Customer Service Representative (General)

Career Area: Customer and Client Support

Occupation Group: Customer Service Representatives

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Customer Service Representative (General) earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $31,484

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $32,742

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Interacts directly with customers to answer questions and solve problems. Communicates with customers in person, over the phone or online. Provides help with troubleshooting technical problems for equipment or software. Keeps records of customer communications and transactions.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Customer Service Representative (General) is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

• Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
• Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
• Multi-Tasking: In computing, multitasking is a concept of performing multiple tasks (also known as processes) over a certain period of time by executing them concurrently.
• Computer Literacy: The ability to use computers and related technology efficiently for work tasks.
• Detail-Oriented: A detail oriented person is someone who pays attention to the details and can make a conscious effort to understand causes instead of just the effects, and that does this in a second nature type of way.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

• Customer Service: Working experience with the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.
• Customer Contact: Experience working with business processes and technologies that are designed to engage customers and facilitate communication by a variety of channels.
• Sales: Experience selling products or services to consumers.
• Retail Industry Knowledge: Requires Retail Industry Knowledge. All businesses that sell goods and services to consumers fall under the umbrella of retailing, but there are several directions we can take from here. For starters, there are department stores, discount stores, specialty stores and even seasonal retailers.
• Scheduling: Working experience making schedules, which are basic time-management tools, consisting of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place withing an organization.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Customer Service Representative (General) that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

• Customer Accounts: Working experience with Customer Accounts, which often include accounting and marketing information for individual customers or business clients in a Customer Relationship Management system.
• Cash Handling: Cash management refers to a broad area of finance involving the collection, handling, and usage of cash.
• Refunds Exchanges and Adjustments: In retail, a product return is the process of a customer taking previously purchased merchandise back to the retailer, and in turn receiving a refund in the original form of payment, exchange for another item (identical or different), or a store credit.
• Customer Complaint Resolution: Experience building a process to log, investigate, and resolve any customer dissatisfaction or problems. This skills can be measured by the effectiveness of turning a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one.
• Point of Sale System: Working experience of Point of Sale System. The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer (which may be a cash register printout), and indicates the options for the customer to make payment

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills:

• Point of Sale System: Working experience of Point of Sale System. The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer (which may be a cash register printout), and indicates the options for the customer to make payment

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

• Customer Service Representative
• Customer Service Associate
• Customer Service
• Cashier/Customer Service
• Service Advisor

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles:

• Client Service Representative / Associate
• Customer Service Manager