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.

Support Specialist Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real support specialist resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Manage project SharePoint site for the purpose of supporting ongoing collaboration
  • Provide Cerner CPOE learning support to physicians.
  • Train in motivational interviewing, HIPAA regulations, CPR certify, emergency preparedness, suicide awareness, and team building.
  • Participate in inventory taking process and maintain stockroom organization and cleanliness.
  • Create and maintain a database of ACH clients.
  • Configure, setup VPN connections, remote access.
  • Handle all reimaging of OS upgrades and reloads.
  • Help elementary school students with math and reading.
  • Tutor students one on one in math and reading.
  • Follow up with customers within appropriate service level agreement (SLA).
  • Assist the floor as a SME during the week and on Saturdays.
  • Assist team in user acceptance testing for upgrades to the EHR system.
  • Provide EHR training for new hires in individual or small group settings.
  • Train employees at the Rockford, IL service centers via WebEx application.
  • Provide proofreading for pitches, presentations, confidential memorandums, and other documents.

Support Specialist Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 16% of Support Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Patients, and Mental Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Listening skills, and Speaking skills.

We break down the percentage of Support Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Customer Service, 16%

    Provide exceptional customer service to participants and families/caregivers

  • Patients, 8%

    Perform clinical reviews on assigned patients, using approved criteria from the State of California Medi-Cal/Medi-Care guidelines.

  • Mental Health, 6%

    Qualified mental health associate coordinating with child and family therapists, providing behavioral support to intensive community treatment level service clients.

  • Social Work, 4%

    Collaborated with child's social worker to gather information on income, living arrangement and other information to make eligibility decision.

  • Peer Support, 4%

    Established positive collaborative relationship with local peer support center, referring clients and assisting in their participation efforts.

  • Data Entry, 3%

    Performed administrative activities including data entry into a reporting platform, reconciliation, and dividend and interest payment calculation and processing.

Some of the skills we found on support specialist resumes included "customer service," "patients," and "mental health." We have detailed the most important support specialist responsibilities below.

  • Customer-service skills can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a support specialist to have. According to a support specialist resume, "computer support specialists must be patient and sympathetic" support specialists are able to use customer-service skills in the following example we gathered from a resume: "managed and oversight of 30+ customer support incidents daily, balanced internal process and customer requirements during internal escalation process. "
  • Another trait important for fulfilling support specialist duties is listening skills. According to a support specialist resume, "support workers must be able to understand the problems that their customers are describing and know when to ask questions to clarify the situation." Here's an example of how support specialists are able to utilize listening skills: "involved up-selling, excellent communication, advanced listening and data entry. "
  • Another skill that is quite popular among support specialists is speaking skills. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a support specialist resume: "support workers must describe the solutions to computer problems in a way that a nontechnical person can understand." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "addressed lms-related help desk tickets from customer support team. "
  • A thorough review of lots of resumes revealed to us that "writing skills" is important to completing support specialist responsibilities. This resume example shows just one way support specialists use this skill: "strong writing skills are useful for preparing instructions and email responses for employees and customers, as well as for real-time web chat interactions." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical support specialist tasks: "cross-trained in review and underwriting and data entry. "
  • Yet another important skill that a support specialist must demonstrate is "problem-solving skills." Support workers must identify both simple and complex computer problems, analyze them, and solve them. This is clearly demonstrated in this example from a support specialist who stated: "established customer support protocols to provide outstanding issue resolution to internal and external customers for b2b solution. "
  • See the full list of support specialist skills.

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    What Technical Specialists Do

    The role of technical specialists is to provide technical support for applications and programs to staff members and customers within an organization. They train staff and customers on products and apps and offer advice on the best practices for utilizing technical programs and applications. They also design training materials to teach other staff members the most effective methods of using its technology. It is also their job to reduce company costs by looking for ways to improve productivity and lessen expenses.

    In this section, we compare the average support specialist annual salary with that of a technical specialist. Typically, technical specialists earn a $47,991 higher salary than support specialists earn annually.

    While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both support specialists and technical specialists positions are skilled in customer service, patients, and technical support.

