Career profile Telephone Operator

Table of Contents

• What does a Telephone Operator do?
• What is a typical salary for a Telephone Operator?
• What personality traits are common among Telephone Operators?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Telephone Operators need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Telephone Operator do?

Telephone Operators provide information by accessing alphabetical, geographical, or other directories.

In addition, Telephone Operators

• 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.

What kind of tasks does a Telephone Operator perform regularly?

Telephone Operators are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• 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.

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

What is a Telephone Operator salary?

What personality traits are common among Telephone Operators?

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 Telephone Operator are usually higher in their Conventional, Social, and Realistic interests.

Telephone Operators typically have very 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, Telephone Operators typically have moderate Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Lastly, Telephone Operators typically have moderate Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Telephone Operators typically have moderate 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 Telephone Operator tend to value Relationships, Support, and Independence.

Most importantly, Telephone Operators strongly 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, Telephone Operators moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Telephone Operators 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 Telephone Operators must consistently demonstrate qualities such as stress tolerance, integrity, and dependability.

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

What education and training do Telephone Operators need?

Working as a Telephone Operator usually requires a high school diploma.

Telephone Operators 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 Telephone Operators

• 3.2% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 33.2% completed high school or secondary school
• 34.6% completed some college coursework
• 9.7% earned a Associate's degree
• 15.0% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 3.8% earned a Master's degree
• 0.5% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Telephone Operators

Important Abilities needed by Telephone Operators

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

Critical Skills needed by Telephone Operators

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.

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

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.

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