---
title: "Switchboard Operator, Including Answering Service"
description: "Operate telephone business systems equipment or switchboards to relay incoming, outgoing, and interoffice calls. May supply information to callers and…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/switchboard-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Switchboard Operator, Including Answering Service

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-2011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-2011.00

Operate telephone business systems equipment or switchboards to relay incoming, outgoing, and interoffice calls. May supply information to callers and record messages.

Also advertised as: CBX Operator (Computerized Branch Exchange Operator); Central Communications Specialist; Communications Operator; Communications Specialist; Information Specialist; PBX Operator (Private Branch Exchange Operator); Switchboard Operator (SB Operator); Switchboard Receptionist (SB Receptionist).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $38,630 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $18.57/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $29,990 to $59,470, with the middle half between $34,820 and $46,530
- **Total US employment:** 34,280
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -26.0% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,100 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 19/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 34,280 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $29,990 |
| 25th | $34,820 |
| 50th (median) | $38,630 |
| 75th | $46,530 |
| 90th | $59,470 |
| Mean (average) | $42,300 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HI | $59,860 | $54,442 | 410 |
| DC | $54,700 | $49,772 | 230 |
| CA | $48,840 | $44,111 | 6,680 |
| WA | $47,800 | $44,667 | 430 |
| MN | $47,430 | $48,093 | 200 |
| NY | $45,330 | $42,003 | 1,760 |
| NH | $44,210 | $42,442 | 100 |
| MA | $43,790 | $41,406 | 830 |
| CO | $43,720 | $42,425 | 320 |
| ME | $43,350 | $44,668 | 100 |
| IL | $42,660 | $42,678 | 1,240 |
| VT | $42,630 | $43,519 | 70 |
| NJ | $40,430 | $37,158 | 660 |
| AZ | $40,380 | $40,108 | 380 |
| WI | $40,030 | $42,542 | 550 |

32 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 47 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/switchboard-operator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/switchboard-operator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 35,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 26,200 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 9,200 jobs, or -26.0%. Declining: -26.0% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,100 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 88.6% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 5.1% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 3.0% |
| Some College Courses | 2.1% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 0.6% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 0.6% |

## What the work involves

- Operate communication systems, such as telephone, switchboard, intercom, two-way radio, or public address.
- Answer incoming calls, greeting callers, providing information, transferring calls or taking messages as necessary.
- Relay or route written or verbal messages.
- Perform various data entry or word processing tasks, such as updating phone directories, typing or proofreading documents, or creating schedules.
- Page individuals to inform them of telephone calls, using paging or interoffice communication equipment.
- Place telephone calls or arrange conference calls as instructed.
- Greet visitors, log them in and out of the facility, assign them security badges, and contact employee escorts.
- Process incoming or outgoing mail, packages, or deliveries.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Telecommunications — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Selective Attention — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Realistic (R), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.95 |
| R — Realistic | 3.63 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.18 |
| S — Social | 2.91 |
| I — Investigative | 1.39 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISFJ | 84.3 |
| ESTJ | 84.0 |
| ESFJ | 80.7 |
| ISTJ | 78.8 |
| ESTP | 54.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISFJ, ESTJ, ESFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Receptionist and Information Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/receptionist-and-information-clerk) — median $38,010
- [Office Clerk, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/office-clerk-general) — median $45,010
- [Telephone Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/telephone-operator) — median $41,740
- [Customer Service Representative](https://nuecareer.com/careers/customer-service-representative) — median $44,770
- [Public Safety Telecommunicator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-safety-telecommunicator) — median $53,040
- [Telemarketer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/telemarketer) — median $35,450
- [Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dispatcher) — median $50,340
- [Secretary and Administrative Assistant, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive](https://nuecareer.com/careers/secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $47,540
- [Medical Secretary and Administrative Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $45,930
- [Executive Secretary and Executive Administrative Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/executive-secretary-and-executive-administrative-assistant) — median $76,590

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/switchboard-operator