Overview
All Switchboard Operators
-
$1,586 Weekly Pay
-
Decline Future Growth
-
5,100 workers Employment Size
-
Entry level Skill level rating
-
52% Full-Time Full-Time Share
-
41 hours Average full-time
-
45 years Average age
-
81% female Gender Share
Switchboard Operators operate telecommunication switchboards and consoles to assist callers establish telephone connections, and receive caller inquiries and fault reports.
Also known as: Telephone Operator.
You can work as a Switchboard Operator without formal qualifications. Some on the job training may be provided. Some workers have Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications in areas such as business or clerical studies.
Tasks
- operating switchboards and consoles to connect, hold, transfer and disconnect telephone calls
- responding to callers' inquiries by providing information such as telephone numbers, dialling codes, call costs, time delays and service difficulties
- investigating operating system problems and informing maintenance services
- alerting emergency services when required
- recording details and determining charges for designated types of calls
- may monitor the efficiency of systems and maintain service sampling records
Prospects
There were 5,100 Switchboard Operators in 2020. The number of workers:
- grew very strongly over the past 5 years
- is expected to fall over the next five years
- is likely to reach 4,100 by 2025.
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted data to November 2020 and National Skills Commission Employment Projections to 2025. The number employed includes people who work in this occupation as their main job. People who work in more than one job are counted against the occupation they work the most hours in.
Employment Snapshot
- Size: This is a small occupation.
- Location: Switchboard Operators work in many regions of Australia.
- Industries: Most work in Health Care and Social Assistance; Public Administration and Safety; and Transport, Postal and Warehousing.
- Earnings: Full-time workers on an adult wage earn around $1,586 per week (similar to the average of $1,460). Earnings tend to be lower when starting out and higher as experience grows.
- Full-time: Around half work full-time (52%, less than the average of 66%), showing there are many opportunities to work part-time.
- Hours: Full-time workers spend around 41 hours per week at work (compared to the average of 44 hours).
- Age: The average age is 45 years (compared to the average of 40 years). Many workers are 45 years or older (51%).
- Gender: 81% of workers are female (compared to the average of 48%).
Employment Outlook
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS seasonally adjusted data to November 2020 and National Skills Commission Employment Projections to 2025.
Weekly Earnings
Source: Based on ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours (cat. no. 6306.0), May 2018, Customised Report. Median weekly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate. Earnings are before tax and include amounts salary sacrificed. Earnings can vary greatly depending on the skills and experience of the worker and the demands of the role. These figures should be used as a guide only, not to determine a wage rate.
Main Industries
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC 06).
States and Territories
NSW
VIC
QLD
SA
WA
TAS
NT
ACT
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian States and Territories, in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Profile
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Education Level
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.
Pathways
You can work as a Switchboard Operator without formal qualifications. Some on the job training may be provided. Some workers have Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications in areas such as business or clerical studies.
Before starting a course, check it will provide you with the skills and qualifications you need. Visit
- My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
Skills & Knowledge
Employers look for Switchboard Operators who have good computer skills, can communicate clearly and can interact with a variety of people.
Filter Skills & Knowledge
Knowledge
These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.
-
Customer and personal service
Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.
-
Clerical
Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.
-
English language
English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
-
Computers and electronics
Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
-
Communications and media
Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.
-
Telecommunications
Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
-
Public safety and security
Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.
-
Administration and management
Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.
-
Mathematics
Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.
-
Education and training
Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
-
Sales and marketing
Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
-
Personnel and human resources
Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.
-
Law and government
How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.
-
Transportation
Moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road.
-
Psychology
Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.
-
Economics and accounting
Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.
-
Medicine and dentistry
Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.
-
Therapy and counselling
Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.
-
Production and processing
Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.
-
Geography
Describing land, sea, and air, including their physical characteristics, locations, how they work together, and the location of plant, animal, and human life.
Skills
Skills can be improved through training or experience.
-
Active listening
Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
-
Reading comprehension
Reading work related information.
-
Social perceptiveness
Understanding why people react the way they do.
