What is the difference between a secretary and an administrative assistant?

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.

I have done all three positions and the difference between a receptionist, an administrative assistant and a secretary, are salary and job duties. A receptionist mainly works the front desk, and answers phones. An administrative assistant will most likely work in the back and draft correspondence, file, operate many computer programs and offer general assistance in a work environment. A secretary often assists an executive or some other type of administrator. A secretary often gets paid the most of all three, but they do have the most responsibility.

The term "administrative assistant" can be a formal title, or it can be a general description of an employee's function in an office. Depending on the kind of work a person does, there are many variations of job descriptions.

Administrative Assistants perform many basic functions in offices, including:

·         Assisting with all aspects of administrative management, directory maintenance, logistics, equipment inventory and storage

·         Managing inventory of assets and supplies, monitoring critical level of stocks, sourcing for suppliers and submitting invoices

·         Coordinating between departments and operating units in resolving day-to-day administrative and operational problems

·         Scheduling and coordinating meetings, interviews, events and other similar activities

·         Sending out and receiving mail and packages

·         Preparing business correspondence (often using word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation computer software)

·         Sending faxes

·         Managing Files

·         Research and the identification of key data sources

·         Ordering and receiving food deliveries

·         Performing multifaceted general office support

·         Preparing meeting minutes, meeting notes and internal support materials.

·         Sending and receiving forms for the company

·         All Day-to-day operation matters

A secretary, personal assistant, or administrative assistant is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication, or organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit of more than one. In other situations a secretary is an officer of a society or organization who deals with correspondence, admits new members, and organizes official meetings and events.

A secretary has many administrative duties. Traditionally, these duties were mostly related to correspondence, such as the typing out of letters, maintaining files of paper documents, etc. The advent of word processing has significantly reduced the time that such duties require, with the result that many new tasks have come under the purview of the secretary. These might include managing budgets and doing bookkeeping, maintaining websites, and making travel arrangements. Secretaries might manage all the administrative details of running a high-level conference or arrange the catering for a typical lunch meeting. Often executives will ask their assistant to take the minutes at meetings and prepare meeting documents for review.

A secretary is a clerk whose main job is typing and copying dictations, attending telephone calls and fixing appointments. But 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.

Experience.

Skills.

Money.

Here, I see, most users started describing strategically which seems they did not understand the question asked in singular phase "what is the difference".. 

simple, Secretary who looks into administration nature of work as one of his/her duty; An administrator or administrative assitant who takes cares the administration.

agree with the answer of Fazlul Hoque 

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.

An 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.

An administrative assistant may also be entrusted with the responsibility of long-term projects that is of interest to the boss.

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.

Secretary and an Administrative assistant are almost the same in responsibilities it  depends on the company how they will define your designation.

They have the same role in providing an efficient and professional administrative & clerical services to colleagues, managers and supervisor, to facilitate the efficient operation of the office.  Though other companies when they said Secretary they are reporting to CEO, taking minutes of meeting, dairy management, handling request of information, setting up email  groups for committees.  

They have almost the same role when it comes to resposibility.