Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CES

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, and handling information requests, as well as performing routine administrative functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings. May also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff.

Also called: Administrative Assistant, Administrative Secretary, Executive Assistant, Executive Secretary, Administrative Aide, Administrative Associate, Administrative Coordinator, Administrative Specialist.

O*NET 43-6011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $76,590; Middle half earn $61,390 to $94,390. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree; 34% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Manage and maintain executives' schedules.
Process payroll information.
Make travel arrangements for executives.
Prepare invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other documents, using word processing, spreadsheet, database, or presentation software.
Coordinate and direct office services, such as records, departmental finances, budget preparation, personnel issues, and housekeeping, to aid executives.
Answer phone calls and direct calls to appropriate parties or take messages.
Prepare responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries.
Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence, including faxes and email.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Writing3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.3 / 5
Active Learning3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administrative4.5 / 5
English Language4.2 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.5 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.3 / 5
Administration and Management3.2 / 5
Personnel and Human Resources2.8 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic5
Investigative16
Artistic6
Social49
Enterprising75
Conventional90

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

parliamentary assistant · DE Parlamentarischer Assistent/Parlamentarische Assistentin · FR assistant parlementaire/assistante parlementaire
legal administrative assistant · DE Anwaltssekretär/Anwaltssekretärin · FR auxiliaire juridique
administrative assistant · DE Verwaltungsassistent/Verwaltungsassistentin · FR assistant administratif/assistante administrative
executive assistant · DE Vorstandsassistent/Vorstandsassistentin · FR assistant de direction/assistante de direction
management assistant · DE Management-Assistent/Management-Assistentin · FR attaché de direction/attachée de direction
secretary · DE Sekretär/Sekretärin · FR secrétaire

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Personal assistants and other secretaries (4215)133,700 employed
Legal secretaries (4212)30,700 employed
Business, research and administrative professionals n.e.c. (2439)104,500 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “秘書”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥337,800; Middle half earn ¥278,400 to ¥419,700 a month.
Workers in the category: 16,300; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.08. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-6011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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