Salary Ranges for Customer Service Representatives

Customer service representatives is one of the largest occupation groups in the U.S.

Customer service representatives work for companies as a link between companies and their customers. Their role is to maintain the goodwill between a business and its customers. The majority of customer service representatives work in call centers. The job generally requires a minimum of a high school diploma, although job requirements may vary. Job prospects are good, especially for bilingual customer service representatives.

Job Description

Customer service representatives answer questions and respond to customer requests, providing advice and assistance. For example, a customer may want to know how long a particular product will take to arrive or they may need information to help them make a purchasing decision. Customer service representatives tend to work in clean and well lit areas. They are often called to work shifts, sometimes on weekends.

Pay

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), customer service representatives median hourly wage is $14.56 (or $30,290 per year), although the pay varies from under $9.15 to above $23.24 depending on location, the size of the company, skill required for the job, experience and training. Customer service representatives who work for insurance carriers earn an average of $15.74 per hour, while their counterparts in business support services earn $11.56 per hour.

Additional Benefits

In addition to base pay, customer service representatives who work holidays, weekends, nights, or evenings may receive an additional amount of pay, called shift differential pay. In addition to extra pay, some customer service representatives see the ability to work different hours that don't confirm to a normal work week as a perk of the job. Other benefits can include life and health insurance, pensions, employer-provided training, bonuses and discounts on the employer's products or services.

Job Prospects

According to the BLS, customer service representatives are in high demand and job prospects look good with more openings than job seekers. Due to the rapid growth in this field, finding a job as a customer service representative should be relatively easy. An advantage of working in the field is that in general customer service representatives aren't as sensitive to layoffs as workers in other industries, primarily because they work in areas that have customer accounts.

References

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Customer Service Representative