OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Interact with customers to provide basic or scripted information in response to routine inquiries about products and services. May handle and resolve general complaints.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Customer service representatives typically do the following:
- Listen to customers’ questions and concerns and provide answers or responses
- Provide information about products and services
- Take orders, calculate charges, and process billing or payments
- Review customer accounts and make changes, if necessary
- Handle returns or complaints
- Record details of customer contacts and actions taken
- Refer customers to supervisors or more experienced employees
Customer service representatives answer questions or requests from customers or the public. They typically provide services by phone, but some also interact with customers face to face, by email or text, via live chat, and through social media.
The specific duties of customer service representatives vary by industry. For example, representatives who work in banks may answer customers’ questions about their accounts. Representatives who work for utility and telecommunications companies may help customers with service problems, such as outages. Those who work in retail stores often handle returns, process refunds, and help customers locate items. Although selling a product or service is not their main job, representatives may help generate sales while providing information.
Customer service representatives typically use a telephone, computer, and other office equipment. For example, representatives who work in call centers answer the phone and use computers to explore solutions for customers.
Salary
Median salary: $35,830 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $28,760 and $45,400.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for customer service representatives
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Customer Service Representatives
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of customer service representatives who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (73%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (51%)
- High Conflict Frequency (32%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Customer Service Representatives? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person.
Computer skills
Customer service representatives must be adept at using computers.
Customer-service skills
Representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints.
Interpersonal skills
Representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers.
Listening skills
Representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them.
Patience
Representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers.
Problem-solving skills
Representatives must determine solutions to customers’ problems. By doing so, representatives contribute to customer loyalty and retention.
Injury and Illness
About 30 customer service representatives become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 59% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
All multiple traumatic injuries
Bruises and contusions
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by customer service representatives
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), customer service representatives typically hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as customer service representatives as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for customer service representatives
Customer service representatives typically need a high school diploma or equivalent.
Details: Licensing and certification recommended for customer service representatives
Customer service representatives who provide information about finance and insurance may need a state license. Although licensing requirements vary by state, they usually include passing an exam. Some employers and organizations provide training for these exams.
Education level of Customer Service Representatives
Only 26% of customer service representatives have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by customer service representatives
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click a program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Customer Service Representatives per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most customer service representatives? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as customer service representatives. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where customer service representatives earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for customer service representatives compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for customer service representatives.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which customer service representatives earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Customer Service Representatives (ACS)
Employment
28% of Customer service representatives are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 28% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 81% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of customer service representatives by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Customer service representatives and gender
With 65% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 78% of careers.
Gender of Customer service representatives
Men (35%)
Women (65%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for customer service representatives, with the
median salary for men 11%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Customer service representatives
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Customer service representatives.
Race/origin of customer service representatives
White (68% )
Black (18% )
Other (5% )
Asian (4% )
Multiracial (3% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
