Explore by Career/Office and Administrative Support
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.
- Median pay
- $39,130
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- -27.5%
- Declining
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
What they do
- 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.
- Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
- Update directory information.
- Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
- Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
- Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.
- Operate paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.
- Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.
- Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.
Majors that lead here
No mapped majors yet.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.