About This Career

Provides information by accessing alphabetical, geographical, or other directories. Assists 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.

This career is part of the Business Management and Administration cluster Administrative Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Observes signal lights on switchboards, and dials or presses buttons to make connections.
• Operates telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
• Listens to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
• Suggests and checks alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
• Updates directory information.
• Performs clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
• Offers special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.
• Operates paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.
• Monitors automated systems for placing collect calls and intervenes for a callers needing assistance.
• Interrupts busy lines if an emergency warrants.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
• Exposed to hazardous situations involving possible injury such as cuts, bites, stings, and minor burns more than once a month
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves sitting more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Rotating shift work
• Weekend work