Administrative Assistant: Job Description, Salary, Duties & More (2024)

You may be fresh out of high school or college, or you’re looking for a career change.

Becoming an administrative assistant could be precisely what you’ve been looking for and may even be a great stepping stone to future opportunities for you.

Below is the ultimate resource for administrative assistants to help you decide, prepare and put your best foot forward when landing a new job as an administrative assistant.

Administrative Assistant Information

Official Job Title	Administrative Assistant
Average Salary	$44,312 / year
Stress Level	Average
Work / Life Balance	Good
Job Satisfaction	High
Career Advancement	Average

Administrative Assistant Job Description

What Is an Administrative Assistant?

An administrative assistant is closely related to an office clerk, secretary, or receptionist.

They are responsible for looking after general office duties that ensure the smooth running of their office for the other employees in it.

Therefore, administrative assistants must be flexible and organized while performing various tasks depending on what is needed that day.

What Does An Administrative Assistant Do On A Daily Basis?

Different levels of administrative assistants will perform different duties.

A typical day may include routing visitors and incoming calls to the appropriate person.

They may also work with vendors to procure office supplies, food and drink, phones, and other equipment needed for employees.

An administrative assistant may also be given tasks by executives, such as drafting emails, creating spreadsheets and presentations, and other general tasks the executives need.

Responsibilities, Duties & Roles Of An Administrative Assistant

As an administrative assistant, you will have a variety of responsibilities, duties, and roles within the office or department you are working with, including:

Draft letters or emails, reports, spreadsheets, and other documents. These may be specifically related to the office, or you may assist an executive with their work.
Schedule and book meetings, either for employees or between customers and specific teams in your office.
They must answer and direct external parties to the appropriate internal resource, whether by telephone, in person, or by email.
Organize files and keep records related to the office; this may be your department’s record-keeping or specific records related to the office, such as vendor information.
Create and keep updated office procedures.
Record minutes of meetings and distribute them.
They will need to book flights, accommodation, and other travel requirements for employees.
Compile data, statistics, and other information for reports to your management team.
Prepare department budgets for manager approval.
Supervise and train other office support staff, including additional administrative assistants, receptionists, or secretaries.

Your duties will vary depending on your level of responsibility, the type of company you work for, and even what happens that week.

It would help if you were a jack of all trades as far as the office goes.

Administrative Assistant Salary

The salary range for administrative assistants will vary greatly depending on location, type of business, experience, and of course, at what level you will be working.

An administrative assistant is a broad job title.

For example, you could be responsible for secretarial duties or manage a large office with hundreds of employees to assist.

You should also receive standard benefits, such as parental leave, paid time off, and health insurance, including dental and vision.

Ensure you know your duties before accepting a position to see if the pay matches the work required.

Average Salary

The average salary for an administrative assistant is $44,312 per year.

Starting Salary

When you’re just starting as an administrative assistant, your salary could be as high as $30,000 per year; it could be higher or lower depending on the company.

The average entry-level position salary can vary up to $10,500.

So, picking the right company is often crucial.

Senior Salary

A senior administrative assistant could be earning anywhere from $47,000 – $73,000 per year.

However, this all depends on the company you’re working for and how much responsibility you’ve taken.

How to Become an Administrative Assistant

The Entry Level: Certification, Training & Degree

As a hopeful administrative assistant, you should have a high school diploma or have completed your GED at a minimum.

There are courses and certificates geared towards administrative assistant roles to get an advantage, which will prepare you for the general work duties required.

These may be online courses or available at your community college, which could also result in you getting an associate’s degree, which will be a significant advantage for you.

Some companies may want a bachelor’s degree, which could be in any field of study.

In contrast, others may want your degree to be in specific areas such as communications, finance, or information technology.

Other Skill Sets, Requirements & Qualifications

Entry-level requirements will get you in the door.

However, you can also be qualified as a Certified Administrative Professional, improving your career prospects.

How Long Does It Take To Become An Administrative Assistant?

Entry-level administrative assistants have limited requirements to start with, mainly depending on at which company you will be working.

If you have a high school diploma, you may be able to apply and gain an administrative assistant position right now.

If you have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in any area, it will improve your chances of landing the position.

Suppose you decide to take an administrative assistant course.

In that case, they can be as short as 37 weeks and taken online if you are trying to work simultaneously.

Is It Hard To Become An Administrative Assistant?

If you’re willing to start as a junior administrative assistant at a smaller company, then it’s not complicated.

However, the larger the company and the higher the job requirements will make it more difficult and the competition tighter.

Administrative Assistant Career Paths

Your career as an administrative assistant could take several different paths.

This job is an excellent stepping stone to other jobs, and it can even be an entire career on its own.

The Administrative Assistant Roadmap

The roadmap of an administrative assistant is relatively straightforward.

You start in a junior position, which will likely have a lot of oversight from your managers or more senior administrative assistants.

Your duties will be relatively simple, and you will be given a lot of varied work to complete or tasks to perform.

Your options from there are to continue as an administrative assistant, take on additional duties, have less oversight, and handle tasks yourself.

Your job title may change as you progress; you may move from junior administrative assistant to administrative assistant to senior administrative assistant.

With each step, you will take on more advanced duties and trust to perform actions by yourself.

You may also progress to executive assistant, performing duties and tasks for higher-level executives within the company rather than assisting everybody in an office.

Your other option would be to branch out in an organization to customer service roles, human resources, and sales.

Starting as an administrative assistant gives you the base skills and trust of the organization to move into other areas to grow and expand.

Projections For Growth In Administrative Assistant Jobs

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects administrative assistant jobs to decline over the next ten years.

However, increasing your skills and getting experience now will allow you to compete and thrive in this type of role.

A contributing factor may be more employees working from home and fewer offices requiring administrative assistants.

As a result, fewer or less experienced administrative assistants would be needed for a work-from-home environment.

In Summary: Is Administrative Assistant A Good Career?

Becoming an administrative assistant can be a rewarding career choice.

You can use this as an opportunity to join a company and progress through various roles.

You can also stay on the administrative assistant career path and grow in that role.

Administrative Assistant Working Conditions

Can An Administrative Assistant Work Remotely From Home?

A lot of the work performed by an administrative assistant requires working with others and looking after the office in general.

You can perform some tasks from home; however, this may not apply to all work.

It will depend on your employer, what specific tasks they want, and whether other employees are working from home now.

How Many Hours Does An Administrative Assistant Work?

A typical workday for an administrative assistant would be Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.

However, you will work with other employees in the office, so you should expect to work the standard work days for that office.

Can An Administrative Assistant Work Part-Time?

An administrative assistant can work part-time.

You may find many companies don’t have enough work for you five days a week for eight hours a day.

So there will be plenty of opportunities to work a few days a week or only a few hours a day as required by your company.

What Are The Average Vacation Days Of An Administrative Assistant?

An administrative assistant would receive vacation and sick days the same as any other employee.

However, your vacation days would vary depending on your state and how large your company is.

The average would be ten days per year after your first year of employment.

You should also be receiving statutory holidays off.

Alternative Careers & Similar Jobs to an Administrative Assistant

Administrative Assistant Resume Tips

Administrative assistants must be organized, have a clean and concise resume, don’t add fluff or rambling sentences.
List soft skills critical to the role, such as excellent communication (verbal and written), prioritizing and problem-solving, and excellent organizational skills. Then, scan the job ad to see what skills it’s mentioned.
List any technical skills you have. Computer skills of any kind, especially Office-related software skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), will be a significant benefit.
List language skills. Knowing another language, especially a significant business language such as Mandarin or Spanish, would be an excellent skill for any organization.

Administrative Assistant Interview Questions

Q1: What duties and responsibilities do you expect to perform in this position?

Why it works: A candidate with absolutely no idea what is required is likely not going to be a good fit. With access to the internet and reading the job ad, there should be a basic understanding of what is required.

Q2: What is your ideal office environment?

Why it works: If a candidate’s ideal office environment is vastly different, they may be unhappy or uncomfortable in the role, resulting in them leaving.

Q3: What software do you have experience with?

Why it works: Working with computers is critical to the administrative assistant role. With no understanding of the type of software needed and no experience with that software, the candidate may not be a good fit unless you plan to train them from the ground up fully.

Jobs Related to Administrative Assistants

Office Manager
Secretary
Receptionist
Executive Assistant
Facilities Manager

For HR Managers: Tips for Hiring an Administrative Assistant

Key Characteristics To Look For In An Administrative Assistant

The key characteristics of a skilled administrative assistant are:

Excellent communication skills
Good administrative skills
Outstanding interpersonal skills
Basic computer knowledge
Excellent organizational skills.

Minimum Level Of Education & Experience

A junior administrative assistant’s bare minimum level of education would be a high school diploma with no previous experience.

If you’re looking for somebody that can step into the role quickly, then you want somebody who has completed an administrative assistant course, even if they don’t have experience yet.