Telephone Operators

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• 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.
• 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.
• Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
• Provide relay service for users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.
• Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
• Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
• Update directory information.
• Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
• Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.
• Promote company products, services, and savings plans when appropriate.
• Provide assistance for customers with special billing requests.
• 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.
• Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
• Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
• Keep records of calls placed and received, and of related toll charges.

Skills

• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.
• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

Abilities

• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.

Knowledge

• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• 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.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• 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.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• 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.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• 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.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

Education

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

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Education and Training Opportunities

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Pay

U.S. Annual Salary

39130/yr

U.S. Hourly Wage

18.81/hr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

20

Yearly Projected Openings

0

Personality

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

• Dependability
• Attention to Detail
• Integrity
• Stress Tolerance
• Cooperation
• Self Control

Tools

• Alarm systems
• Desktop calculator
• Digital telephones
• Laser fax machine
• Laser printers
• Paging controllers
• Personal computers
• Phone headsets
• Photocopiers
• Premise branch exchange PBX systems
• Special purpose telephones
• Two way radios
• Typewriters

Technology

• Electronic mail software
• Helpdesk or call center software
• Office suite software
• Operating system software
• Presentation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Video conferencing software
• Word processing software