How to become a telephone switchboard operator
Official title: Telephone switchboard operators
Also called: Answering service operator, Telephone switchboard operator
Telephone switchboard operators operate telephone communications switchboards and consoles to establish telephone connections, receive caller inquiries, service problem reports, and record and relay messages to staff or clients.
Main tasks
- Operating switchboards and consoles to connect, hold, transfer and disconnect telephone calls
- Making connections for outgoing calls
- Dealing with telephone inquiries and recording messages
- Forwarding messages to staff or clients
- Investigating operating system problems and informing repair services
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Median pay: HK$19,600 a month
- About 455,200 people in 2025, and about 412,000 projected by 2028. (-9.5%)
- Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
- Travel consultants and clerks
- Receptionists (general)
- Survey and market research interviewers
- Client information workers not elsewhere classified
- Enquiry clerks
- Contact centre information clerks
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Questions people ask
Do you need a degree to become a telephone switchboard operator?
Not always. 25% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
Will AI change the work of a telephone switchboard operator?
Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Census and Statistics Department (Annual Earnings and Hours Survey): Monthly and hourly wage percentiles by occupational group (5 groups) (Tables 220-23014, 220-23024, 220-23003) (2025 (May to June 2025), released 2026-03-23), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026