-
Speaking
Talking to others.
-
Critical thinking
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
-
Serving others
Looking for ways to help people.
-
Coordination with others
Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.
-
Monitoring
Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.
-
Writing
Writing things for co-workers or customers.
-
Active learning
Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.
-
Complex problem solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
-
Judgment and decision making
Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.
-
Time management
Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.
-
Learning strategies
Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.
-
Persuasion
Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.
-
Instructing
Teaching people how to do something.
-
Negotiation
Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.
-
Systems analysis
Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.
-
Operation monitoring
Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
-
Quality control analysis
Doing tests and checking products, services, or processes to make sure they are working properly.
Abilities
Workers use these physical and mental abilities.
-
Speech clarity
Speak clearly so others can understand you.
-
Speech recognition
Identify and understand the speech of another person.
-
Oral expression
Communicate by speaking.
-
Oral comprehension
Listen to and understand what people say.
-
Near vision
See details that are up-close (within a few feet).
-
Written comprehension
Read and understand written information.
-
Deductive reasoning
Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.
-
Problem spotting
Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.
-
Categorising
Come up with different ways of grouping things.
-
Inductive reasoning
Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.
-
Written expression
Write in a way that people can understand.
-
Selective attention
Pay attention to something without being distracted.
-
Sorting or ordering
Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
-
Finger dexterity
Put together small parts with your fingers.
-
Perceptual speed
Use your eyes to quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
-
Auditory attention
Pay attention to a certain sound when there are other distracting sounds.
-
Multitasking
Do two or more things at the same time.
-
Arm-hand steadiness
Keep your hand or arm steady.
-
Far vision
See details that are far away.
-
Flexibility of closure
See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.
Activities
These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.
-
Working with the public
Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.
-
Building good relationships
Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.
-
Communicating with the public
Giving information to the public, business or government by telephone, in writing, or in person.
-
Documenting or recording information
Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
-
Monitoring people, processes and things
Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.
-
Helping and caring for others
Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.
-
Working with computers
Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
-
Researching and investigating
Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.
-
Collecting and organising information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.
-
Communicating within a team
Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.
-
Looking for changes over time
Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.
-
Keeping your knowledge up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.
-
Making decisions and solving problems
Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.
-
Checking compliance with standards
Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
-
Making sense of information and ideas
Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.
-
Negotiating and resolving conflicts
Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.
-
Providing office support
Doing day-to-day office work such as filing and processing paperwork.
-
Explaining things to people
Helping people to understand and use information.
-
Planning and prioritising work
Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.
-
Leading and encouraging a team
Encouraging and building trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

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, 43-2011.00 - Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service.
Work Environment
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.
Filter Work Environment
Demands
The physical and social demands workers face most often are shown below.
-
Contact with people
Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.
-
Telephone
Talk on the telephone.
-
Contact with the public
Work with customers or the public.
-
Spend time sitting
Spend time sitting at work.
-
Frequent decision making
Frequently make decisions that impact other people.
-
Being exact or accurate
Be very exact or highly accurate.
-
Impact of decisions
Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.
-
Teamwork
Work with people in a group or team.
-
Face-to-face discussions
Talk with people face-to-face.
-
Making repetitive motions
Spend time making repetitive motions.
-
Angry or unpleasant people
Deal with unpleasant, angry, or rude people.
-
Unstructured work
Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.
-
Indoors, heat controlled
Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.
-
Repeating same tasks
Repeat the same tasks or activities (e.g., key entry) over and over, without stopping.
-
Freedom to make decisions
Have freedom to make decision on your own.
-
Electronic mail
Use electronic mail.
-
Physically close to people
Work physically close to other people.
-
Conflict situations
Deal with conflict or disagreements.
-
Time pressure
Work to strict deadlines.
-
Using your hands to handle, control, or feel
Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.
Values
Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Achievement
Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
-
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.
Interests
Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.
-
Administrative
Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.
-
Enterprising
Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.
-
Helping
Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.
-
Practical
Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.
-
Analytical
Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.
-
Creative
Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.

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, 43-2011.00 - Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service.
