Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CES

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Perform routine administrative functions such as drafting correspondence, scheduling appointments, organizing and maintaining paper and electronic files, or providing information to callers.

Also called: Administrative Assistant (Admin Assistant), Administrative Secretary (Admin Secretary), Office Assistant, Secretary, Administrative Clerk, Administrative Specialist (Admin Specialist), Administrative Support Assistant (ASA), Administrative Technician.

O*NET 43-6014.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $47,540; Middle half earn $38,830 to $58,000. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 50% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some 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.

Answer telephones and give information to callers, take messages, or transfer calls to appropriate individuals.
Greet visitors or callers and handle their inquiries or direct them to the appropriate persons according to their needs.
Create, maintain, and enter information into databases.
Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.
Perform payroll functions, such as maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll.
Collect and deposit money into accounts, disburse funds from cash accounts to pay bills or invoices, keep records of collections and disbursements, and ensure accounts are balanced.
Operate office equipment, such as fax machines, copiers, or phone systems and arrange for repairs when equipment malfunctions.
Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
Writing3.8 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administrative4.5 / 5
English Language4.3 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.8 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.8 / 5
Administration and Management3.4 / 5
Mathematics2.9 / 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.

Realistic16
Investigative6
Artistic0
Social44
Enterprising53
Conventional99

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)

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
medical administrative assistant · DE medizinischer Sekretär/medizinische Sekretärin · FR assistant médico-administratif/assistante médico-administrative
secretary · DE Sekretär/Sekretärin · FR secrétaire
foreign language correspondence clerk · DE Fremdsprachenkorrespondent/Fremdsprachenkorrespondentin · FR employé chargé de la correspondance en langues étrangères/employée chargée de la correspondance en langues étrangères

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Health care practice managers (1231)27,200 employed
Personal assistants and other secretaries (4215)133,700 employed
Sales administrators (4151)85,100 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.

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 +1.10. 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 (43-6014).

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.

Take the career interests test