Business & Finance
Telephone Operators
Provide information by accessing alphabetical, geographical, or other directories. Assist customers with special billing requests, such as charges to a third party and credits or refunds for incorrectly dialed numbers or bad connections. May handle emergency calls and assist children or people with physical disabilities to make telephone calls.
Median salary (BLS)
$41,740
10th–90th percentile (BLS)
$32k – $63k
Job outlook
No separate BLS projection for this specific role
AI exposure
Plan a path to Telephone Operators
Education
Typical entry: No degree required
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Telephone Operators
Entry / Junior
$31,510
~2 yrs to advance
Telephone Operators
Established
$41,740
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Telephone Operators
Senior
$52,345
Key skills
A typical day
- •Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
- •Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
- •Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
- •Update directory information.
- •Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Business & Finance
Explore all- University of Pennsylvania6% admit · $112,000 grad pay
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology4% admit · $124,000 grad pay
- Harvard University4% admit · $119,000 grad pay
- University of California, Berkeley11% admit · $97,000 grad pay
- New York University12% admit · $84,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.