Is consumer services a good career path in 2024?
Is consumer services a good career path? Best Paying Jobs in Customer Service. if you are determined about changing your life and career path or want to work from home, then go to the consumer services industry.
What are Consumer Services?
Consumer services are fast-growing industries or companies that cater for consumers desires and certain needs, surrounded with lots of service oriented sectors such as the health care sector, travel agency, financial management, as well as insurance. Consumer service companies are responsible in offering products and services to their target audience.
Is consumer services a good career path?
Yes, consumer services is a good career path. There are so many options in the field of customer service that its flexibility can’t be beaten. Many people use customer service jobs to springboard into different careers. Other people love making an entire profession out of helping others in this manner. And still, others find that it’s a great skill to have when they need to supplement their income.
List of Best Paying Jobs in Customer Service
- Account Manager Jobs.
- Call Center Representative Jobs.
- Guest Service Agent Jobs.
- Customer Service Manager Jobs.
- Concierge Jobs.
- Flight Attendant Jobs.
- Receptionist Jobs.
- Technical Support Engineer Jobs
- Bank Teller Jobs.
- Host-Hostess Jobs
- Hotel Concierge Jobs.
Examples of consumer services?
Consumer services are intangible products or actions that are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. Common examples of consumer services are haircuts, auto repairs, and landscaping.
Certification Required for a Career in Customer Service
Wanting to position yourself as a great candidate for a customer service career? You might want to start with some of the following certificates and educational experiences:
Communication Skills.
Soft skills like listening, interpersonal communications, and empathy aren’t usually something that’s taught, but they’re valued in customer service. If you live in a college town, you might be able to find a course in communications that would be useful and put you ahead of the rest when it comes to nailing that next job.
On-the-Job Training.
Every customer service job is going to have some sort of on-the-job training to teach you how to work their equipment or about their policies so you can give appropriate responses to the public.
High School Degree
While many customer service jobs are entry-level positions, you’ll find that employers do like to see that applicants have earned their high school diplomas.
Industry-Specific Degree.
Whether it’s a full degree or industry certificate, some customer service jobs require advanced education in your respective careers. For the highest levels, say a Chief Customer Officer, a master’s degree may be required.
How Many Jobs Are Available In Consumer Services?
Some of the most popular consumer service jobs include retail customer service representatives, hotel and restaurant customer service, more on Best Paying Jobs in Customer Service are given below.
1. Guest Service Agent
Usually found in a hotel or a car rental business, a guest service agent, helps customers check in, find their room or vehicle, and answer any questions they have. This is an entry-level position and doesn’t require too much training.
2. Technical Support Engineer
Most technical support engineers have at least a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences, robotics, or another technology-related field. They need to know the specific ins and outs of the programs they support as well as many other pieces of hardware and software.
3. Chief Customer Officer
Not all businesses have a Chief Customer Officer, in fact, this is a relatively new position, but its existence underscores the value of the customer. This job is in the upper hierarchy of a company, along with the CEO, COO, and CFO.
4. Account Manager
An account manager oversees everyone who is working on an account to make sure they’re all doing their share to achieve the desired outcomes. They need to be able to communicate with their teams to explain what needs to happen and the timeframe.
5. Customer Service Manager
A Customer Service Manager oversees the customer’s experience by watching how the customer service representatives handle their experiences. They also look at the big picture and manage call volume, the number of representatives available, the types of problems customers are having, and how to resolve problems. Sometimes they’re called in to help on a call or to deal with a customer directly, but they’re often working behind the scenes.
6. Personal Concierge
A personal concierge can start out working in this capacity or learn the business of working in a hotel. Personal concierges often work for celebrities or extremely wealthy people, or families who are too busy to handle many of their daily tasks. They can run errands and schedule maintenance for vehicles, homes, airplanes, and any other items that need care.
7. Call Center Customer Representative
This position has evolved over the years, and it might be something you can do from your home and work flexible hours. It’s considered an entry-level position, but with some companies, there might be training in their products and procedures required, just so you know how to specifically answer questions. Your level of experience necessary will depend on the company.
8. Online Chat Support
Answering questions, scheduling events and appointments, checking orders – it can all be done by online chat support. In this job, you use a computer to answer all sorts of questions. There may be a bit of training for your specific position, but you don’t need to have any training before being hired.
9. Host/Hostess
You’ll often find a host or hostess in a restaurant, but that’s not the only place they’ll be found. There are more and more businesses seeing the value of using hosts to greet their guests and start their experience off with a friendly and helpful touch. This is an entry-level position and is great for individuals who love working with others.
