Customer Service Representative Careers

customer-service-rep-500Customer service representatives serve as a company’s liaison by communicating with customers concerning goods and services offered. The representative interacts with clients by way of telephone and in-person conversation in addition to taking on other tasks that are vital to good customer-company relations.

Customer service representatives may take orders for goods and services, cancel customer accounts, and note complaints about products and other employees. Attention to detail and patience are crucial in this career field as representatives are sometimes faced with mistakes in billing that negatively impact customers.

Customer Service Representative Career Snapshot

Customer service representatives are usually desk-bound. Employees either spend their days in call centers or workrooms where interactions with clients are either online or over the telephone. Some representatives have constant in-person interactions with the public throughout the day. Such individuals usually stand for extended periods of time.

Further details on a career as a customer service representative are listed below (statistics from the May 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics and Onet Online):

$32,302

is the average annual salary for customer service representatives.

10%

increase in employment between 2014 and 2024.

67%

have a High school diploma or equivalent while 16% have a Bachelor’s degree.

Customer Service Representative Education

Becoming a customer service representative is largely a matter of having good people skills. Individuals with no more than a high school diploma and a bit of on-the-job training often thrive in this job field. There are some representatives, however, who hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees but the majority of representatives (67%) have high school diplomas only.

Customer Service Representative Job Duties

Customer service representatives maintain customer accounts, make a note of complaints, and address billing errors. Workers also take orders for the company for customers interested in purchasing goods and services.

Customer Service Representative Salaries

Customer service representatives make an average of $15.53 per hour, which is about $32,302 per year according to BLS.gov May 2016 reports. Those living in areas where the cost of living is significantly more than the national average may earn $25.83 per hour or $53,726 annually. Individuals with little education or living in regions where the cost of living is relatively low typically make $10.01 per hour, which averages out to around $20,821 per year.

Customer Service Representative Job Outlook

Job prospects for customer service representatives are expected to grow by 10 percent over the next ten years. Such rate is faster than the national average.

Customer Service Representative Skills & Traits

Customer Service Representative Skill Set:Required Abilities:Tools Used by Customer Service Representatives:Typical Work Activities:
• Active Listening
• Speaking
• Service Orientation
• Reading Comprehension
• Oral Comprehension
• Oral Expression
• Speech Clarity
• Speech Recognition
• Autodialing systems
• Voice broadcasting systems
• Automatic call distribution ACD system
• Scanners
• Getting Information
• Interacting With Computers
• Communicating with Persons Outside Organization
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

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