Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators

ANZSCO ID 541112

Overview

Snapshot

Employed
28,800
Future Growth
N/A
Weekly Earnings
N/A
Full-Time Share
65%
Female Share
71%
Average age
34

Summary

Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators answer customer telephone calls, as well as Internet and email inquiries about goods and services, and promote the goods and services on the business.

Tasks

  • Answers incoming calls, emails and messages, and assists customers with their specific inquiries.

  • Identifies requirements and records information into computer systems.

  • Creates further interest in goods and services by offering customers more information about goods and inviting customers to use services on offer.

  • Updates databases to reflect changes to the status of customers and prospective customers.

  • Arranges the dispatch of goods, information kits and brochures to customers and interested parties.

  • Undertakes clerical duties, such as faxing, and filling out paperwork, and liaising with other departments associated with completing the customer contact.

  • Issues invoices and receives electronic payments for goods and services provided.

Characteristics

Job Type
Clerical And Administrative Workers
Skill Level
Lower skill
ANZSCO Occupation group
Unemployment Rate
n/a
Industries
Pathway(s)
  • Vocational Education and Training (VET)
  • Informal or on-the-job
Interests
  • Administrative
  • Enterprising
  • Helping
Physical Demand
  • Sedentary

Outlook

Employment Outlook

JSA produces employment projections to show where likely future job opportunities may be. Employment projections data are only produced for occupations at the broad four digit Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) level. While data are not available for this occupation, projections data are available for the parent occupation, Call or Contact Centre Workers, under the outlook section.


Earnings and hours

Working arrangements

  • Around 65% of people employed as Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators work full-time hours, in all their jobs combined. This is similar to the all jobs average (66%).

    Full-time workers work an average of 39 hours per week in their main job. This is 5 hours less than the all jobs average (44 hours per week).

    Sources:Full-time share and full-time hours: ABS, 2016 Census, customised report. Compared to the all jobs average.


Industries

Main industries

1
Financial and Insurance Services
19.3%
2
Public Administration and Safety
19.2%
3
Administrative and Support Services
16.2%
4
Transport, Postal and Warehousing
6.0%
5
Other industries
36.9%

Regions

Employment across Australia

NSW

29.7% All occupations: 31.6%

VIC

28.9% All occupations: 25.6%

QLD

21.9% All occupations: 20.0%

SA

8.2% All occupations: 7.0%

WA

6.0% All occupations: 10.8%

TAS

3.8% All occupations: 2.0%

NT

0.3% All occupations: 1.0%

ACT

1.2% All occupations: 1.9%

Employment by State and Territory (% Share)

State Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators All Jobs Average
NSW 29.7 31.6
VIC 28.9 25.6
QLD 21.9 20.0
SA 8.2 7.0
WA 6.0 10.8
TAS 3.8 2.0
NT 0.3 1.0
ACT 1.2 1.9


  • Around 68% of Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators live in capital cities, compared with the all jobs average of 62%.

    Victoria has a large share of employment relative to its population size.

    The regions with the largest share of workers are:

    Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian states, territories and regions, in this job compared to the all jobs average.


Worker profile

Age and gender

Age In Years
34
All Jobs Average is 40
Female Share
71%
All Jobs Average is 48%
  • The median age of Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators is 34 years. This is younger than the all jobs average of 40 years.

    A large share of workers are aged 25 to 34 years.

    Females make up 71% of the workforce. This is 23 percentage points above the all jobs average of 48%.

    Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile and gender share compared to the all jobs average.

Age Profile (% Share)

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Bracket Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators All Jobs Average
15-19 3.4 5.0
20-24 17.7 9.3
25-34 30.5 22.9
35-44 19.8 22.0
45-54 16.4 21.6
55-59 6.5 9.0
60-64 4.0 6.0
65 and Over 1.7 4.2
Median Age 34 40

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.


Employment Pathways

Education, training and experience

Formal qualifications are not usually required to work as a Call Centre or Contact Centre Operator. Some workers have a certificate II, III or IV in customer contact or engagement.

Visit

  • My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
  • AAPathways website to explore Tourism, Travel and Hospitality VET training pathways.

Highest Level of Education (% Share)

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Type of Qualification Call Centre or Contact Centre Operators All Jobs Average
Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate 3.6 10.1
Bachelor degree 14.3 21.8
Advanced Diploma/Diploma 12.0 11.6
Certificate III/IV 18.7 21.1
Year 12 33.7 18.1
Year 11 6.3 4.8
Year 10 and below 11.3 12.5

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.


Skills and Knowledge

Employers look for Call or Contact Centre Workers who can communicate clearly with others and provide good customer service.

Skills

Skills can be improved through training or experience.

  • 54%

    Active listening

    Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

  • 54%

    Speaking

    Talking to others.

  • 50%

    Serving others

    Looking for ways to help people.

  • 48%

    Reading comprehension

    Reading work related information.

  • 46%

    Critical thinking

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

  • 43%

    Complex problem solving

    Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

  • 43%

    Coordination with others

    Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.

  • 43%

    Monitoring

    Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.

  • 43%

    Persuasion

    Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.

  • 43%

    Social perceptiveness

    Understanding why people react the way they do.

  • 43%

    Writing

    Writing things for co-workers or customers.

  • 41%

    Active learning

    Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.

  • 41%

    Judgment and decision making

    Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.

  • 41%

    Negotiation

    Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.

  • 41%

    Learning strategies

    Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.

  • 39%

    Time management

    Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.

  • 39%

    Instructing

    Teaching people how to do something.

  • 30%

    Systems analysis

    Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.

  • 29%

    Management of personnel resources

    Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.

  • 29%

    Systems evaluation

    Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.


