Customer service jobs still growing. Is social media the cause?

Last month I wrote about an article that suggests social media is driving growth in customer service jobs.  While I haven’t decided if this is true, it does seem the customer service sector is seeing strong growth. Based on data from Indeed.com, there are 29% more customer service jobs available today than one month ago.

Customer Service Jobs Available

March 1, 2010:     572,909
April 1, 2010:        737,286

Increase of 28.7%

That seems to be a big increase. Of course, this is not a scientific survey. I’m just using data from one source, Indeed.com. It could be they have added job sources to their database and so they are capturing a larger share of job listings. And there could be other factors.

But I am also tracking another, related job category that went down in the last month.

Customer Service Management Jobs Available

March 1, 2010: 7,276
April 1, 2010: 6,315

Decrease of 13.2%

If there are more customer service jobs in the Indeed.com database due to more data sources being added, then it seems likely, the number of customer service management jobs would be higher too. But they’re not. In fact, there is a 42 point swing in the percentage change over the last month. That’s a noticeable difference.

We’re also hearing more good news about the economy recovering. But a 28.7% growth still seems higher than what the recovering economy would produce.

Here are the details of the two sectors I am tracking:

Customer Service Jobs: April 1, 2010

These are actual job listings in the Indeed.com database. I used this data source because it’s a job search engine so it includes many job sites across the Internet. And its data is easy to get.

The total is: 737,286

It includes all job listings in Indeed.com with these keywords:

customer service 631,467
customer care 17,533
guest service 13,807
call center 41,700
customer support 32,779

(The numbers indicated are the actual listings for each keyword set.)

Customer Service Management Jobs: April 1, 2010

The total is: 6,315

It includes all job listings in Indeed.com with these keywords:

customer service manager 3,882
customer service supervisor 921
call center manager 526
call center supervisor 356
customer care manager 182
customer care supervisor 114
customer support manager 140
customer support supervisor 30
guest service manager 123
guest service supervisor 41

(The numbers indicated are the actual listings for each keyword set.)

The fact that management jobs have declined while customer service jobs increased could be a fluke. It might mean managers are responsible for more employees. Or maybe companies are redefining these roles to account for changes in how things are done.

Perhaps social media is playing a role here too.  Will these roles will have a stronger technology component than in the past?

I believe the number of customer service jobs is growing because businesses are making customer service a high priority. They understand customers want more. A big part of this is finding ways to engage customers better. And this is what social media is all about.

So I think it’s fair to say social media is a part of this. Is it a primary or significant driver? I don’t know. But I’d like to hear your thoughts.

What is driving customer service job growth? How big a role is social media playing (if any)?

Other articles you might like:

• Social media drives customer service job growth
• Customer service jobs on the rise
• Top 10 Social Media Brand Segments
• Is social media driving Shamrock Shake surge?
• Social media elevates the power of Nice

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