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The differences between senior customer 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 senior customer service representative and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a senior customer service representative has an average salary of $35,008, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a senior customer service representative include outbound calls, windows and customer inquiries. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Senior Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $35,008 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $16.83 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 187,517 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A senior customer service representative specializes in communicating with clients and providing them with the needed assistance. Aside from responding to calls and inquiries, a senior customer service representative must also perform basic administrative support tasks such as producing reports and necessary documentation, updating the database, and maintaining correspondence. With years of extensive expertise and knowledge, they are also responsible for leading and supervising a team of customer service representatives, all in the joint effort to secure customer satisfaction and reach sales targets.
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.
Senior customer service representatives and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $35,008 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $42,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Oxnard, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Bayer | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior customer service representative and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between senior customer service representatives' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Senior Customer Service Representative | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 28.9% Female, 71.1% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.0% White, 55.5% 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% |