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.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Service Orientation
- Time Management
- Monitoring
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Administrative
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Communications and Media
- Economics and Accounting
What the work involves
- 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.
- Locate and attach appropriate files to incoming correspondence requiring replies.
- Open, read, route, and distribute incoming mail or other materials and answer routine letters.
- Complete forms in accordance with company procedures.
- Make copies of correspondence or other printed material.
- Review work done by others to check for correct spelling and grammar, ensure that company format policies are followed, and recommend revisions.
- Learn to operate new office technologies as they are developed and implemented.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (49.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (44.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (46.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 90% of occupations compared | 87% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 73% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 79% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 77% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 69% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 62% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 88% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 12.69%
- Constant contact with others: 87.31%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 6.27%
- Fairly important: 17.04%
- Important: 6.76%
- Very important: 12.24%
- Extremely important: 57.69%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.04%
- Fairly important: 0.27%
- Important: 2.67%
- Very important: 35.02%
- Extremely important: 62%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 7.64%
- Very little freedom: 8.66%
- Limited freedom: 8.1%
- Some freedom: 49.03%
- A lot of freedom: 26.57%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 5.51%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.12%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 36.97%
- Every day: 41.4%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 12.11%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.59%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.17%
- Every day: 9.19%
n = 53, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 3.76%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.84%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.49%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.3%
- Every day: 16.61%
n = 54, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 43.94%
- Fairly serious: 20.84%
- Serious: 21.91%
- Very serious: 7.78%
- Extremely serious: 5.53%
n = 53, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 43-6014.00 · SOC 43-6014 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8