How long does it take to become a Customer Care Representative?

It takes 4 years of professional experience to become a customer care representative. That is the time it takes to learn specific customer care representative skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.

What is a customer care representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

A customer care representative serves as the primary point of contact for customers seeking assistance with a product or service. They handle customer inquiries, resolve issues, and provide support via phone, email, or chat. They also maintain records of customer interactions and work to improve customer satisfaction. Customer care representatives possess excellent communication and problem-solving skills and require knowledge about the products or services they support. Overall, they ensure customers have a positive experience.

What general advice would you give to a customer care representative?

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Charleston Southern University

Show employers how you would not only fill an open position regarding the work at hand, but show them how you would be an asset to their team. We are in very team driven work environments currently, and hiring managers want to know what you can bring to the table. Filling a void is great for the workload, but enhancing a team culture makes them not want to work without you!

ScoreCustomer Care RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $32,912

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.71%

Asian 6.47%

Black or African American 11.71%

Hispanic or Latino 20.01%

Unknown 5.32%

White 55.78%

Gender

female 68.01%

male 31.99%

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 care representative?

Pros

Possibility of earning incentives and bonuses based on performance
Potential for advancement within the company
Flexible work schedule options
Ability to work remotely or from home
Job security in a growing industry

Cons

Repetitive nature of the job
Long hours and shift work
Low pay and limited benefits for entry-level positions
Monotonous work environment
Potential for micromanagement by supervisors.

Key steps to become a customer care representative

Explore customer care representative education requirements

Most common customer care representative degrees

Bachelor's

37.2 %

High School Diploma

25.3 %

Associate

22.4 %

Start to develop specific customer care representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Care	20.73%
Customer Service	9.35%
Work Ethic	6.94%
Strong Work Ethic	6.62%
Data Entry	4.14%

Complete relevant customer care representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer care representatives 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 representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer care representative resumes.

Research customer care representative duties and responsibilities

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Answer incoming calls from clients, ATP's, therapists, and medical offices.
Maintain schedules for multiples ATP's and technicians to assist clients with scheduling therapy evaluations, and delivery of equipment.
Design a web-base CRM tool integrate with many other systems to provide technicians one-page panel the most relevant information and actions.

Prepare your customer care representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer care representative 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 representative 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 representative resume templates

Build a professional customer care representative 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 representative resume.

Apply for customer care representative jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a customer care representative 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

Average customer care representative salary

The average customer care representative salary in the United States is $32,912 per year or $16 per hour. Customer care representative salaries range between $26,000 and $40,000 per year.

Average customer care representative salary

$32,912 Yearly

$15.82 hourly

How do customer care representatives rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Customer care representative reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2024

Pros

remote job, more schedule flexibility

Cons

very low salary, no career growth, very stressful and not rewarding

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022

Pros

I got to do a variety of tasks daily. Got treated with respect from management and other coworkers.

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2022

Pros

Getting to know the people and the you work.with

Cons

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

What is a customer care representative and how to become one

What general advice would you give to a customer care representative?

What are the pros and cons of being a customer care representative?

Customer care representative career paths

Key steps to become a customer care representative

Explore customer care representative education requirements

Most common customer care representative degrees

Start to develop specific customer care representative skills

Complete relevant customer care representative training and internships

Research customer care representative duties and responsibilities

Prepare your customer care representative resume

Choose from 10+ customizable customer care representative resume templates

Apply for customer care representative jobs

How did you land your first customer care representative job

Average customer care representative salary

How do customer care representatives rate their job?

Customer care representative reviews

Customer care representative FAQs

How long does it take to become a Customer Care Representative?

Search for customer care representative jobs

Customer care representative jobs by state