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The differences between senior executive secretaries and department secretaries 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 executive secretary, becoming a department secretary takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior executive secretary has an average salary of $48,500, which is higher than the $35,473 average annual salary of a department secretary.
The top three skills for a senior executive secretary include routine correspondence, office equipment and reservations. The most important skills for a department secretary are patients, customer service, and data entry.
| Senior Executive Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $48,500 | $35,473 |
| Hourly rate | $23.32 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 71,949 | 80,303 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Average age | 49 | 50 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A senior executive secretary's main jobs are to schedule meetings, organize daily tasks, and receive phone calls. They must have excellent time management skills.
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.
Senior executive secretaries and department secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Executive Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Average salary | $48,500 | $35,473 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $70,000 | Between $26,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Oakland, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | California |
| Best paying company | - | Brigham and Women's Hospital |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a senior executive secretary and a department secretary in terms of educational background:
| Senior Executive Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between senior executive secretaries' and department secretaries' demographics:
| Senior Executive Secretary | Department Secretary | |
| Average age | 49 | 50 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 6.9% Female, 93.1% | Male, 7.0% Female, 93.0% |
| 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, 9.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 3.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 6% |