Customer Service Support

Types of Degrees Customer Service Support Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many customer service support/call center/teleservice operation graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	4,585
Associate Degree	84
Undergraduate Certificate	30

What Customer Service Support Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to customer service support/call center/teleservice operation and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Customer Service Support/Call Center/Teleservice Operation Majors

Customer Service Support/Call Center/Teleservice Operation majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Customer Service Support/Call Center/Teleservice Operation Majors

When studying customer service support/call center/teleservice operation, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Customer Service Support/Call Center/Teleservice Operation Majors

Customer Service Support/Call Center/Teleservice Operation majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Customer Service Support Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with customer service support/call center/teleservice operation:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Customer Service Representatives	4.9%	$33,750
Patient Representatives	4.9%	$33,750

How Much Do Customer Service Support Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

The median salary for someone in a career related to customer service support/call center/teleservice operation is $36,470. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Customer Service Support

Some degrees associated with customer service support/call center/teleservice operation may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for customer service support/call center/teleservice operation careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	3.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	40.3%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	2.3%
Some College Courses	6.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	34.5%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	3.8%
Master’s Degree	3.6%

Online Customer Service Support Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 60 schools offered some type of customer service support/call center/teleservice operation program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	15	10
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	13	8
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Customer Service Support Worth It?

The median salary for a customer service support/call center/teleservice operation grad is $36,470 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Majors Related to Customer Service Support

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to customer service support/call center/teleservice operation.

Major	Number of Grads
General Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science	6,847
Business & Office Technology	2,730
General Office Occupations and Clerical Services	2,122
Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary	1,772
Other Business Operations Support and Secretarial Services	375
Traffic, Customs, and Transportation Clerk/Technician	270
Parts, Warehousing, and Inventory Management Operations	181
Receptionist	123

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.