What does a public services assistant do?
Public Services Assistants will not necessarily need a degree for this career choice, yet a high school diploma or GED will be absolutely necessary. Paying out at around $43K per year, this position will require skills in communication, reading, writing, listening, and hearing, as well as basic telephone, computer, and perhaps even copier operations for receiving information. The tasks involved in this career will include answering customer inquiries and passing them to other departments, selling products, taking orders, and arranging for customer services.
Public services assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real public services assistant resumes:
- Help contribute to PowerPoint presentation for budget purposes.
- Resurface blu rays, DVDs, and audiobooks.
- Produce reserve labels and barcodes for re-serve books, CDs, and DVDs.
- Assess and discard non-fiction collections as assigned.
Public services assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Public Services Assistants are proficient in Customer Service, Community Outreach, and Word Processing. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Detail oriented, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Public Services Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 18%
Facilitated a friendly campus environment for students and community members; gained customer service experience in computers and technology assistance
- Community Outreach, 12%
Advanced case management including analyzing of records, interviewing of clients, community outreach and report preparation.
- Word Processing, 11%
Assisted library officer-on-duty by performing general administrative tasks such as filing, word processing, data entry, and internet research.
- Medicaid, 8%
Interviewed clients extensively to secure information required for eligibility determination for Public assistance, Medicaid and Food Stamps.
- Circulation Desk, 6%
Assist and greet students and handle all circulation desk questions and refer patrons in need of professional assistance to librarians.
- Library Catalog, 6%
Work with Microsoft Office, the library cataloging system WMS, and master various research databases.
Most public services assistants use their skills in "customer service," "community outreach," and "word processing" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential public services assistant responsibilities here:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a public services assistant to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "library technicians and assistants must be able to answer patrons’ questions clearly and explain use of library resources." Additionally, a public services assistant resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "provide clerical support to departmental office including interoffice communication, emails, etc. "
Detail oriented. Many public services assistant duties rely on detail oriented. "library technicians and assistants must pay close attention to ensure that library materials and information are organized correctly and according to the library’s organizational system.," so a public services assistant will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways public services assistant responsibilities rely on detail oriented: "oversee the library's daily functions, including patron-centered acquisitions, cataloging, and service- oriented reference work. "
Interpersonal skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of public services assistants is interpersonal skills. This skill is critical to many everyday public services assistant duties, as "library technicians and assistants need to work with library patrons, librarians, teachers, or researchers." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "demonstrated quality customer service, interpersonal skills, commitment, reliability, attention to details, and problem-solving. "
The three companies that hire the most public services assistants are:
- Kelly Services2 public services assistants jobs
- Deloitte2 public services assistants jobs
- Americorps2 public services assistants jobs
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Compare different public services assistants
Public services assistant vs. Library page
A library page is an individual who is responsible for organizing all returned books and other items while putting them in their proper places on the shelves. This library page must retrieve materials that are kept in secured areas and checking items that are returned from patrons. The library page is required to help library patrons by helping them find a specific section of the library or book titles. This library page must also provide information to patrons related to due dates as well as library policies.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, public services assistant responsibilities require skills like "community outreach," "word processing," "medicaid," and "service desk." Meanwhile a typical library page has skills in areas such as "photocopying," "shelve library materials," "public library," and "library programs." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Library pages tend to make the most money working in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $29,806. In contrast, public services assistants make the biggest average salary, $37,333, in the finance industry.The education levels that library pages earn slightly differ from public services assistants. In particular, library pages are 5.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a public services assistant. Additionally, they're 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public services assistant vs. Page
Library clerks help librarians by primarily doing sorting, shelving, updating database and files, and cataloging several library materials such as books, newspapers, magazines, and multimedia resources. They check books and other resources in and out of the library assist in the procurement of library supplies, work with audio-visual equipment most of the time. In addition, other job responsibilities include setting up book displays, repairing damaged books, sending out overdue notices, and helping visitors find what they look for.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real public services assistant resumes. While public services assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "community outreach," "word processing," and "medicaid," pages use skills like "library materials," "library shelves," "decimal system," and "shelve books."
Pages may earn a lower salary than public services assistants, but pages earn the most pay in the media industry with an average salary of $27,082. On the other hand, public services assistants receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $37,333.pages earn lower levels of education than public services assistants in general. They're 5.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public services assistant vs. Shelver
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from public services assistant resumes include skills like "community outreach," "word processing," "medicaid," and "library catalog," whereas a shelver is more likely to list skills in "library materials," "book displays," "shelve books," and "library books. "
Shelvers typically earn lower educational levels compared to public services assistants. Specifically, they're 6.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public services assistant vs. Library clerk
Types of public services assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
