Illinois Institute of Technology |
| Best paying industry | Government | Government |
There are a few differences between a secretary and a receptionist secretary in terms of educational background:
| Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | - |
Here are the differences between secretaries' and receptionist secretaries' demographics:
| Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average age | 50 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 10.1% Female, 89.9% | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 3.9% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | 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% |