Office Support · Staffing guide
Most admin hires that fail were scoped wrong, not screened wrong: a team that needs a spreadsheet-heavy operations admin posts a front-desk job, or the reverse. Careerscape is a national, remote staffing firm whose office support recruiters help you name the version you need, then test candidates for that work.
Template
Replace the bracketed parts, delete the lines that belong to a different admin type and keep the list of systems honest. Candidates read the tools line closely.
We are hiring an administrative assistant to keep [team or office] organized: calendars, documents, records, supplies and first contact for [callers, visitors or internal requests]. The role reports to [title] and supports about [number] people, [on site / hybrid] in [city].
National pay
These are national BLS percentiles for secretaries and administrative assistants outside legal, medical and executive work. Use them to place your opening, not to set one number for every admin.
Middle half of all workers (25th to 75th percentile)
A front-office admin with a year or two of experience usually prices near the 25th percentile ($38,830). An experienced team admin is close to the median ($47,540). Operations admins who own reporting, and senior admins with a single leader, push toward the 75th percentile ($58,000) and above. At that point admin pay starts to overlap executive assistant pay, where BLS puts the 25th percentile at $61,390. Our administrative assistant salary guide breaks the range down further. Annual pay, all U.S. employers, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025), occupation: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive. Pay by level and city: Administrative Assistant salary guide.
Credentials
Administrative work needs no state or federal license. These three credentials come up most in resumes, and each tests something different.
| Credential | Issued by | What it takes | Renewal | Most useful for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) | International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) | Paid admin experience within the last 10 years (2 years with a 4-year degree, 3 with a 2-year degree, 4 with no degree, per IAAP's 2024 handbook) and a proctored exam of about 200 to 225 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours | 36 recertification points every 3 years | Senior admins and those moving toward executive assistant or office manager roles |
| Professional Administrative Certification of Excellence (PACE) | American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP) | No prerequisites; self-paced study in four modules (communication, task and project management, computer and internet technology, management skills), then an exam | Every 2 years: 2.4 CEUs (24 hours) plus a fee | Earlier-career admins building a foundation |
| Microsoft Office Specialist: Word Expert (exam MO-111) | Microsoft, scheduled through Certiport | One 50-minute proctored exam on advanced Word features such as custom document elements and advanced editing | Microsoft lists renewal every 60 months | Roles heavy on long documents, templates and mail merge |
A credential shows effort and baseline knowledge. It does not replace a skills test built from your own tasks. Source: IAAP, ASAP and Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 22, 2026.
29 metros
Metro figures from BLS for the 29 markets we track. Concentration compares each metro's share of admin jobs with the national share; 1.00 is average.
| Market | Jobs | Median pay · vs. U.S. | Concentration |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | 122,680 | $51,440+8% | 1.18 |
| Los Angeles | 58,800 | $53,550+13% | 0.85 |
| Chicago | 50,190 | $50,440+6% | 1.01 |
| Dallas | 37,550 | $47,450±0% | 0.84 |
| Washington, DC | 37,010 | $53,660+13% | 1.08 |
| Houston | 33,710 | $46,750−2% | 0.93 |
| Miami | 33,380 | $47,450±0% | 1.08 |
| Philadelphia | 32,850 | $48,850+3% | 1.03 |
| Baltimore | 29,780 | $49,220+4% | 2.00 |
| Boston | 28,540 | $59,330+25% | 0.96 |
| Atlanta | 25,280 | $45,270−5% | 0.80 |
| Phoenix | 22,010 | $48,800+3% | 0.84 |
| San Francisco | 20,270 | $62,110+31% | 0.78 |
| Minneapolis | 19,180 | $54,080+14% | 0.90 |
| Detroit | 16,970 | $47,330±0% | 0.81 |
| Seattle | 15,780 | $60,230+27% | 0.69 |
| Denver | 15,350 | $49,760+5% | 0.87 |
| Tampa | 14,780 | Not published | 0.93 |
| Austin | 13,870 | $48,470+2% | 0.98 |
| Portland | 13,510 | $55,360+16% | 1.02 |
| Pittsburgh | 12,160 | $45,550−4% | 0.99 |
| Nashville | 12,100 | $49,000+3% | 1.00 |
