18 Key Attributes Telephone Operators Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Sophia Miller

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

California Department of Parks and Recreation

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. They may also handle emergency calls and assist children or people with physical disabilities to make telephone calls.

The core tasks that telephone operators are likely to carry out include:

Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, and/or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that telephone operators would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 98.6%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 97%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 96.2%

Having a strong preference for conventional work environments. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 95.29%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.6%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.6%

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.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 91.8%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91.4%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91.2%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 90%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 85%

The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.6%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 81.4%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.4%

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.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%