Also called: Answering Service Operator, Hospital Switchboard Operator
Answers and routes calls for hospitals, hotels and businesses, or takes messages for doctors and plumbers after hours.
At a hospital you page a surgeon, route a family to the right floor and announce a code over the speakers. At an answering service you take messages for 40 different businesses overnight.
BLS May 2025: median $38,630.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High school diploma; trained on the job.
Ways in: On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Shrinking (about -26% over 10 years). BLS projects a 26% decline (2024-34).
High risk for 10 years. AI phone systems answer and route most calls; a few hospital paging and emergency roles remain.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply to answering services and hospital switchboard openings
Classes: Speech and debate, Computer applications.
Official data: O*NET occupation 43-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.