Difference Between Administrative Assistant and Secretary
Administrative Assistant vs Secretary
Administrative assistant and secretary are those persons who assist the top officials of a company or an institution. Earlier there was only secretary and with the passage of time came administrative assistants.
A secretary is a person whose job is strictly clerical. A secretary has to do jobs like typing and copying dictations, attending telephone calls and fixing appointments. A secretary will not have any other major role to play and he or she has no power to make any decisions independently.
An administrative assistant has more duties to perform than a secretary. An administrative assistant’s work is far above clerical jobs. Unlike a secretary, an administrative assistant has the liberty to make independent decisions. An administrative assistant can also make independent judgments. Unlike the secretary, an administrative assistant may even know the preferences of his or her boss including the personal preferences.
An administrative assistant may also be entrusted with the responsibility of long-term projects that is of interest to the boss. However, the boss would not be sharing this responsibility with a secretary. Instead, the secretary would only be given the task of assisting the administrative assistant in case of any major works.
Unlike the secretaries, the administrative assistants supervise other staffs, arrange conferences, review submissions, memos and important reports. It is the responsibility of the administrative assistants to arrange meetings between the executive members and other various committees. Some of the administrative assistants are also entrusted with preparing statistical reports, which the secretaries are not allowed to do.
High school graduates with vocational training in office administration are generally preferred for secretary jobs. On the other hand, a person with a degree is most preferred for an administrative assistant job.
Summary
1. A secretary is a person whose job is strictly clerical. An administrative assistant’s work is far above clerical jobs.
2. A secretary has to do jobs like typing and copying dictations, attending telephone calls and fixing appointments. A secretary will not have any other major role to play and he or she has no power to make any decisions independently. Unlike a secretary, an administrative assistant has the liberty make independent decisions and make independent judgments
3. Unlike the secretary, an administrative assistant may even know the preferences of his or her boss including the personal preferences.
4. The secretary would only be given the task of assisting the administrative assistant in case of any major works.
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I currently want to go to college. Just not sure if I should lean towards administrative assistant, or medical administrative secretary. Help
Lydia I would definitely recommend leaning more towards the administrative assistant side for sure. You have more options, flexibility to move up to divisional coordinators, or executive assistants, able to get paid more money, and have the tasks of learning more therefore making yourself marketable in a forever changing workforce. New technology, new equipment, you want to be constantly evolving so that your role can never become obsolete as the times and companies continue to change. I would definitely look at administration within the medical field. I hope this helps, and I wish you well!
Gia Nelson, I would love to pick your brain.
I’ve just finished an MBA in Healthcare Management and have a second interview with Kindred Healthcare for the position of administrative assistant.
In the far distant future I would like to be involved in national healthcare policy. Would administrative assistant help get me there?
How much does a secretary assistant get payed an hour