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The differences between customer service desks and associate customer service representatives 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 service desk and an associate customer service representative. Additionally, an associate customer service representative has an average salary of $35,215, which is higher than the $34,599 average annual salary of a customer service desk.
The top three skills for a customer service desk include service desk, customer service and strong customer service. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.
| Customer Service Desk | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $34,599 | $35,215 |
| Hourly rate | $16.63 | $16.93 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 233,256 | 199,751 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 32% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
The responsibilities of working in a customer service desk primarily revolves around ensuring customer satisfaction by responding to their inquiries and concerns. There are instances when it is required to provide directions, locate products, make reservations, and resolve various issues. There may also be administrative tasks such as handling and making calls, assisting customers in filling out forms, preparing paperwork and reports, arranging records, and coordinating with various staff members to ensure that a customer receives quality service.
An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.
Customer service desks and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Desk | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $34,599 | $35,215 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $47,000 | Between $26,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Atwater, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | SAIC | Deutsche Bank |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer service desk and an associate customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Desk | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 32% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer service desks' and associate customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Service Desk | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 28.8% Female, 71.2% | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 21.3% Asian, 6.5% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |