Secretarial Assistant Family
Career series with 12 positions across 3 levels
In New Jersey civil service, Secretarial Assistant names a 3-level progression covering 12 distinct titles.
Entry is typically through Secretarial Assistant 1, advancing through the ladder toward Secretarial Assistant 3. Pay across the family spans $50,990 to $97,354, around the 27th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 916 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Human Services.
Specializations
Positions in This Family
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 3 (12505) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 1, NON-STENOGRAPHIC (12505C) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 1 (24531) $50,990 - $73,902/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 1, NON-STENOGRAPHIC (24531C) $50,990 - $73,902/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 1, NON-STENOGRAPHIC (24531G) $50,990 - $73,902/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 2 (24532) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 2, NON-STENOGRAPHIC (24532C) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 2, NONSTENOGRAPHIC/DEAF LANGUAGE SPECIALIST (24532D) $55,691 - $81,008/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 3 (24533) $63,663 - $92,953/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 3, NON-STENOGRAPHIC (24533C) $63,663 - $92,953/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 3, NON-STENOGRAPHIC/DEAF LANGUAGE SPECIALIST (24533D) $63,663 - $92,953/year
- SECRETARIAL ASSISTANT 3, NON-STENOGRAPHIC (24533F) $66,592 - $97,354/year
What the Secretarial Assistant family covers
Secretarial Assistant covers 12 title codes arranged into 3 levels of responsibility. Every title in it is a state title, so the employer is a state department, commission or authority rather than a county or municipality.
Office support is where New Jersey's classification plan is at its most granular. Typing, transcription, stenography, records, reception and general clerical duties each became their own series, and each series then split into state and local versions, which is why the catalog holds so many near-identical clerical codes. For applicants this granularity is mostly good news: it means a lot of separate eligible lists, most of them asking for a high school diploma and no experience, and it makes clerical work the most common way people enter the system and then transfer sideways.
The ladder, ordered by pay
The Secretarial Assistant rungs, listed from the best paid down. 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.
- Secretarial Assistant 3, Non-Stenographic — $66,592 to $97,354 (5 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 3, Non-Stenographic/Deaf Language Specialist — $63,663 to $92,953 (an associate's degree and 5 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 3, Non-Stenographic — $63,663 to $92,953 (5 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 3 — $63,663 to $92,953 (5 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 2, Nonstenographic/Deaf Language Specialist — $55,691 to $81,008 (an associate's degree and 1 year of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 2, Non-Stenographic — $55,691 to $81,008 (4 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 2 — $55,691 to $81,008 (4 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 1, Non-Stenographic — $55,691 to $81,008 (3 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 3 — $55,691 to $81,008 (3 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 1, Non-Stenographic — $50,990 to $73,902 (3 years of experience)
- Secretarial Assistant 1 — $50,990 to $73,902 (3 years of experience)
The distance from the bottom of Secretarial Assistant 1 to the top of Secretarial Assistant 3, Non-Stenographic is $46,363, an increase of about 91% over the entry minimum.
What each title does
Reading the definitions side by side is the quickest way to see what changes as you move through the family.
- Secretarial Assistant 3: May be assigned as a secretary to Assistant Division Directors, Bureau Chiefs, their organizational equivalents, or Executive Assistants 1; does other related…
- Secretarial Assistant 1, Non-Stenographic: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned assistant division director, bureau chief, or…
- Secretarial Assistant 1: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned assistant division director, bureau chief, or organizational…
- Secretarial Assistant 2: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned deputy division director, assistant director, bureau chief, or…
- Secretarial Assistant 2, Non-Stenographic: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned deputy division director, assistant director, bureau…
- Secretarial Assistant 2, Nonstenographic/Deaf Language Specialist: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned deputy division director…
- Secretarial Assistant 3: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned division director, deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner, or…
- Secretarial Assistant 3, Non-Stenographic: Under supervision, provides secretarial, administrative and clerical support to an assigned division director, deputy commissioner, assistant…
Showing 8 of 9 published definitions in this family. The full list of titles is below.
Requirements across the family
Across the 12 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as an associate's degree on 2 of them. Stated experience runs from 1 year at the lowest rung to 5 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.
On how the jobs are filled: 12 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination.
Who actually employs these titles
916 people appear on the state payroll under 6 of these titles, at 25 agencies. Human Services alone accounts for about 12% of them.
- Human Services — 114 employees
- Health and Senior Services — 94 employees
- Law and Public Safety — 91 employees
- Office of the Public Defender — 90 employees
- Corrections — 87 employees
- Children and Families — 67 employees
Those are the 6 largest of 25 agencies employing this family.
Median actual pay varies across the family, from $66,975 for Secretarial Assistant 1, Non-Stenographic up to $86,980 for Secretarial Assistant 3. 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
Hiring for this family runs through state service. Departments, commissions and boards fill these titles from eligible lists built by the Civil Service Commission, so the route in is an announcement and a filing deadline rather than a posting you apply to directly. What state jurisdiction means, and a breakdown of who employs what.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
Other classifications built on the same terms as Secretarial Assistant. Worth checking if this family has no current opening.
- Secretarial Assistant (local jurisdiction)
- Secretarial Assistant (local jurisdiction)
- Executive Secretarial Assistant ($72,896 to $106,798, state jurisdiction)
- Executive Secretarial Assistant ($76,287 to $111,856, state jurisdiction)
- Secretarial Assistant Stenography (local jurisdiction)
- Secretarial Assistant Transcribing (local jurisdiction)
Common questions about Secretarial Assistant jobs
How many separate Secretarial Assistant classifications does New Jersey have?
The Secretarial Assistant family holds 12 title codes arranged across 3 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
How much is a Secretarial Assistant paid?
Published salary data for this family runs from $50,990 at the bottom of Secretarial Assistant 1 to $97,354 at the top of Secretarial Assistant 3, Non-Stenographic. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Is there a civil service test for Secretarial Assistant?
Yes for most of the family. 12 of the 12 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.
What are the requirements to become a Secretarial Assistant?
The most common education requirement in this family is an associate's degree, named on 2 of the 12 titles. Stated experience ranges from 1 to 5 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.
Which agencies employ Secretarial Assistant staff?
State payroll records show 916 people in this family across 25 agencies, with Human Services the largest at 114. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.
Is Secretarial Assistant 1 higher or lower than Secretarial 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.