1. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$3,926
Enrollment
9,835
An operations specialist is the brain behind the machine who coordinates the workflow over all the departments of a company. They optimize, prioritize, and analyze to make sure nothing takes more time, money, or energy than necessary. They see to it that processes that depend on one another are completed in a timely manner, that every equipment is functional and all necessary materials are on stock, that there is no empty time or overload of work in any department, and everyone is doing what they are supposed to.
Much like the conductor of an orchestra, really. With perhaps less impressive gestures. Although, who knows. They come in all shapes and sizes.
On average, they make $53,767 a year, which seems fair, considering they do have a lot on their plate.
There are certain skills that many operations specialists 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 customer-service skills, listening skills and problem-solving skills.
If you're interested in becoming an operations specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 57.1% of operations specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.6% of operations specialists have master's degrees. Even though most operations specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
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 operations specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as team leader, progress to a title such as manager and then eventually end up with the title senior operations manager.
What Am I Worth?
The role of an operations specialist includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general operations specialist responsibilities:
There are several types of operations specialist, including:
Did you know that operations systems became widely applied as early as 4000 B.C? This was the period Egyptians began developing large projects, such as the pyramid which required organization and control of labor. In effect, we know how important operations management is in dividing up tasks and ensuring smooth production flow.
An operations coordinator is primarily responsible for supervising the progress of various departments within an organization. This involves tracking performance goals, monitoring the department's sales, procuring supplies, and negotiating contracts. Besides that, they also train employees, produce reports, and assist in administrative tasks.
Employers generally prefer operations coordinators have a bachelor's degree that is business-related but relevant work experience will be equally important. This role gives good exposure to opportunities such as project management, as well as operations director, after gaining enough experience. The salary earned is, on average, $22 per hour.
As an operation clerk, you are in charge of handling administrative duties in a company. The administrative duties you are to perform are responding to customers' inquiries, handling customer service, and directing guests to appropriate departments. You need to make files, records and ensure documents are easily accessible and updated. You are also expected to distribute, prepare, and sort both incoming and outgoing mails such as envelopes and packages to the appropriate channel.
As an operation clerk, you have to make use of office appliances such as printers, photocopies, and spreadsheet creation. Your presence is highly crucial because you are in charge of taking minutes of meetings and dictations. Your responsibility involves monitoring stocks of office supplies such as stationary and paperclips and giving a report when they are not available. You are to help in making travel arrangements and booking venues for events and conferences.
The basic skills of an operation clerk are good communication skills, attention to detail, excellent interpersonal skills, and familiarity with office procedures. The average salary operation clerk earns annually is $31,000, and the minimum educational criteria for an operation clerk is a high school diploma certificate.
An operations representative carries out tasks to help out the operations manager. This role is necessary for the smooth running of customer service and transactions in your company. You will create customer databases, handle inquiries and official correspondence. Operations representatives attend meetings and take part in the planning and implementation process of strategies.
It is your responsibility to identify areas to be improved and apply the necessary remedies for correction. You will assist in the achievement of set goals by the recommendation of methods that will improve departmental procedures. This can be achieved through influential presentations and the supply of informative materials.
You must possess an associate's degree in the related field to work as an operations representative. You should also possess good communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills. Plus, it is also necessary that an applicant is detail-oriented. An operation representative makes an annual salary of $36,000 annually.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active operations specialist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where operations specialists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Cullowhee, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$3,926
Enrollment
9,835
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
San Diego, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,488
Enrollment
30,018
Muncie, IN • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,896
Enrollment
15,529
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
Bowling Green, OH • Private
In-State Tuition
$11,105
Enrollment
13,729
Washington, DC • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,104
Enrollment
7,089
Washington, DC • Private
In-State Tuition
$26,756
Enrollment
6,166
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
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, 21.3% of operations specialists listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and listening skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Operations Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Operations Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
1. Introduction to Hardware and Operating Systems
If you're ready to enter the world of Information Technology (IT), you need job-ready skills. This course enables you to develop the skills to work with computer hardware and operating systems, and is your first step to prepare for all types of tech related careers that require IT Fundamental skills. First, learn about the essential software brain of a computer—its operating system software when you explore Microsoft Windows. Next, discover internal key hardware computer components, including...
2. Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
In this course -- through a combination of video lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on practice -- you’ll learn about the main components of an operating system and how to perform critical tasks like managing software and users, and configuring hardware. By the end of this course you’ll be able to: ● navigate the Windows and Linux filesystems using a graphical user interface and command line interpreter ● set up users, groups, and permissions for account access ● install, configure, and remove...
3. Financial Accounting Payroll
Payroll calculations - federal income tax, social security, Medicare - Payroll journal entries posted to ledger accounts...
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an operations specialist. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Operations specialists make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $68,509. Whereas in Maryland and New Hampshire, they would average $67,856 and $67,632, respectively. While operations specialists would only make an average of $66,821 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. New Hampshire
$67,632
Avg. Salary
2. Pennsylvania
$65,592
Avg. Salary
3. District of Columbia
$71,149
Avg. Salary
Being an important COG into the system. The dynamic work flow ensures that you are always well vested into the multiple projects you will assist in facilitating resources too.
Not too much that I don't like. Learning curve was steep but I'm getting better all the time.
I love the people I work with, the ability my job give me to think critically, and being challenged to problem solve.
Work seems to be none-stop sometimes, especially since we are under staff. Work keeps me on my feed, but need to hire more people.
Your sole goal is to achieve operational excellence. Your job description grows with you. It's flexible in terms on variety of subjects you can work with but at the end it comes to the same goal, evaluation methods.
It's a wide role and in organizations/departments/teams that are less mature - you can get lost in the chaos.
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ operations specialists and discovered their number of operations specialist opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Bank of America was the best, especially with an average salary of $35,607. JPMorgan Chase & Co. follows up with an average salary of $56,901, and then comes Wells Fargo with an average of $35,091. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as an operations specialist. The employers include Charles Schwab, Veeva Systems, and CareSource
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | $104,575 | $50.28 | 139 | |
2 | Apple | $83,718 | $40.25 | 161 |
3 | Edward Jones | $77,499 | $37.26 | 137 |
4 | BNY Mellon | $71,869 | $34.55 | 139 |
5 | Citi | $70,474 | $33.88 | 323 |
6 | Waste Management | $63,908 | $30.73 | 301 |
7 | United States Marine Corps | $60,251 | $28.97 | 382 |
8 | US Air Conditioning Distributors | $58,889 | $28.31 | 169 |
9 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $56,901 | $27.36 | 956 |
10 | Robert Half | $50,506 | $24.28 | 136 |
It takes 4 years of professional experience to become an operations specialist. That is the time it takes to learn specific operations specialist 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 7 to 9 years years to become an operations specialist.
No, you do not need a degree to become an operations specialist. However, many employers prefer candidates who hold an associate or bachelor's degree in business administration, accounting, or a related field.
The duties of an operations specialist are to manage all aspects of a company's daily operations.
Responsibilities Of An Operations Specialist:
Managing inventory
Ensuring the correct ordering of supplies
Monitoring the maintenance and replacement of operational equipment
Optimizing processes
Overseeing the operations team
Liaising the external stakeholders