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The differences between member service 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 member service representative and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer service specialist has an average salary of $33,238, which is higher than the $31,395 average annual salary of a member service representative.
The top three skills for a member service representative include front desk, cleanliness and punctuality. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Member Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $31,395 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $15.09 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 214,036 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A member service representative is responsible for providing customer service support to an organization. Member service representatives' duties include responding to customer's inquiries and complaints, developing effective sales pitches, processing customer's requests and orders, creating reports, developing recommendations to improve the operation's performance, and escalating high-level concerns. A member service representative should maintain excellent customer service, as well as excellent time-management skills and the ability to multi-task, to work under pressure, and assist customers under minimal supervision.
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.
Member service representatives and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Member Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $31,395 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $45,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Alameda, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Tinker Federal Credit Union | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a member service representative and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Member Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between member service representatives' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Member Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 26.5% Female, 73.5% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 22.1% Asian, 6.7% White, 54.4% 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% |