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The differences between senior secretaries and receptionist 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 secretary, becoming a receptionist secretary takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior secretary has an average salary of $33,120, which is higher than the $29,343 average annual salary of a receptionist secretary.
The top three skills for a senior secretary include patients, routine correspondence and data entry. The most important skills for a receptionist secretary are patients, data entry, and phone calls.
| Senior Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Yearly salary | $33,120 | $29,343 |
| Hourly rate | $15.92 | $14.11 |
| Growth rate | -8% | - |
| Number of jobs | 37,284 | 61,892 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Average age | 49 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 2 |
A Senior Secretary is responsible for maintaining office records, receiving and directing telephone calls, and writing various reports for managers. They also schedule appointments and meetings for supervisors and assist in the process of new hires.
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.
Senior secretaries and receptionist secretaries have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average salary | $33,120 | $29,343 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $40,000 | Between $24,000 And $35,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Rosa, CA | Lake Oswego, OR |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Washington |
| Best paying company | Columbia University in the City of New York | Illinois Institute of Technology |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Government |
There are a few differences between a senior secretary and a receptionist secretary in terms of educational background:
| Senior Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 37% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | - |
Here are the differences between senior secretaries' and receptionist secretaries' demographics:
| Senior Secretary | Receptionist Secretary | |
| Average age | 49 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.9% Female, 94.1% | Male, 5.6% Female, 94.4% |
| 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, 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 | 10% | 6% |