To fulfill your job as an operations support specialist, you will need to integrate elements of administrative assistance, operations research analysis, and customer service assistance. Your primary responsibility is to guarantee that the operations of the company for which you work run as effectively as possible. This may entail examining and evaluating current procedures to find methods to improve them. Another important thing an operation support professional examines is how to guarantee that the business functions in a way that effectively fulfills the needs of its consumers.
Because operations support specialists work in a variety of industries and the specific training requirements differ from firm to firm, there are no uniform postsecondary education requirements, though you may be required to hold relevant certifications. Operations support professionals must also have good quantitative and analytical skills; thus, it will be beneficial if you have postsecondary study in disciplines like operations research or mathematics. The average annual compensation for operations supports professionals is $49,911.
What is an Operations Support Specialist?
What Does an Operations Support Specialist Do
There are certain skills that many operations support 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.
How To Become an Operations Support Specialist
If you're interested in becoming an operations support specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 57.2% of operations support specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.9% of operations support specialists have master's degrees. Even though most operations support specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Operations Support Specialist 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 operations support specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as assistant manager, progress to a title such as manager and then eventually end up with the title senior project manager.
Average Salary for an Operations Support Specialist
What Am I Worth?
States With The Most Operations Support Specialist Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active operations support specialist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where operations support specialists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Operations Support Specialist Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 5,985 | $51,290 |
| 2 | Texas | 5,406 | $44,854 |
| 3 | Florida | 4,234 | $44,587 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | 3,040 | $58,865 |
| 5 | Georgia | 2,491 | $44,304 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 2,456 | $51,593 |
| 7 | Michigan | 2,403 | $48,029 |
| 8 | Ohio | 2,323 | $53,415 |
| 9 | New York | 1,987 | $67,597 |
| 10 | Virginia | 1,854 | $56,940 |
| 11 | Missouri | 1,783 | $38,244 |
| 12 | Illinois | 1,690 | $46,807 |
| 13 | Minnesota | 1,682 | $43,548 |
| 14 | Indiana | 1,499 | $53,816 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 1,435 | $57,088 |
| 16 | Tennessee | 1,382 | $42,632 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 1,307 | $45,085 |
| 18 | Maryland | 1,282 | $58,906 |
| 19 | South Carolina | 1,260 | $46,361 |
| 20 | Alabama | 1,092 | $45,045 |
| 21 | New Jersey | 1,084 | $71,419 |
| 22 | Arizona | 1,065 | $45,854 |
| 23 | Washington | 1,012 | $42,104 |
| 24 | Colorado | 960 | $39,823 |
| 25 | Iowa | 902 | $40,988 |
| 26 | Kentucky | 876 | $39,161 |
| 27 | Louisiana | 862 | $53,745 |
| 28 | Oklahoma | 854 | $47,288 |
| 29 | Arkansas | 792 | $41,455 |
| 30 | Oregon | 710 | $42,884 |
| 31 | Nevada | 703 | $49,010 |
| 32 | Mississippi | 700 | $38,362 |
| 33 | Kansas | 692 | $36,278 |
| 34 | Utah | 675 | $33,398 |
| 35 | Nebraska | 614 | $39,838 |
| 36 | New Mexico | 559 | $51,408 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 455 | $52,118 |
| 38 | Idaho | 430 | $32,485 |
| 39 | Connecticut | 390 | $70,912 |
| 40 | Maine | 390 | $45,086 |
| 41 | South Dakota | 366 | $34,070 |
| 42 | Montana | 339 | $35,323 |
| 43 | West Virginia | 287 | $46,108 |
| 44 | Alaska | 219 | $33,177 |
| 45 | North Dakota | 200 | $38,697 |
| 46 | Delaware | 196 | $64,527 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 196 | $35,397 |
| 48 | Wyoming | 189 | $34,963 |
| 49 | Rhode Island | 174 | $58,527 |
| 50 | Vermont | 135 | $52,918 |
Top Colleges for Operations Support Specialists
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 Operations Support Specialist
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, 19.2% of operations support specialists listed operations support on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and listening skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Operations Support Specialist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Operations Support Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Operations Support Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Operations Support Specialist Demographics
Operations Support Specialist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among operations support specialists, 56.0% of them are women, while 44.0% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among operations support specialists is White, which makes up 59.4% of all operations support specialists.
- The most common foreign language among operations support specialists is Spanish at 65.4%.
Work Experience Programs For Operations Support Specialists
Virtual work experience programs replicate work at top companies and help you gain the skills to be successful when applying and working there. In only a few hours, learn the relevant tools necessary to complete a typical work day at that company. Virtual work experience programs are 100% free, open-access, and self-paced. No experience or application is required!
Company: Accenture UK
Cost: Free
Duration: 5-6 hours
Company: NSW Government Virtual Program
Cost: Free
Duration: 1-2 hours
Company: Accenture North America
Cost: Free
Duration: 5-6 hours
Online Courses For Operations Support Specialist That You May Like
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Best States For an Operations Support Specialist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an operations support specialist. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and Delaware. Operations support specialists make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $71,419. Whereas in Connecticut and New York, they would average $70,912 and $67,597, respectively. While operations support specialists would only make an average of $64,527 in Delaware, 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. District of Columbia
$65,915
Avg. Salary
2. Pennsylvania
$58,865
Avg. Salary
3. Louisiana
$53,745
Avg. Salary
How Do Operations Support Specialist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Operations Support Specialist Employers
Most Common Employers For Operations Support Specialist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Citi | $87,094 | $41.87 | 34 |
| 2 | IBM | $80,656 | $38.78 | 32 |
| 3 | Cummins | $74,587 | $35.86 | 20 |
| 4 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $57,078 | $27.44 | 28 |
| 5 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise | $48,600 | $23.37 | 14 |
| 6 | US Post Office | $46,830 | $22.51 | 27 |
| 7 | Kellermeyer Bergensons Services | $44,183 | $21.24 | 13 |
| 8 | United States Courts | $43,920 | $21.12 | 24 |
| 9 | MassMutual | $42,914 | $20.63 | 27 |
| 10 | AT&T | $40,452 | $19.45 | 17 |