Telephone Operators
Provide information by accessing alphabetical, geographical, or other directories. Assist customers with special billing requests, such as charges to a third party and credits or refunds for incorrectly dialed numbers or bad connections. May handle emergency calls and assist children or people with physical disabilities to make telephone calls.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Telecommunications
- Administrative
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Public Safety and Security
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
- Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
- Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.
- Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
- Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
- Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
- Update directory information.
- Provide assistance for customers with special billing requests.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Social, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (97.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (51.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (40.2%)
- 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 Telephone Operators 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 99% of occupations compared | 100% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 95% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 88% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 80% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 64% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 71% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 92% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 81% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- 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: 0%
- Constant contact with others: 100%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 2.95%
- Important: 0.83%
- Very important: 21.78%
- Extremely important: 74.44%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.95%
- Fairly important: 5.89%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 3.11%
- Extremely important: 88.05%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 5.89%
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: 8.15%
- Some freedom: 43.11%
- A lot of freedom: 27.74%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 25.06%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.26%
- Every day: 46.73%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: 16.86%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.09%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 36.11%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.95%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 8.15%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.22%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.86%
- Every day: 39.77%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Serious: 3.36%
- Very serious: 17.07%
- Extremely serious: 5.84%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 43-2021.00 · SOC 43-2021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8