Senior administrative specialist vs administrative professional

The differences between senior administrative specialists and administrative professionals can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior administrative specialist, becoming an administrative professional takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior administrative specialist has an average salary of $43,864, which is higher than the $39,486 average annual salary of an administrative professional.

The top three skills for a senior administrative specialist include powerpoint, logistics and travel arrangements. The most important skills for an administrative professional are customer service, powerpoint, and data entry.

Senior administrative specialist vs administrative professional overview

	Senior Administrative Specialist	Administrative Professional
Yearly salary	$43,864	$39,486
Hourly rate	$21.09	$18.98
Growth rate	-8%	-8%
Number of jobs	57,049	87,372
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	49	50
Years of experience	4	2

What does a senior administrative specialist do?

A senior administrative specialist is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to support business operations and ensuring the efficient and timely submission of outputs and business reports. Senior administrative specialists assist the executive management in tracking appointments and travels, coordinating with the client for scheduled meetings, negotiating contracts with suppliers and third-party vendors, and responding to clients' inquiries and concerns or leading them to the correct personnel for their business needs. A senior administrative specialist must be highly communicative and organizational to do tasks within deadlines and under minimal supervision.

What does an administrative professional do?

An administrative professional specializes in performing administrative support and clerical tasks in a company or office, ensuring accuracy and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities typically revolve around managing schedules, arranging appointments and meetings, producing progress reports and presentations, delegating tasks, and attending meetings on behalf of executives or staff. There are also instances when an administrative assistant must answer calls and correspondence, respond to inquiries and concerns, welcome guests, relay messages, and provide staff with any support tasks or documents.

Senior administrative specialist vs administrative professional salary

Senior administrative specialists and administrative professionals have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Administrative Specialist	Administrative Professional
Average salary	$43,864	$39,486
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $68,000	Between $23,000 And $65,000
Highest paying City	Beverly Hills, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Connecticut
Best paying company	BNY Mellon	HomeOwners Advantage
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between senior administrative specialist and administrative professional education

There are a few differences between a senior administrative specialist and an administrative professional in terms of educational background:

	Senior Administrative Specialist	Administrative Professional
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Senior administrative specialist vs administrative professional demographics

Here are the differences between senior administrative specialists' and administrative professionals' demographics:

	Senior Administrative Specialist	Administrative Professional
Average age	49	50
Gender ratio	Male, 19.4% Female, 80.6%	Male, 17.4% Female, 82.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	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%
LGBT Percentage	10%	6%

Differences between senior administrative specialist and administrative professional duties and responsibilities

Senior administrative specialist example responsibilities.

Oversee the activities of a contract coordinators including managing daily operations and providing additional training and guidance as needed.
Perform payroll calculation and administrative tasks to include processing of deductions and additions as required.
Maintain knowledge of and assure adherence to HIPAA rules and regulations.
Assist in the transition of project data from multiple share drives to the appropriate location within SharePoint.
Maintain SharePoint sites, resulting in improve communications with cross-functional teams.
Develop PowerPoint educational presentations for national, regional, and local-level direct service providers.

Administrative professional example responsibilities.

Manage documentation, folder structures and user permissions in SharePoint.
Participate in committee meetings by preparing minutes and presentation summaries, planning meeting agendas, and organizing and managing meeting logistics.
Keep vendors accounts up to date, process payroll, collect on accounts receivable, keep accounts payable up to date.
Create document libraries for several hospital initiatives in SharePoint.
Receive and distribute payroll garnishment/bankruptcy notification letters to employees.
Develop and maintain relevant organizational charts, facilitating retrieval of staff data in PowerPoint format.

Senior administrative specialist vs administrative professional skills

Common senior administrative specialist skills

PowerPoint, 13%
Logistics, 7%
Travel Arrangements, 5%
Office Procedures, 5%
Data Entry, 5%
SR, 5%

Common administrative professional skills

Customer Service, 16%
PowerPoint, 12%
Data Entry, 11%
Travel Arrangements, 7%
Administrative Tasks, 3%
Office Equipment, 3%

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Senior Administrative Specialist
Senior Administrative Specialist vs Administrative Professional

Updated January 8, 2025

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