All Switchboard Operators
-
$1,586 Weekly Pay
-
Decline Future Growth
-
5,100 workers Employment Size
-
Entry level Skill level rating
-
52% Full-Time Full-Time Share
-
41 hours Average full-time
-
45 years Average age
-
81% female Gender Share
Switchboard Operators operate telecommunication switchboards and consoles to assist callers establish telephone connections, and receive caller inquiries and fault reports.
Also known as: Telephone Operator.
You can work as a Switchboard Operator without formal qualifications. Some on the job training may be provided. Some workers have Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications in areas such as business or clerical studies.
Tasks
- operating switchboards and consoles to connect, hold, transfer and disconnect telephone calls
- responding to callers' inquiries by providing information such as telephone numbers, dialling codes, call costs, time delays and service difficulties
- investigating operating system problems and informing maintenance services
- alerting emergency services when required
- recording details and determining charges for designated types of calls
- may monitor the efficiency of systems and maintain service sampling records
There were 5,100 Switchboard Operators in 2020. The number of workers:
- grew very strongly over the past 5 years
- is expected to fall over the next five years
- is likely to reach 4,100 by 2025.
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted data to November 2020 and National Skills Commission Employment Projections to 2025. The number employed includes people who work in this occupation as their main job. People who work in more than one job are counted against the occupation they work the most hours in.
Employment Snapshot
- Size: This is a small occupation.
- Location: Switchboard Operators work in many regions of Australia.
- Industries: Most work in Health Care and Social Assistance; Public Administration and Safety; and Transport, Postal and Warehousing.
- Earnings: Full-time workers on an adult wage earn around $1,586 per week (similar to the average of $1,460). Earnings tend to be lower when starting out and higher as experience grows.
- Full-time: Around half work full-time (52%, less than the average of 66%), showing there are many opportunities to work part-time.
- Hours: Full-time workers spend around 41 hours per week at work (compared to the average of 44 hours).
- Age: The average age is 45 years (compared to the average of 40 years). Many workers are 45 years or older (51%).
- Gender: 81% of workers are female (compared to the average of 48%).
Employment Outlook
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS seasonally adjusted data to November 2020 and National Skills Commission Employment Projections to 2025.
Weekly Earnings
Source: Based on ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours (cat. no. 6306.0), May 2018, Customised Report. Median weekly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate. Earnings are before tax and include amounts salary sacrificed. Earnings can vary greatly depending on the skills and experience of the worker and the demands of the role. These figures should be used as a guide only, not to determine a wage rate.
Main Industries
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC 06).
States and Territories
NSW
VIC
QLD
SA
WA
TAS
NT
ACT
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Share of workers across Australian States and Territories, in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Profile
Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Education Level
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.
You can work as a Switchboard Operator without formal qualifications. Some on the job training may be provided. Some workers have Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications in areas such as business or clerical studies.
Before starting a course, check it will provide you with the skills and qualifications you need. Visit
- My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
Employers look for Switchboard Operators who have good computer skills, can communicate clearly and can interact with a variety of people.
Filter Skills & Knowledge
Knowledge
These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.
-
Customer and personal service
Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.
-
Clerical
Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.
-
English language
English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
-
Computers and electronics
Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
-
Communications and media
Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.
-
Telecommunications
Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
-
Public safety and security
Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.
-
Administration and management
Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.
-
Mathematics
Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.
-
Education and training
Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
-
Sales and marketing
Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
-
Personnel and human resources
Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.
-
Law and government
How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.
-
Transportation
Moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road.
-
Psychology
Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.
-
Economics and accounting
Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.
-
Medicine and dentistry
Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.
-
Therapy and counselling
Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.
-
Production and processing
Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.
-
Geography
Describing land, sea, and air, including their physical characteristics, locations, how they work together, and the location of plant, animal, and human life.
Skills
Skills can be improved through training or experience.
-
Active listening
Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
-
Reading comprehension
Reading work related information.
-
Social perceptiveness
Understanding why people react the way they do.
-
Speaking
Talking to others.