10. Bank Teller
A bank teller is an entry-level job that’s open to most high school graduates. It can be a fantastic career that gives you the opportunity to interact with others and learn about the banking business. It can also be the first step for someone who wants to learn more and climb the banking ladder.
Steps On How To Become A Consumer Service Professional
You can take the following steps before applying for various positions in consumer services. These steps will definitely increase your chances. If you are interested in any of the consumer services fields, getting an entry-level job isn’t as difficult as it sounds. However, for high-paying professions, you need to have all the necessary qualifications.
1. Acquire in-depth knowledge of the industry
Learn core methodologies used by major companies and their most selling products and services. Industry knowledge goes beyond academic content learned in schools and colleges. More specifically, you need to learn to analyze the company’s relationship with suppliers and competitors, types of clients and their expectations, product development process, and capabilities and strategies of leading companies in the industry.
2. Refine skills
Take time to understand what skills you already have and how you can improve them to achieve your goals, like becoming an expert in a particular field or earning a promotion. Different job roles require different combinations of professional and personal skills.
3. Contact appropriate businesses
Gain further information about the companies you are interested in. Learn as much as you can about their objectives, working culture, and how they plan to achieve their goals.
4. Create a perfect CV
List all your relevant work experience and key achievements, qualifications, and relevant skills that fit the job opening. Every time you apply for a job, you compete against many other applicants. That’s why you need to make it good enough to be noticed.
5. Make a good first impression
Although skills and knowledge are important, interviewers also place a large premium on a candidate’s personality and actions. Make sure you present yourself in the best way possible.
How Many Jobs Are Available In Consumer Services?
There is not a precise statistic available on this topic. In a research run on the top job websites, we decided to use LinkedIn figures, which divide the consumer services industry from other industries. Currently, the website has 6.7 million jobs available, and 1.2% are part of the consumer service industry, about 83.2 thousand jobs.
Lots of jobs involve customer service. In fact, occupations that require these skills accounted for about one-fourth of all employment in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That’s based on an analysis of profiles from the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) that identified customer service skills as an important quality.
Why Consumer Services are a Good Career Path
1. Lucrativeness
If you are thinking about starting a business in the consumer services but not sure if you are going to make it, just relaxed. The industry is very lucrative and full of opportunities. You can’t invest in the industry, and loss excepts if you’re not serious about it.
2. Opportunities abound
There are tons of companies in the consumer services industry to choose from. There are home-based opportunities like virtual assistants, jobs with good path abound in this field. There are interesting careers in counseling, customer service, sales representative, graphic designing, freelance writing, etc.
3. You’ll become an expert.
As time goes on, you’ll learn more and more about the industry you’re in and become an expert in a lot of different aspects of that business. Sometimes those skills will help you advance and move up the ladder.
4. You’ll meet a lot of different people
If you thrive on human contact and talking to people, this is definitely the job for you. You’ll constantly be meeting new people and getting to interact with them.
5. It’s a good “back-up” profession.
Some people who start out in customer service move on to other jobs – only to return to this profession later. There will always be a need for customer service professionals so you can have the peace of mind that there will always be work for you.
Advantages & Disadvantages of a Career in the Consumer Services Sector
1. Develop interpersonal skills
A career in consumer services gives you a chance to meet different types of customers every day. While most of them are nice and polite, some are downright rude.
2. Earn bonuses and commissions
Many firms offer bonuses and commissions in addition to regular wages. These rewards are usually tied to monthly or quarterly performance. For example, you earn more commission or a fixed amount of money once you hit certain goals, which may involve goods sold, hires placed, meetings closed, etc.
3. Working hours could be irregular
In some fields, you may need to work on holidays, weekends, and late-night shifts. Working schedules may differ month to month.
4. Countless opportunities
There are literally infinite opportunities in consumer services. Some businesses don’t even require professional qualifications. You can lend a profitable job based on your knowledge and skills.
5. Work on various technologies
Even an entry-level job can give you the opportunity to get familiar with various cloud computing platforms or offline commercial software programs. Whether you are at the physical stores or just assisting consumers over the internet, you gain valuable experience of working with tools of voice communication, client management, and analytics.
6. Low entry requirements
Many consumer services jobs do not require college degrees; they only need a high school diploma. So if you are not fortunate enough to afford expensive degrees, go for entry-level jobs in consumer services.
Other Career Paths In Consumer Services You Can Take
Here is a list of several industry paths to help you make your choices with solid information before moving to a particular industry:
- Capital goods
- Basic industries.
- Real State Investment Trusts.
- Transportation
- Health Care.
- Non-durable consumer goods.
- Broadcasting.
- Health Insurance
- Precious Metals
- Packaged Foods
- Energy
- Oil and gas
- Business services
- Commercial banking.
- Metal Fabrication.
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