What do they do?
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.
Also known as:
411 Directory Assistance Operator (411 Directory Assistance Op), Communications Operator (Communications Op), Customer Service Assistant, Directory Assistance Operator (Directory Assistance Op), Information Specialist, Live Source Operator (Live Source Op), Long Distance Operator (LD Operator), Operator (Op), PBX Operator (Post Box Exchange Operator), Phone Operator (Telephone Operator), Phone Secretary (Telephone Secretary), Switchboard Op (Switchboard Operator), TELECOM Op (Telecommunications Operator), Toll Operator (Toll Op)
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-18.8%
Change
Ranks #14 in job growth rate20Job Openings
Ranks #2 in net job growth
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- High school diploma equivalent (34%)
- Some college, no degree (30%)
- Associate's degree (18%)
- Bachelor's degree (10%)
- Less than high school diploma (5%)
- Master's degree (4%)
- Doctorate or Professional Degree (<1%)
People in this career often have these skills:
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
People in this career often know a lot about:
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
People in this career often have talent in:
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
People in this career often do these activities:
- Operate communications equipment or systems.
- Answer telephones to direct calls or provide information.
- Search files, databases or reference materials to obtain needed information.
- Enter information into databases or software programs.
- Assist individuals with paperwork.
- Sort mail.
- Proofread documents, records, or other files to ensure accuracy.
- Assist disabled or incapacitated individuals.
- Discuss account status or activity with customers or patrons.
- Maintain call records.
- Promote products, services, or programs.
This page includes data from:
Career data: O*NET 30.0 Database
by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA
Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics
Videos: CareerOneStop, USDOL/ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development
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