The main difference between an office manager and a secretary is that the former is considered a manager. He is subordinate to the administrative staff, whose work must be coordinated by the employee. Whereas the secretary cannot boast of such powers. He is subordinate to the leader and often does not have the right to independently make decisions.
If the office manager is the organizer, then the secretary is considered to be the executor. The functions of the first can be divided into managerial, administrative, economic, control and reporting. Whereas the responsibilities of secretaries are much narrower. But, despite this, the requirements for them are more stringent. Since the secretary is the right hand of the leader, he must correspond to all the ideas of the boss about the ideal assistant. Therefore, such an employee should, relatively speaking, be able to both brew delicious coffee and tie a tie. As for the office manager position, it can be taken by any educated and sociable person who has the skill of working with a PC and knows how to handle office equipment.
To summarize, what is the difference between an office manager and a secretary.
| Office manager | Secretary |
| Supervises office work | Acts as the right hand of the head |
| Is a manager | Has no right to independently make decisions |
| Organizer | Contractor |
| Has a wider range of responsibilities | Functions somewhat narrower |
| Not applicable to the applicant high requirements | The candidate for the position is selected taking into account the wishes of the authorities and their ideas about the ideal assistant |
