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The differences between customer representatives and customer service specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a customer representative and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer representative has an average salary of $37,351, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a customer representative include phone calls, windows and technical support. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $37,351 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $17.96 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 220,778 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer service representative is an individual person who establishes communication between customers and the organization by answering questions, resolve complaints, and address emergency issues about the products and services he/she sells. He/She must possess an approachable personality, a passion for customer service, and work with his/her fellow workmates. The minimum educational requirement for a customer service representative is a high school diploma; however, a candidate must complete on-the-job training. A Customer Service Representative should also possess excellent communication and problem-solving skills.
Customer service specialists are employees who are responsible for providing the best customer experience to customers, usually for after-sales transactions. They attend to customers' inquiries and provide answers to their questions on products or services that the company offers. They also address customer complaints and help mitigate the concerns by offering solutions such as instructions on how to fix defects, or processing replacements or refunds. Customer service specialists also listen to customer feedback and ensure that these are logged properly so that proper departments will be able to receive them.
Customer representatives and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $37,351 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $55,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Urban Honolulu, HI | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | IBM | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer representative and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer representatives' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.7% Female, 63.3% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 22.8% Asian, 7.4% White, 52.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |