Career profile for Rental Agent

What does a Rental Agent do?

Rental Agents receive orders, generally in person, for repairs, rentals, and services.

In addition, Rental Agents may describe available options, compute cost, and accept payment.

What kind of tasks does a Rental Agent perform regularly?

Rental Agents are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

Compute charges for merchandise or services and receive payments.
Receive orders for services, such as rentals, repairs, dry cleaning, and storage.
Explain rental fees, policies, and procedures.
Provide information about rental items, such as availability, operation, or description.
Advise customers on use and care of merchandise.
Greet customers and discuss the type, quality, and quantity of merchandise sought for rental.
Answer telephones to provide information and receive orders.
Inspect and adjust rental items to meet needs of customer.
Prepare rental forms, obtaining customer signature and other information, such as required licenses.
Rent items, arrange for provision of services to customers, and accept returns.
Keep records of transactions and of the number of customers entering an establishment.
Receive, examine, and tag articles to be altered, cleaned, stored, or repaired.
Reserve items for requested times and keep records of items rented.
Prepare merchandise for display or for purchase or rental.
Recommend and provide advice on a wide variety of products and services.

The above responsibilities are specific to Rental Agents. More generally, Rental Agents are involved in several broader types of activities:

Activities	Importance	Details
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public		Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Documenting/Recording Information		Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Processing Information		Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates		Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events		Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.

Documenting/Recording Information

Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.

Processing Information

Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

What is a Rental Agent salary?

The median salary for a Rental Agent is $30,870, and the average salary is $34,700. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Rental Agent salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Rental Agents earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Rental Agents earn less than $20,780 per year, 25% earn less than $25,540, 75% earn less than $39,960, and 90% earn less than $53,550.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Rental Agents is expected to change by 7.9%, and there should be roughly 46,800 open positions for Rental Agents every year.

Median annual salary: $30,870
Typical salary range: $20,780 - $53,550
Projected growth (2020 - 2030): 7.9%

What personality traits are common among Rental Agents?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Rental Agent are usually higher in their Conventional and Enterprising interests.

Rental Agents typically have strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Also, Rental Agents typically have strong Enterprising interests. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Rental Agent tend to value Relationships, Support, and Independence.

Most importantly, Rental Agents moderately value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Rental Agents moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Rental Agents somewhat value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Rental Agents must consistently demonstrate qualities such as attention to detail, self-control, and dependability.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Rental Agents, ranked by importance:

Demands	Importance	Details
Attention to Detail		Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Self-Control		Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Dependability		Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Cooperation		Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Integrity		Job requires being honest and ethical.

Attention to Detail

Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

Self-Control

Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

Dependability

Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

Cooperation

Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

Integrity

Job requires being honest and ethical.

What education and training do Rental Agents need?

Working as a Rental Agent usually requires a high school diploma.

Rental Agents need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Rental Agents

7.3% did not complete high school or secondary school
35.1% completed high school or secondary school
27.8% completed some college coursework
8.8% earned a Associate's degree
17.8% earned a Bachelor's degree
2.8% earned a Master's degree
0.5% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Rental Agents

Rental Agents may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as customer and personal service, administrative, or sales and marketing knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Rental Agents might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Knowledge areas	Importance	Details
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.
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.
Sales and Marketing		Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Administration and Management		Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Mathematics		Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

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.

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.

Sales and Marketing

Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Administration and Management

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Mathematics

Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Important Abilities needed by Rental Agents

Rental Agents must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Rental Agents need abilities such as oral comprehension, oral expression, and speech recognition in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Rental Agents, ranked by their relative importance.

Abilities	Importance	Details
Oral Comprehension		The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression		The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
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.
Near Vision		The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Oral Comprehension

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

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.

Near Vision

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Critical Skills needed by Rental Agents

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Rental Agents frequently use skills like active listening, speaking, and service orientation to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Rental Agents, ranked by their relative importance.

Skills	Importance	Details
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.
Reading Comprehension		Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Critical Thinking		Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

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.

Reading Comprehension

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.

Critical Thinking

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.

Career profile Rental Agent

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