What does a Service Associate do?
A service associate's role is to assist customers either through phone or in person. One of the service associate's primary responsibilities is to attain customer satisfaction by answering queries, performing troubleshooting methods, assisting in navigating through difficult tasks, handling complaints, resolving issues, and even processing payments. Furthermore, a service associate needs to be equipped with good communication skills to build rapport with clients as there are instances where they have to sell products and services.
Service associate responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real service associate resumes:
- Develop skills in QuickBooks to manage money and invoices.
- Manage various senior level logistics operations, develop and implement supply chain policies and procedures.
- Educate veterans and the college community on veteran's benefits and academic requirements need to accomplish academic goals.
- Cover a very large floor and improve customer service ratings through overall facility cleanliness.
- Review controls regarding UNIX servers with client.
- Enter orders into QuickBooks and process for production.
- Perform rescue functions such as CPR, first aid & fire safety.
- Provide maintenance and service to Java applications, and web page design.
- Lead the UNIX support team for both existing operations and numerous new projects.
- Execute emergency processes in various situations to include CPR / a and document accurately.
- Develop SAS and SQL code to enhance the quality, usability, and availability of information.
- Work on identifying the users, groups, categories and following the ITIL standards while designing these solutions.
- Operate POS cash register at checkout and make sure any discounts or insurance has been previously apply before sale.
- Audit the vault and ATM daily and record the proof on excel sheets that are sent to the internal auditing department.
- Handle POS transactions including credit applications
Service associate skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Service Associates are proficient in Sales Floor, Patients, and Quality Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Service Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Sales Floor, 19%
Service customers in a fast paced, pressured environment* Custodial duties* Sales floor organization* Down stocking
- Patients, 11%
Provided appropriate care to patients by evaluating and giving assistance to individual patients regarding meal selections.
- Quality Customer Service, 11%
Deliver quality customer service by researching and responding to all internal and external client inquiries quickly, efficiently and professionally.
- Basic Math, 10%
Determined charges for services Basic math and computer requested, collected deposits, payments, or arranged for billing.
- Customer Service, 4%
Ensured protection of the privacy and confidentiality of all Medicare data and provided customer service support for other departments as required.
- Loan Payments, 3%
Processed standard monetary transactions and loan payments.
"sales floor," "patients," and "quality customer service" are among the most common skills that service associates use at work. You can find even more service associate responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a service associate to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "customer service representatives must be able to provide clear information in writing, by phone, or in person." Additionally, a service associate resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "provided strong customer service during busy season followed inventory and opening/closing procedures mentored new employees, improved communication skills"
Customer-service skills. This is an important skill for service associates to perform their duties. For an example of how service associate responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "representatives help companies retain customers by professionally answering questions and helping to resolve complaints." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a service associate: "provide customers with financial services, which includes accurately providing check cashing and payday advances through effective and efficient customer service".
Interpersonal skills. For certain service associate responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a service associate rely on this skill, as "representatives should be able to create positive interactions with customers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what service associates do: "executed projects for seasonal programs and fundraising events thru excellent organizational & interpersonal skills to keep events running smoothly. "
Listening skills. Another common skill required for service associate responsibilities is "listening skills." This skill comes up in the duties of service associates all the time, as "representatives must listen carefully to ensure that they understand customers in order to assist them." An excerpt from a real service associate resume shows how this skill is central to what a service associate does: "communicated with the financial service center and district financial manager regarding potential losses. "
Patience. While "patience" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to service associate responsibilities. Much of what a service associate does relies on this skill, seeing as "representatives should be patient and polite, especially when interacting with dissatisfied customers." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of service associates: "exercised professional demeanor and diplomacy with challenging callers; achieved customer satisfaction with patience and due diligence. "
The three companies that hire the most service associates are:
- Lowe's Companies1,309 service associates jobs
- Rite Aid1,155 service associates jobs
- Pwc164 service associates jobs
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Compare different service associates
Service associate vs. Associate customer service representative
An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, service associate responsibilities require skills like "basic math," "loan payments," "patient rooms," and "cash handling." Meanwhile a typical associate customer service representative has skills in areas such as "customer satisfaction," "customer calls," "customer care," and "medicare." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Associate customer service representatives tend to reach similar levels of education than service associates. In fact, associate customer service representatives are 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Service associate vs. Sales associate and customer service
Sales and customer service associates are employees who are responsible for closing out sales deals and attending to customer needs. They are in charge of selling company goods and services to potential clients, often citing the common needs of prospective clients to ensure sales. They also handle customer inquiries and complaints and try their best to mitigate any problems that would arise. They are expected to be experts on company products to ensure that they can provide the best service to customers. Sales and customer service associates should have strong interpersonal skills, customer service skills, and communication skills.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, service associate responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "basic math," "loan payments," and "patient rooms." Meanwhile, a sales associate and customer service has duties that require skills in areas such as "plumbing," "sales associates," "phone calls," and "booking." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Sales associate and customer services earn similar levels of education than service associates in general. They're 3.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Service associate vs. Customer service advisor
A customer service advisor is responsible for providing the best customer service by responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services offered by the organization. Customer service advisors assist customers with their needs by recommending product selection, offering new products and services, and informing the customers of promotional offers to generate revenues and increase profitability. They also resolve customers' issues, escalating high-level complaints to a customer service lead or supervisor for immediate resolution.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from service associate resumes include skills like "patients," "basic math," "loan payments," and "patient rooms," whereas a customer service advisor is more likely to list skills in "taking care," "standard operating procedure," "customer care," and "strong work ethic. "
When it comes to education, customer service advisors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to service associates. In fact, they're 2.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Service associate vs. Customer service specialist
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.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between service associates and customer service specialists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a service associate might have more use for skills like "patients," "basic math," "loan payments," and "patient rooms." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of customer service specialists require skills like "customer calls," "customer loyalty," "windows," and "customer care. "
In general, customer service specialists hold similar degree levels compared to service associates. Customer service specialists are 2.4% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of service associate
Updated January 8, 2025