-
Critical thinking
Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
-
Serving others
Looking for ways to help people.
-
Coordination with others
Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.
-
Monitoring
Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.
-
Writing
Writing things for co-workers or customers.
-
Active learning
Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.
-
Complex problem solving
Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
-
Judgment and decision making
Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.
-
Time management
Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.
-
Learning strategies
Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.
-
Persuasion
Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.
-
Instructing
Teaching people how to do something.
-
Negotiation
Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.
-
Systems analysis
Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.
-
Operation monitoring
Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
-
Quality control analysis
Doing tests and checking products, services, or processes to make sure they are working properly.
Abilities
Workers use these physical and mental abilities.
-
Speech clarity
Speak clearly so others can understand you.
-
Speech recognition
Identify and understand the speech of another person.
-
Oral expression
Communicate by speaking.
-
Oral comprehension
Listen to and understand what people say.
-
Near vision
See details that are up-close (within a few feet).
-
Written comprehension
Read and understand written information.
-
Deductive reasoning
Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.
-
Problem spotting
Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.
-
Categorising
Come up with different ways of grouping things.
-
Inductive reasoning
Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.
-
Written expression
Write in a way that people can understand.
-
Selective attention
Pay attention to something without being distracted.
-
Sorting or ordering
Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
-
Finger dexterity
Put together small parts with your fingers.
-
Perceptual speed
Use your eyes to quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
-
Auditory attention
Pay attention to a certain sound when there are other distracting sounds.
-
Multitasking
Do two or more things at the same time.
-
Arm-hand steadiness
Keep your hand or arm steady.
-
Far vision
See details that are far away.
-
Flexibility of closure
See a pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) hidden in other distracting material.
Activities
These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.
-
Working with the public
Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.
-
Building good relationships
Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.
-
Communicating with the public
Giving information to the public, business or government by telephone, in writing, or in person.
-
Documenting or recording information
Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
-
Monitoring people, processes and things
Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.
-
Helping and caring for others
Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.
-
Working with computers
Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
-
Researching and investigating
Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.
-
Collecting and organising information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.
-
Communicating within a team
Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.
-
Looking for changes over time
Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.
-
Keeping your knowledge up-to-date
Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.
-
Making decisions and solving problems
Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.
-
Checking compliance with standards
Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
-
Making sense of information and ideas
Looking at, working with, and understanding data or information.
-
Negotiating and resolving conflicts
Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.
-
Providing office support
Doing day-to-day office work such as filing and processing paperwork.
-
Explaining things to people
Helping people to understand and use information.
-
Planning and prioritising work
Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.
-
Leading and encouraging a team
Encouraging and building trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

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, 43-2011.00 - Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service.
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.
Filter Work Environment
Demands
The physical and social demands workers face most often are shown below.
-
Contact with people
Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.
-
Telephone
Talk on the telephone.
-
Contact with the public
Work with customers or the public.
-
Spend time sitting
Spend time sitting at work.
-
Frequent decision making
Frequently make decisions that impact other people.
-
Being exact or accurate
Be very exact or highly accurate.
-
Impact of decisions
Make decisions that have a large impact on other people.
-
Teamwork
Work with people in a group or team.
-
Face-to-face discussions
Talk with people face-to-face.
-
Making repetitive motions
Spend time making repetitive motions.
-
Angry or unpleasant people
Deal with unpleasant, angry, or rude people.
-
Unstructured work
Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.
-
Indoors, heat controlled
Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.
-
Repeating same tasks
Repeat the same tasks or activities (e.g., key entry) over and over, without stopping.
-
Freedom to make decisions
Have freedom to make decision on your own.
-
Electronic mail
Use electronic mail.
-
Physically close to people
Work physically close to other people.
-
Conflict situations
Deal with conflict or disagreements.
-
Time pressure
Work to strict deadlines.
-
Using your hands to handle, control, or feel
Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.
Values
Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Achievement
Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
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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.
Interests
Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.
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Administrative
Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.
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Enterprising
Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.
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Helping
Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.
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Practical
Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.
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Analytical
Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.
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Creative
Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.

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, 43-2011.00 - Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service.