Customer Service Representatives
Interact with customers to provide basic or scripted information in response to routine inquiries about products and services. May handle and resolve general complaints. Excludes individuals whose duties are primarily installation, sales, repair, and technical support.
- Median pay
- $44,770
- Doing it now
- 2,666,000
- By 2035
- Down 5.3%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
289,500 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken.
- Check to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems.
- Contact customers to respond to inquiries or to notify them of claim investigation results or any planned adjustments.
- Refer unresolved customer grievances to designated departments for further investigation.
- Determine charges for services requested, collect deposits or payments, or arrange for billing.
- Complete contract forms, prepare change of address records, or issue service discontinuance orders, using computers.
- Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Business Operations Support and Assistant ServicesSee 44 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Organised and precise
Leading and persuading
Helping and teaching
Careers like this one
- Receptionists and Information Clerks$38,010
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive$47,540
- Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants$76,590
- Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping$50,610
- First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers$69,500
- Order Clerks$46,170
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $44,770 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.