Operations supervisors monitor the performance of employees and processes across a variety of fields, from IT to sales, production, finance, or customer support. People successful in this position are great leaders and have strong organizational and administrative skills.
Every waking hour of an operations supervisor revolves around Key Performance Indicators. They make sure operations comply with management policies, supervise, motivate and evaluate employees, and create reports on the efficacy of operational processes, which they present to the management.
Apart from analyzing and reporting on different areas of performance, operations supervisors are responsible for assessing the operational processes of departments and suggesting and implementing strategies that boost efficiency and reduce expenses.
How to Become an Operation Supervisor
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an operation supervisor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.11 an hour? That's $56,391 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 150,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Operation Supervisor Do
There are certain skills that many operation supervisors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, leadership skills and management skills.
How To Become an Operation Supervisor
If you're interested in becoming an operation supervisor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 57.1% of operation supervisors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.3% of operation supervisors have master's degrees. Even though most operation supervisors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an operation supervisor. When we researched the most common majors for an operation supervisor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on operation supervisor resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an operation supervisor. In fact, many operation supervisor jobs require experience in a role such as supervisor. Meanwhile, many operation supervisors also have previous career experience in roles such as operations manager or customer service representative.
Operation Supervisor Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an operation supervisor can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as operations manager, progress to a title such as general manager and then eventually end up with the title general manager of operations.
Average Salary for an Operation Supervisor
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Operation Supervisors
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Maine Maritime Academy
Castine, ME • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
8. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
9. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
10. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
Top Skills For an Operation Supervisor
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.0% of operation supervisors listed facility on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and leadership skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Operation Supervisor Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Operation Supervisor templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Operation Supervisor resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Operation Supervisor Demographics
Operation Supervisor Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among operation supervisors, 29.2% of them are women, while 70.8% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among operation supervisors is White, which makes up 63.8% of all operation supervisors.
- The most common foreign language among operation supervisors is Spanish at 64.0%.
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Best States For an Operation Supervisor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an operation supervisor. The best states for people in this position are Louisiana, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Massachusetts. Operation supervisors make the most in Louisiana with an average salary of $86,816. Whereas in Wyoming and West Virginia, they would average $82,258 and $77,753, respectively. While operation supervisors would only make an average of $76,827 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Wisconsin
$76,338
Avg. Salary
2. Iowa
$74,350
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$76,154
Avg. Salary
How Do Operation Supervisor Rate Their Jobs?
5.0
5.0
What do you like the most about working as Operation Supervisor?
The team that I lead, it was a HPWS team where everyone had a role and executed it. I facilitated the team by removing any barriers and providing the tools necessary to make sure that the process went smoothly on a daily basis. Show MoreWhat do you NOT like?
The 6/7 day work weeks and the constant jumping between 2nd and 3rd shifts. Show MoreTop Operation Supervisor Employers
Most Common Employers For Operation Supervisor
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Republic Services | $64,090 | $30.81 | 213 |
| 2 | CEVA Logistics | $59,730 | $28.72 | 198 |
| 3 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $58,447 | $28.10 | 292 |
| 4 | Bank of America | $57,335 | $27.56 | 330 |
| 5 | US Air Conditioning Distributors | $56,901 | $27.36 | 234 |
| 6 | J.B. Hunt Transport Services | $56,508 | $27.17 | 392 |
| 7 | United States Marine Corps | $56,391 | $27.11 | 184 |
| 8 | Penske Logistics | $56,391 | $27.11 | 175 |
| 9 | Victoria's Secret | $56,391 | $27.11 | 171 |
| 10 | USAF Police Alumni Association | $56,391 | $27.11 | 161 |
Operation Supervisor Videos
Becoming an Operation Supervisor FAQs
How long does it take to become an Operation Supervisor?
It takes 5 years of professional experience to become an operation supervisor. That is the time it takes to learn specific operation supervisor skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 8 to 10 years years to become an operation supervisor.
How do I start a career in operations management?
To start a career in operations management, a person should pursue a bachelor's degree in business administration or a related field. While a student in college, a person should pursue an internship and experience in business and office environments.
What are the 5 roles of a supervisor?
The five roles of a supervisor are educator, sponsor, coach, counselor, and director. Every supervisor role utilizes some combination of these five roles when leading a team.
A supervisor acts as an educator when their employees and team members are new, when processes or conditions change, or when discussing performance expectations.