Telephone Operators

Provide information by accessing alphabetical and geographical 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.

tasks jobzones knowledge skills abilities work_activities work_context interests work_styles work_values

Tasks

• Keep records of calls placed and received, and of related toll charges.

• Update directory information.

• Operate paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.

• Promote company products, services, and savings plans when appropriate.

• Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.

• Provide relay service for hearing-impaired users.

• Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.

• Consult charts to determine charges for pay-telephone calls, requesting coin deposits for calls as necessary.

• Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.

• Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.

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Job Zone

• Name: Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

• Experience: Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience may be helpful in these occupations, but usually is not needed. For example, a teller might benefit from experience working directly with the public, but an inexperienced person could still learn to be a teller with little difficulty.

• Education: These occupations usually require a high school diploma and may require some vocational training or job-related course work. In some cases, an associate's or bachelor's degree could be needed.

• Job training: Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees.

• Examples: These occupations often involve using your knowledge and skills to help others. Examples include sheet metal workers, forest fire fighters, customer service representatives, pharmacy technicians, salespersons (retail), and tellers.

• Svp range: (4.0 to < 6.0)

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Knowledge

Browse Knowledge

• 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.

• English Language
  Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

• 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.

• Clerical
  Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

• 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.

• Computers and Electronics
  Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Transportation
  Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

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

• 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.

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Skills

Browse 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.

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

• Service Orientation
  Actively looking for ways to help people.

• Social Perceptiveness
  Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

• Monitoring
  Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

• Time Management
  Managing one's own time and the time of others.

• Learning Strategies
  Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

• Reading Comprehension
  Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Active Learning
  Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

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Abilities

Browse Abilities

• Speech Recognition
  The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

• 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 Clarity
  The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

• Written Comprehension
  The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

• Problem Sensitivity
  The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

• Inductive Reasoning
  The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

• Written Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

• Deductive Reasoning
  The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• Selective Attention
  The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

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Work Activities

Browse Work Activities

• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
  Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
  Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
  Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

• Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People
  Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.

• Developing Objectives and Strategies
  Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.

• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
  Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
  Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

• Getting Information
  Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

• Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others
  Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.

• Coaching and Developing Others
  Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.

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Work Context

• Telephone
  How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?

• Spend Time Sitting
  How much does this job require sitting?

• Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People
  How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?

• Contact With Others
  How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?

• Importance of Repeating Same Tasks
  How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job?

• Deal With External Customers
  How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?

• Frequency of Decision Making
  How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?

• Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
  How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job?

• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
  How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?

• Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results
  How do the decisions an employee makes impact the results of co-workers, clients or the company?

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Interests

Browse Interests

• Conventional
  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.

• Realistic
  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.

• Social
  Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

• Enterprising
  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.

• Investigative
  Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

• Artistic
  Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

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Work Styles

• Stress Tolerance
  Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

• Integrity
  Job requires being honest and ethical.

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

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

• Adaptability/Flexibility
  Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.

• Attention to Detail
  Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

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

• Independence
  Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

• Achievement/Effort
  Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

• Concern for Others
  Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.

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Work Values

Browse Work Values

• Independence
  Workers on this job do their work alone.

• Activity
  Workers on this job are busy all the time.

• Moral Values
  Workers on this job are never pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

• Supervision, Technical
  Workers on this job have supervisors who train their workers well.

• Supervision, Human Relations
  Workers on this job have supervisors who back up their workers with management.

• Support-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.

• Security
  Workers on this job have steady employment.

• Company Policies and Practices
  Workers on this job are treated fairly by the company.

• Working Conditions
  Workers on this job have good working conditions.

• Relationships-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.

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