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The differences between supports and support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a support and a support specialist. Additionally, a support specialist has an average salary of $40,782, which is higher than the $36,227 average annual salary of a support.
The top three skills for a support include customer service, cash management and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a support specialist are customer service, patients, and mental health.
| Support | Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $36,227 | $40,782 |
| Hourly rate | $17.42 | $19.61 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 136,788 | 125,740 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A support employee is responsible for assisting the business operations and responding to customers' inquiries and concerns regarding its goods and services. Support logs all customers' interaction and escalates potential complaints to the appropriate department. They also help with implementing strategic procedures to improve operations and reach maximum productivity. A support employee must have excellent communication and customer service skills, ensuring clients' satisfaction with the services and maintain good feedback to boost the company's brand, attract more clients, and increase revenues.
A support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
Supports and support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support | Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $36,227 | $40,782 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $54,000 | Between $25,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Urban Honolulu, HI | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | New York |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Technology |
There are a few differences between a support and a support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Support | Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between supports' and support specialists' demographics:
| Support | Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 51.4% Female, 48.6% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |