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What is a customer care associate and how to become one
A customer care associate is an individual who provides assistance and support to customers. They are responsible for addressing customer inquiries, complaints, and issues through various communication channels such as phone, email, or chat. Customer care associates must be knowledgeable about the products or services they offer and be able to provide accurate information to customers. Good communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and patience are essential qualities for a successful customer care associate.
What general advice would you give to a customer care associate?
Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA
Assistant Professor of Marketing, Charleston Southern University
Avg. Salary $33,115
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate -4%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.71%
Asian 6.65%
Black or African American 12.41%
Hispanic or Latino 18.69%
Unknown 5.30%
White 56.24%
Genderfemale 69.94%
male 30.06%
Age - 39American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 39Stress level is manageable
7.1 - high
Complexity level is challenging
7 - challenging
Work life balance is good
6.4 - fair
What are the pros and cons of being a customer care associate?
Pros
Opportunity to interact with a diverse range of people
Chance to develop communication and problem-solving skills
Potential for career growth within the company
Flexibility in work schedule and availability
Competitive salary and benefits packages
Cons
Dealing with difficult or angry customers can be stressful
Long hours spent sitting in front of a computer or on the phone
Repetitive nature of tasks can become monotonous
Pressure to meet performance metrics and quotas
High levels of scrutiny and monitoring from management
Customer care associate career paths
Key steps to become a customer care associate
Explore customer care associate education requirements
Start to develop specific customer care associate skills
Skills Percentages Customer Care 20.90% Patients 16.38% Customer Service 7.42% Telephone Inquiries 6.02% Customer Support 4.81% Complete relevant customer care associate training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer care 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 care associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer care associate resumes.Research customer care associate duties and responsibilities
- Continue to manage a high volume of customer calls relate to HMO, PPO and POS concerns.
- Verify HIPAA member information, update members account, expedite payments, explain health and dental plan benefits options.
- Answer inbound calls assisting customers with billing questions, troubleshoot for customers, and assist customers with service plans and upgrading packages
- Receive inbound provider calls at a call center regarding patients medical insurance benefits and eligibility, edit and process Medicare claims.
Prepare your customer care associate resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer care 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 care 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 care associate resume templates
Build a professional customer care 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 care associate resume.
Apply for customer care associate jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a customer care associate job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first customer care associate job
Are you a customer care associate?
Share your story for a free salary report.
Average customer care associate salary
The average customer care associate salary in the United States is $33,115 per year or $16 per hour. Customer care associate salaries range between $24,000 and $43,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do customer care associates rate their job?
Customer care associate reviews
remote job, more schedule flexibility
very low salary, no career growth, very stressful and not rewarding
Getting to know the people and the you work.with
Being required to answer a minimum number of calls a day. This pushes the idea that the caller is a number and as such, it is more difficult to personalize the call the the person calling in
Interaction with customers finding best solutions which are satisfying both sides.
Updated January 8, 2025
