The Difference Between a Secretary and an Administrative Assistant

Both secretaries and administrative assistants typically work in an office environment. The office setting differs based on the industry and the standing of the particular company. For example, a secretary or administrative assistant at a manufacturing plant may work in a warehouse and a secretary or administrative assistant for an attorney may work in a high-rise building. Both secretaries and administrative assistants provide clerical work on some level, with administrative assistants typically providing more advanced and specialized services.

Education and Experience

Jobs for both secretaries and administrative assistants are available for candidates with nothing more than a high-school diploma. However, some companies require administrative assistants in general, and executive administrative assistants in particular, to have either an associate's or bachelor's degree as well a prior experience. Popular degrees for administrative assistants are in business administration or in a field related to the place of employment.

Secretarial positions seldom require a college education and individuals may qualify for them shortly after graduation from high school with no prior experience.

Job Duties

Secretaries typically do nothing more than basic clerical work such as typing, filing and answering phones. They may also do data entry and other lower level duties such as running errands. They seldom make independent decisions.

Administrative assistants often also do basic clerical duties similar to secretaries, but are also often tasked with more demanding job responsibilities such as arranging meetings and conferences, researching and writing reports, and in some cases giving presentations. An administrative assistant often works with less supervision and is often expected to make decisions and organize work flow independently.

Support

Administrative assistants often support people in management positions such as directors and other top- level executives. Secretaries are often given instruction, direction and tasks by administrative assistants. A secretary may support and even report to an administrative assistant rather than a higher level boss. Secretaries also often work for an entire department rather than being assigned to a specific executive.

Pay

As is to be expected due to lower experience and educational requirements of secretaries, their pay rate is often quite a bit lower than that of an administrative assistant. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May of 2009, the average mean hourly wages for a secretary was $14.93. In contrast, the mean hourly wage for administrative and executive assistants during the same time period was $21.16.

According to the 2009 figures, the pay for secretaries ranged from $9.23 an hour to $21.72 an hour. The hourly pay of administrative and executive assistants in the same time period ranged from $13.36 an hour to $30.93 an hour.

References:

The Difference Between: Administrative Assistant and Secretary

The Bureau of Labor Statistics: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

The Bureau of Labor Statistics: Secretary Employment and Wages

The Bureau of Labor Statistics: Executive Secretaries and Administrative Assistants Employment and Wages