What is a customer associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Meegan Feori Ph.D.

A customer associate interacts with customers to address their needs and concerns. They typically work in retail stores, call centers, or other customer-facing environments. A customer associate is responsible for providing excellent customer service by answering questions, resolving issues, and ensuring customer satisfaction. In addition to strong communication skills, a customer associate should be knowledgeable about the products or services offered by their company and be able to navigate computer systems and databases to access information.

What general advice would you give to a customer associate?

Meegan Feori Ph.D.

Associate Professor, San Diego Mesa College

Consider your career in terms of what you are willing to do right now to support yourself and be self-sufficient. During the last recession, I was underemployed, working as a part-time pool lifeguard and making funnel cakes at a local amusement park. Not ideal, but with my funds running low, it was necessary. A third part-time position I had, updating apparel tech packs, did pave my way to a full-time job in the fashion industry. So hustle and be flexible. Also, take time to consider what you can do to create opportunities for yourself. This could include an internship, volunteering, taking a warehouse position at a fashion brand, or completing a class that interests you. The best advice I was ever given was to keep pursuing your goals and accept that what you will be doing in ten years will be better than you ever imagined. The advice came true for me, and I think it will be true for you as well.

ScoreCustomer AssociateUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $32,989

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.66%

Asian 6.89%

Black or African American 12.13%

Hispanic or Latino 19.85%

Unknown 5.58%

White 54.89%

Gender

female 57.45%

male 42.55%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a customer associate?

Pros

Opportunity to interact with a variety of people
Access to employee benefits such as healthcare and retirement plans
Opportunities for overtime pay or bonuses
Exposure to different industries and businesses
Opportunity to learn new software and technology

Cons

Dealing with upset or difficult customers can be stressful
Pressure to meet productivity and sales goals
High demand for customer support during peak hours
Low pay compared to other industries
Sitting for long periods can be uncomfortable

Key steps to become a customer associate

Explore customer associate education requirements

Most common customer associate degrees

Bachelor's

43.3 %

High School Diploma

24.4 %

Associate

19.7 %

Start to develop specific customer associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Sales Floor	24.04%
Product Knowledge	22.13%
Customer Service	13.43%
Phone Calls	6.65%
Customer Calls	2.99%

Complete relevant customer associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a customer associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer associate resumes.

Research customer associate duties and responsibilities

Manage product queries, process orders and deliveries of medical devices to NHS and private hospitals in UK.
Collaborate with management to train new employees on company policies and procedures and manage customer concerns via LiveChat.
Provide troubleshooting steps to service apple products.
Answer phones, operate POS and collect payments of cash, credit/debit cards and checks.

Prepare your customer associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer associate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a customer associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable customer associate resume templates

Build a professional customer associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your customer associate resume.