    There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a support specialist responsibilities require skills like "mental health," "social work," "peer support," and "data entry." Meanwhile a typical technical specialist has skills in areas such as "project management," "customer satisfaction," "c++," and "c #." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

    Technical specialists receive the highest salaries in the technology industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $92,419. But support specialists are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $49,388.

    The education levels that technical specialists earn is a bit different than that of support specialists. In particular, technical specialists are 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a support specialist. Additionally, they're 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of an Information Specialist?

    An information specialist is responsible for obtaining data through various strategies such as surveys, research, and analysis. It is essential to coordinate with different teams to learn their data needs and utilize them upon gathering. There may also be instances where an information specialist must work with other groups for tasks, such as building databases and networks. Furthermore, it is essential to ensure data integrity, protect their source's identities, adhere to all the company's policies and regulations, and abide by the state law when gathering information.

    The next role we're going to look at is the information specialist profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $28,720 higher salary than support specialists per year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Support specialists and information specialists both include similar skills like "customer service," "patients," and "data entry" on their resumes.

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that support specialist responsibilities requires skills like "mental health," "social work," "peer support," and "technical support." But an information specialist might use skills, such as, "foia," "windows," "social security," and "data analysis."

    In general, information specialists study at similar levels of education than support specialists. They're 1.6% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Computer Specialist Compares

    A computer specialist's responsibilities typically revolve around installing and repairing computer hardware and software. They meet with clients to identify their needs, examine and troubleshoot equipment, perform upgrades, and discuss the extent of repairs or replacements to clients. In a company setting, a computer specialist is in charge of overseeing an array of equipment, conducting regular maintenance checks, and performing corrective measures as needed. Furthermore, they must provide technical support, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

    The third profession we take a look at is computer specialist. On an average scale, these workers bring in higher salaries than support specialists. In fact, they make a $35,168 higher salary per year.

    By looking over several support specialists and computer specialists resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "data entry," "technical support," and "troubleshoot." But beyond that the careers look very different.

    Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from support specialist resumes include skills like "customer service," "patients," "mental health," and "social work," whereas a computer specialist might be skilled in "desk support," "network printers," "os," and "cloud computing. "

    Computer specialists make a very good living in the professional industry with an average annual salary of $78,107. Whereas support specialists are paid the highest salary in the technology industry with the average being $49,388.

    When it comes to education, computer specialists tend to earn similar education levels than support specialists. In fact, they're 0.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of an Administrative Support Specialist

    An administrative support specialist is a professional who is involved in the office management, clerical tasks, and back-office duties of an organization. To run the office smoothly, administrative support specialists must manage the purchasing and inventory of office supplies as well as schedule the maintenance of office equipment. They serve as a liaison for executives by screening incoming calls and emails, sorting mails, and setting appointments with employees, customers, and vendors. Administrative support specialists must also be able to draft memos and edit report proposals and other business documents.

    The fourth career we look at typically earns lower pay than support specialists. On average, administrative support specialists earn a difference of $2,538 lower per year.

    While both support specialists and administrative support specialists complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer service, patients, and data entry, the two careers also vary in other skills.

    While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "mental health," "social work," "peer support," and "technical support" are skills that have shown up on support specialists resumes. Additionally, administrative support specialist uses skills like administrative functions, office equipment, travel arrangements, and office procedures on their resumes.

    Administrative support specialists earn a higher salary in the government industry with an average of $42,241. Whereas, support specialists earn the highest salary in the technology industry.

    In general, administrative support specialists reach similar levels of education when compared to support specialists resumes. Administrative support specialists are 0.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What a Support Specialist Does FAQs

    What Are The Duties Of An It Support Specialist?

    The duties of an IT support specialist are to provide organizations with information technology support to optimize operational efficiency. Their responsibilities include resolving technical issues, maintaining hardware and software installations, and improving IT systems.

    What Does A Computer Support Specialist Do?

    A computer support specialist provides technical support for a company, organization's customers, or their fellow staff members. The computer support specialist will use computer software and equipment to assist them in providing advice and help to their employer and fellow employees.

    What Makes A Good It Support Specialist?

    What makes a good IT support specialist is the ability to proactively solve problems involving various hardware and software products a business utilizes or produces. This job is primarily focused on fixing issues and making sure that technology is working correctly.

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