| San Diego | 12,070 | $55,380+16% | 0.71 |
| Charlotte | 11,330 | $46,800−2% | 0.76 |
| Albany | 7,690 | $49,330+4% | 1.56 |
| Raleigh-Durham | 7,170 | $48,500+2% | 0.88 |
| Providence | 7,020 | $51,800+9% | 0.89 |
| Hartford | 6,980 | $55,940+18% | 1.06 |
| Buffalo | 6,470 | $46,780−2% | 1.10 |
New York City has by far the largest pool, with 122,680 jobs and a median of $51,440. Baltimore is the most concentrated market at 2.00, and its 29,780 admin jobs outnumber Boston's. Albany (1.56) is also well above average. Pay runs highest in San Francisco ($62,110, about 31% above the U.S. median), Seattle ($60,230) and Boston ($59,330); Seattle and San Francisco are also among the thinnest pools, so expect fewer applicants and firmer offers there. Atlanta ($45,270) and Pittsburgh ($45,550) sit below the national median. BLS did not publish a Tampa median. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive, by metro area, sorted by jobs. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; U.S. median $47,540. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: above 1.0 means the job is a bigger share of local employment than nationally.
Hiring models
The right model depends on whether the need is a gap, a test or a permanent seat. Here is the order of work with a remote Careerscape recruiter.
Leave coverage, a project backlog or a busy season points to temporary staffing. A new role you are not sure will last suits contract-to-hire. A seat you know you need long term is a direct hire.
Tell the recruiter which of the four versions above you need, who the person supports and which systems they will use on day one. That shapes the screening test.
Candidates complete tasks drawn from your list: format a memo, reconcile a short invoice log, book a meeting across time zones. References are checked with a former supervisor, not only a coworker.
You see screened candidates in the Employer Portal, request interviews and leave feedback that tunes the next round.
For contract-to-hire, settle the conversion point and the salary range before the first day, so the assistant knows what a good review leads to.
Request talent
Tell us which admin type you need, the systems they will use and whether the role is temporary, contract-to-hire or permanent.
Looking for a job instead? Submit your resume or browse open jobs.
FAQ
Not in how the work is counted. BLS treats secretaries and administrative assistants as one occupation, and O*NET's sample titles for it include secretary, administrative assistant, office assistant and staff assistant. The title is mostly a house style. What matters is the scope: front office, team support, operations or support for a single leader. Write the posting around the tasks, and use the title your candidates will search for.
A temp agency makes sense when the need is defined by time: medical leave, a move, a project or a seasonal peak. You avoid a permanent hire for a temporary gap, and the agency handles payroll for the assignment. If you think the job may become permanent, ask for contract-to-hire so you can see the person's work first. For a seat you already know you need, direct hire is usually cleaner.
Build it from the job. A team admin might format a messy document, write a short email declining a meeting and schedule three people across time zones. An operations admin should clean a small data set in Excel and catch errors in an invoice log. Time the test loosely and grade for accuracy first. Generic typing scores tell you little about the work most admins actually do.
Employment is shrinking but hiring continues. BLS projects employment of administrative assistants outside legal, medical and executive work to fall 6% from 2025 to 2035, as managers handle more of their own documents with software, including AI tools. Turnover still creates about 163,900 openings a year nationally. For employers, that means the remaining roles are broader and more technical, so test for tools as well as manners.
Usually not. BLS says a high school diploma is the typical entry requirement, with skills learned on the job in a few weeks. In O*NET's survey, half of respondents said a high school diploma was required for a new hire. Job seekers can strengthen a resume with a CAP or PACE credential. Browse admin openings on our job board or submit a resume; the service is free and confidential.
Careerscape recruiters who focus on office support screen for the version of the job you described, and you review every candidate in the Employer Portal before anyone starts.
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