Knowledge

These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.

  • 75%

    Customer and personal service

    Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.

  • 57%

    Computers and electronics

    Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

  • 57%

    Clerical

    Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.

  • 53%

    English language

    English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

  • 42%

    Mathematics

    Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.

  • 38%

    Communications and media

    Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.

  • 34%

    Economics and accounting

    Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.

  • 31%

    Sales and marketing

    Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

  • 29%

    Administration and management

    Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.

  • 26%

    Telecommunications

    Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

  • 23%

    Education and training

    Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

  • 20%

    Geography

    Describing land, sea, and air, including their physical characteristics, locations, how they work together, and the location of plant, animal, and human life.

  • 18%

    Foreign language

    Foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

  • 15%

    Production and processing

    Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.

  • 15%

    Law and government

    How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.

  • 13%

    Sociology and anthropology

    Group behaviour and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.

  • 13%

    Personnel and human resources

    Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.

  • 13%

    Transportation

    Moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road.

  • 11%

    Public safety and security

    Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.

  • 11%

    Psychology

    Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.


Abilities

Workers use these physical and mental abilities..

  • 54%

    Oral comprehension

    Listen to and understand what people say.

  • 54%

    Oral expression

    Communicate by speaking.

  • 48%

    Written comprehension

    Read and understand written information.

  • 46%

    Speech clarity

    Speak clearly so others can understand you.

  • 46%

    Speech recognition

    Identify and understand the speech of another person.

  • 46%

    Near vision

    See details that are up-close (within a few feet).

  • 46%

    Written expression

    Write in a way that people can understand.

  • 45%

    Problem spotting

    Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.

  • 43%

    Deductive reasoning

    Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.

  • 43%

    Categorising

    Come up with different ways of grouping things.

  • 43%

    Inductive reasoning

    Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.

  • 43%

    Sorting or ordering

    Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

  • 39%

    Brainstorming

    Come up with a number of ideas about a topic, even if the ideas aren't very good.

  • 39%

    Flexibility of closure

    See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.

  • 39%

    Originality

    Come up with unusual or clever ideas, or creative ways to solve a problem.

  • 37%

    Selective attention

    Pay attention to something without being distracted.

  • 34%

    Far vision

    See details that are far away.

  • 32%

    Finger dexterity

    Put together small parts with your fingers.

  • 30%

    Mathematics

    Choose the right maths method or formula to solve a problem.

  • 30%

    Memorization

    Remember things like words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.


Activities

These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.

  • 73%

    Building good relationships

    Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.

  • 67%

    Keeping your knowledge up-to-date

    Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.

  • 67%

    Planning and prioritising work

    Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.

  • 63%

    Making decisions and solving problems

    Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.

  • 62%

    Collecting and organising information

    Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.

  • 59%

    Communicating within a team

    Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 57%

    Negotiating and resolving conflicts

    Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.

  • 55%

    Researching and investigating

    Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.

  • 52%

    Looking for changes over time

    Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.

  • 51%

    Communicating with the public

    Giving information to the public, business or government by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 51%

    Thinking creatively

    Using your own ideas for developing, designing, or creating something new.

  • 50%

    Working with computers

    Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

  • 48%

    Explaining things to people

    Helping people to understand and use information.

  • 48%

    Working with the public

    Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.

  • 48%

    Coaching and developing others

    Working out the needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or helping them to improve.

  • 47%

    Making sense of information and ideas

    Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.

  • 47%

    Assessing and evaluating things

    Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.

  • 45%

    Monitoring people, processes and things

    Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.

  • 43%

    Providing office support

    Doing day-to-day office work such as filing and processing paperwork.

  • 42%

    Documenting or recording information

    Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.


Interests and demands

Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.

Interests

Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.

  • 90%

    Enterprising

    Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.

  • 62%

    Administrative

    Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.

  • 62%

    Helping

    Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.

  • 24%

    Practical

    Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

  • 19%

    Analytical

    Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.

  • 14%

    Creative

    Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.


Values

Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
  • 86%

    Relationships

    Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

  • 62%

    Support

    Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.

  • 52%

    Independence

    Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.

  • 43%

    Achievement

    Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

  • 43%

    Recognition

    Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.

  • 40%

    Working conditions

    Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.


Demands

The physical and social demands that workers face most often are shown below:
  • 100%

    Telephone

    Talk on the telephone.

  • 97%

    Contact with people

    Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.

  • 90%

    Electronic mail

    Use electronic mail.

  • 89%

    Face-to-face discussions

    Talk with people face-to-face.

  • 88%

    Being exact or accurate

    Be very exact or highly accurate.

  • 87%

    Indoors, heat controlled

    Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.

  • 86%

    Repeating same tasks

    Repeat the same tasks or activities (e.g., key entry) over and over, without stopping.

  • 86%

    Spend time sitting

    Spend time sitting at work.

  • 83%

    Time pressure

    Work to strict deadlines.

  • 82%

    Letters and memos

    Write letters and memos.

  • 81%

    Unstructured work

    Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.

  • 81%

    Contact with the public

    Work with customers or the public.

  • 79%

    Frequent decision making

    Frequently make decisions that impact other people.

  • 75%

    Teamwork

    Work with people in a group or team.

  • 69%

    Impact of decisions

    Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.

  • 68%

    Freedom to make decisions

    Have freedom to make decision on your own.

  • 68%

    Making repetitive motions

    Spend time making repetitive motions.

  • 67%

    Angry or unpleasant people

    Deal with unpleasant, angry, or rude people.

  • 66%

    Physically close to people

    Work physically close to other people.

  • 58%

    Competition

    Compete with others, or be aware of competitive pressures.

Occupational Information Network
O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 43-4051.00 - Customer Service Representatives.


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