What does a senior staff assistant do?

Updated January 8, 2025

6 min read

A senior staff assistant provides help with administrative tasks. Generally, they schedule appointments and answer calls and emails. They are also responsible for organizing paperwork. They may have to schedule meetings, arrange travel accommodations, and act as a liaison with human resources.

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Senior staff assistant responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior staff assistant resumes:

Manage and coordinate complex internal and external meetings and/or events via videoconferencing, WebEx and teleconference calls.
Prepare bi-weekly timekeeping for payroll processing and maintain PTO tracking.
Serve as HIPAA liaison for office.
Ensure compliance of HIPAA regulations and confidentiality practices are being follow.
Provide technical oversight and AV/Teleconference support for meetings.
Operate audio visual equipment and PowerPoint presentations at meetings.
Update organizational management forms for changes to payroll and location.
Create training PowerPoint to familiarize contract managers with new contract procedures.
Work daily with PeopleSoft program to administer gift fund account information for deposit preparation.
Transfer inter-departmental funds and ensure appropriate liability insurance expenses transact accurately utilizing PeopleSoft application.
Coordinate training workshops and international meetings, travel coordination and request travel approval from USAID.
Program support and research for Latin-American and Caribbean division of USAID fund election, democracy and civil society/rule-of-law projects.
Transfer inter-departmental funds and ensure appropriate liability insurance expenses transact accurately utilizing PeopleSoft application.

Senior staff assistant skills and personality traits

We calculated that 14% of Senior Staff Assistants are proficient in Data Entry, Patient Care, and Provides Administrative Support. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Writing skills.

We break down the percentage of Senior Staff Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Data Entry, 14%
Handled data entry and word processing, drafted letters for prospective clients, and scheduled appoints for office manager.
Patient Care, 10%
Managed patient care expenditures like labor, medical supplies, pharmacy, DME and patient care mileage.
Provides Administrative Support, 10%
Manage Executive member of management schedule and provides administrative support to alternate management as well as clients.
Payroll, 9%
Conducted research to successfully resolve approximately 90 payroll issues monthly.
Meeting Minutes, 6%
Ensured meeting minutes and executive reports are kept current and up to date for survey readiness and unannounced surveyor's review.
Financial Statements, 5%
Researched complex accounting issues and prepared financial statements.

Common skills that a senior staff assistant uses to do their job include "data entry," "patient care," and "provides administrative support." You can find details on the most important senior staff assistant responsibilities below.

Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior staff assistant to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "secretaries and administrative assistants interact with clients, customers, or staff." Senior staff assistants often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "demonstrated exceptional interpersonal skills serving as liaison between customers and office management. "

Organizational skills. Many senior staff assistant duties rely on organizational skills. "secretaries and administrative assistants keep files, folders, and schedules in order so that an office runs efficiently.," so a senior staff assistant will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways senior staff assistant responsibilities rely on organizational skills: "updated organizational management forms for changes to payroll and location. "

Writing skills. This is an important skill for senior staff assistants to perform their duties. For an example of how senior staff assistant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "secretaries and administrative assistants write memos and emails when communicating with managers, employees, and customers." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior staff assistant: "manage and log all payroll timesheets for numerous underwriting and executive team members. ".

Most common senior staff assistant skills

The three companies that hire the most senior staff assistants are:

Rochester Institute of Technology8 senior staff assistants jobs
UPMC4 senior staff assistants jobs
SUNY-ESF4 senior staff assistants jobs

Choose from 10+ customizable senior staff assistant resume templates

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Compare different senior staff assistants

Senior staff assistant vs. Assistant to vice president

An assistant to the vice president (VP) is an individual who acts as executive-level administrative support to an organization's vice president to oversee projects. Assistants to the vice president must help organize and manage managers' activities and clarify the strategies and business plans of the organization to them. They review the business activity and sales report from the organization's different departments and summarize the executives' information. Employers would also prefer their assistants to the vice president to hold a bachelor's or master's degree.

If we compare the average senior staff assistant annual salary with that of an assistant to vice president, we find that assistants to vice president typically earn a $57,739 higher salary than senior staff assistants make annually.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between senior staff assistants and assistants to vice president are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like provides administrative support, payroll, and meeting minutes.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, senior staff assistant responsibilities require skills like "data entry," "patient care," "hr," and "routine correspondence." Meanwhile a typical assistant to vice president has skills in areas such as "travel arrangements," "expense reports," "avp," and "human resources." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Assistants to vice president tend to reach similar levels of education than senior staff assistants. In fact, assistants to vice president are 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Learn more about senior staff assistants vs assistants to vice president.

Senior staff assistant vs. Assistant to the president

An executive assistant to the executive director is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties on behalf of the executive director to ensure smooth office operations. Executive director assistants manage the executive director's appointments, address the clients' inquiries and concerns, process business transactions, create reports, and monitor financial transactions. They also advise the executive directors on business decisions, as well as suggesting business opportunities to identify services that would increase the company's revenues and achieve profitability goals.

A career as a assistant to the president brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a senior staff assistant. In fact, assistants to the president salary is $25,324 higher than the salary of senior staff assistants per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both senior staff assistants and assistants to the president have skills such as "provides administrative support," "payroll," and "meeting minutes. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior staff assistant resumes. While senior staff assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "data entry," "patient care," "hr," and "routine correspondence," assistants to the president use skills like "expense reports," "human resources," "administrative tasks," and "press releases."

Assistants to the president earn similar levels of education than senior staff assistants in general. They're 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Learn more about senior staff assistants vs executive assistants to executive director.

Senior staff assistant vs. Executive assistant to executive director

An Assistant To The Director's duty, not to be confused with an Assistant Director, varies on the line of work or industry. In Film and Television, their responsibility will focus on the production operations and the workforce involved. When it comes to a corporate setting, an Assistant To The Director is responsible for clerical duties, such as handling different forms of correspondence, responding to calls and inquiries, communicating and coordinating with staff and other departments, arranging reports, appointments, schedules, and any necessary documentation.

On average scale, executive assistant to executive directors bring in lower salaries than senior staff assistants. In fact, they earn a $7,655 lower salary per year.By looking over several senior staff assistants and executive assistant to executive directors resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "data entry," "provides administrative support," and "payroll." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior staff assistant is likely to be skilled in "patient care," "purchase orders," "hr," and "routine correspondence," while a typical executive assistant to executive director is skilled in "human resources," "office management," "administrative tasks," and "meeting agendas."

Executive assistant to executive directors typically earn similar educational levels compared to senior staff assistants. Specifically, they're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Learn more about senior staff assistants vs assistants to the director.

Senior staff assistant vs. Assistant to the director

Assistant to the directors tend to earn a higher pay than senior staff assistants by an average of $1,932 per year.According to resumes from senior staff assistants and assistant to the directors, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "provides administrative support," "payroll," and "meeting minutes. "Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A senior staff assistant uses "data entry," "patient care," "purchase orders," and "hr." Assistant to the directors are more likely to have duties that require skills in "cpr," "state regulations," "travel arrangements," and "first aid training. "In general, assistant to the directors hold similar degree levels compared to senior staff assistants. Assistant to the directors are 2.0% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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