An administrative assistant provides support to people in business enterprises. The job title encompasses workers ranging from secretaries to personal assistants to production assistants, and it often requires excellent writing and verbal skills, and editing skills. Administrative assistants field incoming telephone calls, file, type, do data entry, and create reports and reviews.
Customer service representatives act as a liaison between customers and businesses. Customer service representatives work to keep customers satisfied, answer questions about goods and services, and deal with routine business requests, such as an individual wanting to know her bank account balance. Customer service representatives must be adept at adhering to company guidelines while trying to keep customers happy, they must be disciplined, have excellent verbal skills and understand technology. Since customer service may be done through email, phone, snail mail, fax, or in person, customer service representatives must be adept at communicating effectively through all of these means.
Bank tellers are considered the "front line" of the bank. While they are expected to provide friendly customer service, they also protect their bank from fraudulent transactions. Being a bank teller requires strong math skills, as well as the ability to recognize counterfeit checks. Bank tellers provide customers with information about their bank accounts, assist customers with making deposits and withdrawals, collects payments, and make various other transactions. Due to the high volume of cash that bank tellers handle every day, the position requires strong organizational skills.
Working in real estate requires the broad base of knowledge that students earning associate degrees acquire. Real estate agents act as liaisons between home sellers and home buyers, performing duties that include assisting sellers in putting up "for sale" signs, getting their home listed in publications, bringing buyers to see homes that are for sale, screening buyers to ensure that they are financially qualified to buy a home, and negotiating a home's selling price. Real estate agents must work well with various kinds of people, communicate well, and be able to quickly assimilate the requisite skills for the position. A real estate agent has flexibility in his schedule, since he gets paid on commission.