Administrative Assistant Family
Career series with 6 positions across 3 levels
Administrative Assistant groups 6 related titles into a 3-level career ladder.
Entry is typically through Administrative Assistant 3, advancing through the ladder toward Administrative Assistant 1. Pay across the family spans $58,222 to $122,832, around the 48th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 319 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Law and Public Safety.
Administrative Assistant is a common next step after Administrative Supervisor.
Positions in This Family
- ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 1 (59900) $83,582 - $122,832/year
- ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 2 (59901) $72,896 - $106,798/year
- ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 3 (59902) $63,663 - $92,953/year
- ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 3 (59903) $58,222 - $84,763/year
- ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 2 (59904) $66,592 - $97,354/year
- ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 1 (59905) $76,287 - $111,856/year
What the Administrative Assistant family covers
New Jersey classifies Administrative Assistant as a 3-level series holding 6 separate title codes. The family straddles jurisdictions: 5 state and 1 both state and local, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.
Clerical series are the entry door to New Jersey civil service and the largest group by headcount. They are also the most duplicated: nearly every one exists in both a state and a local version, and the local versions are what municipal clerks, county offices and boards of education hire against. Most require a high school diploma and nothing more, which makes them the practical route in for applicants without a degree. Advancement runs by responsibility, from clerk to senior to principal to head, with the specialised transcription and stenography variants branching off partway up.
The ladder, ordered by pay
Sorted by pay instead of by title number, the Administrative Assistant family stacks up as follows. Note that the numbers in these titles do not run in pay order. In this family a lower number sits higher on the ladder, which is a New Jersey convention that catches people out when they read a title list top to bottom.
- Administrative Assistant 1 — $83,582 to $122,832 (a bachelor's degree and 3 years of experience)
- Administrative Assistant 1 — $76,287 to $111,856 (a bachelor's degree and 3 years of experience)
- Administrative Assistant 2 — $72,896 to $106,798 (a bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience)
- Administrative Assistant 2 — $66,592 to $97,354 (a bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience)
- Administrative Assistant 3 — $63,663 to $92,953 (a bachelor's degree and 1 year of experience)
- Administrative Assistant 3 — $58,222 to $84,763 (a bachelor's degree and 1 year of experience)
The distance from the bottom of Administrative Assistant 3 to the top of Administrative Assistant 1 is $64,610, an increase of about 111% over the entry minimum.
What each title does
The specifications themselves are the clearest guide to what separates these titles. Here is how each one opens.
- Administrative Assistant 1: Assists an Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, or other Executive Officer in a state department, institution, or agency by performing and coordinating…
- Administrative Assistant 2: Assists a division director in a state department, institution, or agency by performing and coordinating administrative support services; does other related…
- Administrative Assistant 3: Assists the head of a Bureau or Service in a state department, institution , or agency by performing and coordinatingadministrative support services: does…
- Administrative Assistant 3: Assists the head of a Bureau or Service in a state department, institution , or agency by performing and coordinating administrative support services: does…
Getting in: the stated requirements
Across the 6 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as a bachelor's degree on 6 of them. Stated experience runs from 1 year at the lowest rung to 3 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.
On how the jobs are filled: 6 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination.
Who actually employs these titles
State payroll records show 319 people working under 3 of this family's titles, spread across 29 agencies. Law and Public Safety alone accounts for about 20% of them.
- Law and Public Safety — 65 employees
- Environmental Protection — 37 employees
- Transportation — 31 employees
- Labor — 31 employees
- Motor Vehicle Commission — 20 employees
- Treasury — 18 employees
Those are the 6 largest of 29 agencies employing this family.
Median actual pay varies across the family, from $79,333 for Administrative Assistant 3 up to $97,764 for Administrative Assistant 1. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.
State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.
How the pay is set
Titles in this family are paid on the A-P-R-S salary schedule. See every step in that schedule. Bargaining is handled by CWA. Union contracts and rights are collected here.
Where these jobs exist
Because the family mixes jurisdictions, the answer to "who hires this" depends on the specific code. State codes run through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process; local codes are hired by the counties, municipalities and authorities that adopted civil service under Title 11A. Check an employer's status before assuming a title is available where you live.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
Nearby in the plan, ranked by how distinctive the shared terms are rather than by how many words happen to match.
- Administrative Clerk (local jurisdiction)
- Administrative Clerk (local jurisdiction)
- Administrative Analyst (local jurisdiction)
- Administrative Secretary (local jurisdiction)
- Administrative Secretary (local jurisdiction)
- Administrative Law Judge (state jurisdiction)
Common questions about Administrative Assistant jobs
How many Administrative Assistant titles are there in New Jersey civil service?
The Administrative Assistant family holds 6 title codes arranged across 3 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
What does an Administrative Assistant earn in New Jersey?
Published salary data for this family runs from $58,222 at the bottom of Administrative Assistant 3 to $122,832 at the top of Administrative Assistant 1. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Do you need to take an exam to become an Administrative Assistant?
Yes for most of the family. 6 of the 6 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.
What qualifications does an Administrative Assistant need?
The most common education requirement in this family is a bachelor's degree, named on 6 of the 6 titles. Stated experience ranges from 1 to 3 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.
Which agencies employ Administrative Assistant staff?
State payroll records show 319 people in this family across 29 agencies, with Law and Public Safety the largest at 65. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.
Is Administrative Assistant 1 higher or lower than Administrative Assistant 3?
In this family the lower number is the more senior title. New Jersey's level numbering does not run in pay order, and reading the titles by number alone will give you the ladder upside down. The list above is sorted by what each title actually pays.