Customer Service Representative - Career Profile |
Career OverviewA customer service representative works directly with patients and their families to explain hospital issues and to help resolve any problems or difficulties that the patient may be experiencing.
Often customer service representatives work exclusively on phone in problems or questions, but occasionally they may work directly in face-to-face situations with the patients or their families. Additional methods of communication between patients and customer service representatives may be through emails, websites or even by fax.
A customer service representative must have both excellent speaking and listening skills. It is very important for a customer service representative to be able to clarify and simply the issues that the patient is having so that they can provide resolutions or contact the correct individual to help the patient.
In addition to just listening the customer service representative must be able to ask questions to get to the problem as well as provide the necessary assistance to help the patient or individual that is calling in with a question or issue. Since most call in to hospital or healthcare facilities will be medical, procedural or financial in nature it is a requirement that those customer service representatives employed by hospital or healthcare facilities have a basic understanding of hospital procedures and terminology.
The customer service representative must be familiar with various data entry programs as well as be able to enter data into a computer while on the phone. Depending on the community that the hospital or healthcare facility is located bilingual or even multilingual customer service representative may be required to be able to communicate with clients and patients.
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Career RequirementsEach hospital or healthcare facility will have slightly different requirements for a customer service representative. Generally most facilities require at least a high school diploma or equivalency, plus some familiarity with hospitals and working with the public. A background in medical work or basic knowledge of terminology is a definite asset.
Customer service representatives will also need good typing skills for data entry as well as familiarity with various computer programs including Excel, Word and data entry.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities provide orientation and training to most new customer service representatives followed by mentored or supervised work shifts for the first few weeks.
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Job OutlookThe job outlook for customer service representative is very positive with more job openings available than job seekers. Those customer service representative that speak more than one language or those with experience should have little difficulty in finding work in the hospital or healthcare setting.
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Career TrackA customer service representative is considered to be an entry level position in most facilities. Individuals that work in this job may decide to move into supervisory roles or act as trainers or mentors to new customer service representatives.
There are also opportunities to advance into management of the customer service department. Usually management positions require a Bachelors or Associates degree.
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CompensationThe average salary for a customer service representative in the United States is $27,000 per year. Those customer service representatives that work evening shifts or weekends usually get an additional amount for working non-standard business hours.
Supervisors and managers working as customer service representatives may make over $32,000 per year.
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