Customer Service Representative (Teleservice)
Pros
The social security administration is a great place to work if you are interested in helping the general public. Management, for the most part, has your back, and as long as you follow policies, rules, and regulations, you will get along great here. There are occasionally special projects that can be done at the Teleservice Center (TSC) that allows you to gain experience in a more specialized role. Your attitude and aptitude determine your success here. As a CSR, if you need to go on leave you will never come back to a pending workload. There are career opportunities at SSA, but they are not numerous.
Cons
Due to the nature of the work you will be largely unappreciated by your customers, people will be nasty to you, you will have very, very, very, bad days (but not every day). The CSR position is a 4/5/6/7/8, which means you will be here for 4-5 years before you are a journeyman and can do anything else on a consistent basis. This job is stressful, there is no work to finish, and there will always be something to do. You are underpaid and underutilized because time in grade is more important than skills when it comes to advancement. This is the nature of the beast.
