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The differences between staff assistants and customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a staff assistant, becoming a customer service representative takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a staff assistant has an average salary of $41,778, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a staff assistant include customer service, patients and data entry. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Staff Assistant | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $41,778 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $20.09 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | -8% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 126,202 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 50 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
A staff assistant is a company employee who is tasked to support and help staff members to adequately fill their roles and assuring that the organization is running efficiently. Working under an administrative supervisor, an assistant's tasks include answering phone calls, scheduling meetings or appointments, and booking the necessary travels. Moreover, an assistant should have excellent skills in written and verbal communication and is highly organized with minimal supervision. An assistant may be able to work in a wide variety of settings, which includes healthcare facilities and government offices.
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
Staff assistants and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Staff Assistant | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $41,778 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $63,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Bridgewater, MA | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Washington |
| Best paying company | Massasoit Community College | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a staff assistant and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Staff Assistant | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | - |
Here are the differences between staff assistants' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Staff Assistant | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 50 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 29.4% Female, 70.6% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 3.8% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |