Is Consumer Services a Good Career Path?

Consumer services, (also known as customer service) is a broad term which encompasses multiple industries. Whether a consumer services career in one of these industries is a good path for you depends on your professional interests, goals, and aspirations.

The pros:

  • Many available positions
  • Low barrier to entry (high school or equivalent usually required)
  • Largely stable employment sector
  • Good if you like helping and working with people
  • Opportunities for growth and higher pay after a few years of experience

The cons:

  • Can be stressful (customers may be abusive, for example)
  • High turnover
  • Usually relatively low pay when first starting

Best Paying Jobs in Consumer Services

The following are median salaries of some of the best paying jobs in consumer services in the United States:

Unsurprisingly, the top paying jobs are upper management roles such as Vice President and Director. Customer success managers and customer service managers are also compensated well, with median compensation for these roles well above the median income of $37,522 in the United States.

What Companies are in the Consumer Services Field

Some of the largest employers of consumer services jobs are:

  • Teleperformance
  • Amazon
  • AT&T
  • Comcast
  • Verizon
  • TTEC
  • Wells Fargo
  • Bank of America
  • Chase
  • Concentrix

Companies such as Teleperformance and TTEC specialize in outsourcing CX or "customer experience" services to larger companies. This might involve call centers, troubleshooting, and customer support via chat over the phone.

While all of the companies in this list do not offer consumer services as their primary service (for example AT&T is a telecom company, Chase and Wells Fargo are banks), they nevertheless employ thousands of customer service representatives throughout their organization.

How Many Jobs Are Available in Consumer Services?

The total number of positions available for consumer services and related roles numbers in the millions, with the most common position of Customer Service Representative totaling 2,898,900 available roles.

The following are some of the most common consumer services roles as well as their compensation and expected growth outlook for the next 10 years:

  • Customer Service Representative
    • Jobs available: 2,898,900
    • Median annual wage (US, nationwide): $36,920
    • Median hourly wage: $17.90
    • Job Outlook: The number of Customer Service Representative roles are expected to decline by approximately 4% from now until 2031.
  • Customer Success Manager
    • Jobs available: 760,740
    • Average annual wage (US, nationwide): $86,003
    • Job Outlook: Customer Success Manager roles experienced 34% in 2018 according to a LinkedIn's 2020 Emerging Jobs Report.
  • Receptionist
    • Jobs available: 1,037,100
    • Median annual wage (US, nationwide): $29,950
    • Median hourly wage: $14.40
    • Job Outlook: The number of Receptionist roles are expected to remain largely unchanged from now until 2031.

Final Verdict: Is Consumer Services a Good Career Path?

Is consumer services a good career path? This question largely depends on your personality and career aspirations, but it can definitely be a solid career path. For this reason, we give consumer services the rating of A-.