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.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Service Orientation
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Time Management
- Writing
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Sales and Marketing
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Economics and Accounting
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.
- Resolve customers' service or billing complaints by performing activities such as exchanging merchandise, refunding money, or adjusting bills.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (54.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (25.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (42.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Customer Service Representatives is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 89% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 97% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 69% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 97% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Limited freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 93% of occupations compared | 73% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 79% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 96% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 1.28%
- Important: 0.35%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 27.53%
- Very important: 1.55%
- Extremely important: 57.38%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 26.13%
- Very little freedom: 3.9%
- Limited freedom: 30.14%
- Some freedom: 18.97%
- A lot of freedom: 20.85%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 9.52%
- Every day: 72.93%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.12%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.03%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 42.58%
- Every day: 20.38%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 36%
- Every day: 42.47%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 44.5%
- Fairly serious: 13.94%
- Serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very serious: 5.32%
- Extremely serious: 6.58%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 43-4051.00 · SOC 43-4051 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8