How To Become A Service Desk Associate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a service desk associate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Service desk associates usually work at a customer service or technical support desk and provide assistance to customers. They can work in a store, a tech company, or any other establishment where customers need assistance.

Service desk associates need excellent customer service skills in order to address customer needs in person, over the phone, or even via the web. They also take care of administrative tasks that need to happen for the service desk to run smoothly, such as managing associate schedules and following store procedures. Depending on where they work, service desk associates may need additional skills such as sales experience or technical training.

While some service desk associates have bachelor's degrees in business or a related field, most are successful with only a high school diploma. Practical experience in customer service, for example by working as a cashier, is more important than a degree. Service desk associates make an average annual salary of $32,951.

ScoreService Desk AssociateUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,699

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 6.19%

Black or African American 11.00%

Hispanic or Latino 17.73%

Unknown 5.17%

White 59.25%

Gender

female 76.35%

male 23.65%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a service desk associate

Explore service desk associate education requirements

Most common service desk associate degrees

Bachelor's

33.1 %

High School Diploma

31.2 %

Associate

23.8 %

Start to develop specific service desk associate skills

Skills	Percentages
Service Desk	18.71%
Customer Service	12.40%
Sales Floor	9.57%
Front End	9.54%
Customer Calls	9.44%

Complete relevant service desk associate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New service desk associates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a service desk associate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real service desk associate resumes.

Research service desk associate duties and responsibilities

Manage cash balances and inventory stock accurately; ensure cleanliness of all work stations and guarantee excellent customer service.
Realign the service desk to ITIL framework with emphasis on incident and problem management.
Develop SLA's for improve customer satisfaction and implement customer satisfaction surveys.
Count, balance and reconcile daily business transaction totals and record information into POS system.

Prepare your service desk associate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your service desk associate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a service desk associate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable service desk associate resume templates

Build a professional service desk associate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your service desk associate resume.