Telemarketers
Sales and Related Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 41-9041.00
Solicit donations or orders for goods or services over the telephone.
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Very high· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.285
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.61
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
12 rated tasks · 12 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (100.0%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- All rated tasks are in the O*NET 31.0 task list.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task (O*NET 27.2) | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Deliver prepared sales talks, reading from scripts that describe products or services, to persuade potential customers to purchase a product or service or to make a donation.O*NET Task ID 4618 | 1.0 |
Obtain customer information such as name, address, and payment method, and enter orders into computers.O*NET Task ID 4621 | 1.0 |
Record names, addresses, purchases, and reactions of prospects contacted.O*NET Task ID 4622 | 1.0 |
Adjust sales scripts to better target the needs and interests of specific individuals.O*NET Task ID 4623 | 1.0 |
Answer telephone calls from potential customers who have been solicited through advertisements.O*NET Task ID 4625 | 1.0 |
Telephone or write letters to respond to correspondence from customers or to follow up initial sales contacts.O*NET Task ID 4626 | 1.0 |
Maintain records of contacts, accounts, and orders.O*NET Task ID 4627 | 1.0 |
Contact businesses or private individuals by telephone to solicit sales for goods or services, or to request donations for charitable causes.O*NET Task ID 4619 | 0.5 |
Explain products or services and prices, and answer questions from customers.O*NET Task ID 4620 | 0.5 |
Obtain names and telephone numbers of potential customers from sources such as telephone directories, magazine reply cards, and lists purchased from other organizations.O*NET Task ID 4624 | 0.5 |
Schedule appointments for sales representatives to meet with prospective customers or for customers to attend sales presentations.O*NET Task ID 4628 | 0.5 |
Conduct client or market surveys to obtain information about potential customers.O*NET Task ID 4629 | 0.5 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page
All O*NET 31.0 task statements (12)
All O*NET 31.0 task statements for this occupation (English, as published; task type core or supplemental). Exposure values are not listed here; they are in the table above, next to each task statement as worded in the O*NET version each source used.
| Task (O*NET 31.0) | Type |
|---|---|
| Deliver prepared sales talks, reading from scripts that describe products or services, to persuade potential customers to purchase a product or service or to make a donation. | Core |
| Contact businesses or private individuals by telephone to solicit sales for goods or services, or to request donations for charitable causes. | Core |
| Explain products or services and prices, and answer questions from customers. | Core |
| Obtain customer information such as name, address, and payment method, and enter orders into computers. | Core |
| Record names, addresses, purchases, and reactions of prospects contacted. | Core |
| Answer telephone calls from potential customers who have been solicited through advertisements. | Core |
| Telephone or write letters to respond to correspondence from customers or to follow up initial sales contacts. | Core |
| Maintain records of contacts, accounts, and orders. | Core |
| Adjust sales scripts to better target the needs and interests of specific individuals. | Supplemental |
| Obtain names and telephone numbers of potential customers from sources such as telephone directories, magazine reply cards, and lists purchased from other organizations. | Supplemental |
| Schedule appointments for sales representatives to meet with prospective customers or for customers to attend sales presentations. | Supplemental |
| Conduct client or market surveys to obtain information about potential customers. | Supplemental |
0.00/ 3· Robot exposure index
Scale, basis and source
Each physical task is graded 0–3 by the setting in which robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated could do it (0 none · 1 purpose-built robot settings such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line · 2 structured facilities such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port · 3 unstructured settings such as a private home or a construction site), and the grades are averaged by share of working time
Physical tasks among this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks
Anthropic estimated the grades and time shares with Claude Opus 5 using web search, as of 2026.
The robot exposure index is a different measure from the AI exposure figures on this site and cannot be added to or compared with them. It does not measure actual adoption or cost, and 0 also covers occupations with no physical tasks.
Tier of each physical task
None of this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks is classified as a physical task.
Occupation information
Employment outlook (BLS)
- Employment, 2025
- 61K
- Projected employment, 2035
- 48K
- Change (2025–35)
- -21.4%
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $35,450
- Typical education needed for entry
- No formal educational credential
Korea classification links (KSCO)
Links from the current release of the Korea Occupation Direct Crosswalk v1.1, made by AI Changing Work. Relation values are read from the O*NET-SOC occupation side.
| KSCO code | KSCO title | Relation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53130 | 텔레마케터 | Same scope | confirmed |
Relation and status definitions(kr-direct v1.1)
ILO occupational description
AI Changing Work links the ISCO-08 unit groups below to this occupation by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (2018 SOC to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to ISCO-08) as published, without case-by-case selection; each link may be whole or partial.
- ISCO-08 5244Contact Centre Salespersons
The definition, tasks and examples below are the ILO's description of that unit group, not of this occupation.
Contact centre salespersons contact existing and prospective customers, using the telephone or other electronic communications media, to promote goods and services, obtain sales and arrange sales visits. They may work from a customer contact centre or from non-centralised premises.
Tasks
- (a) promoting goods and services by telephone or electronic mail, following scripts and working from lists of contacts;
- (b) creating interest in goods and services, and seeking a sale or agreement to see sales representatives;
- (c) arranging processing and despatch of goods and services, information kits and brochures to customers;
- (d) arranging appointments for sales representatives;
- (e) recording notes for follow-up action and updating marketing databases to reflect changes to the status of each customer;
- (f) reporting competitor activities and issues raised by contacts for attention by managers;
- (g) maintaining statistics of calls made and successes achieved;
- (h) submitting periodic reports on telemarketing activities and results.
Example occupations
Call centre salesperson · Customer contact centre salesperson · Internet salesperson · Telemarketer · Telemarketing salesperson
Sources: ILO ISCO-08 — details: Credits
ESCO occupational vocabulary
Each entry below is matched to this occupation in the published ESCO-O*NET Crosswalk (version 1, 2022). The match types are that crosswalk's; the wording is AI Changing Work's.
- call centre agentESCO 5244.1Same scope
Call centre agents handle incoming or outgoing customer calls for a business. They call existing and prospective customers to promote goods and services. They also obtain sales and arrange sales visits.
- call centre supervisorESCO 3341.4Overlapping, not the same
Call centre supervisors oversee call centre employees, manage projects and understand technical aspects of the call centre activities.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL — ESCO API 2026-08-08 (bridge v1.2.1)
License: CC BY 4.0 (EU Reuse Notice)
ESCO reuse terms and the modification notice are in Credits.
France classification links (ROME)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and ROME 4.0 job profiles, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side. Links marked “provisional” were adopted on the judgments of two judges from the same model family (Claude) alone, or by an operator rule applied to their judgments, so they rest on weaker evidence than confirmed links.
| ROME code | ROME title (French) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| D1408 | Conseiller / Conseillère clientèle à distance | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
| C1116 | Chargé / Chargée de clientèle centre d'appels en assurances | Related, not a matchprovisional |
| M1418 | Recruteur / Recruteuse de donateurs | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: France Travail — Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois (ROME 4.0), version 61, last updated 15 June 2026 (https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/repertoire-operationnel-des-metiers-et-des-emplois-rome). Licence Ouverte 2.0.
ROME codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET-SOC occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a France Travail correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: fr-direct v1)
Spain classification links (CNO-11)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and CNO-11 occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| CNO-11 code | CNO-11 title (Spanish) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 5420 | Operadores de telemarketing | Same scopeprovisional |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11, Royal Decree 1591/2010) — www.ine.es · Licensed CC BY 4.0. CNO-11 codes and Spanish titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not an INE correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: es-direct v1)
Germany classification links (KldB)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and KldB occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| KldB code | KldB title (German) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 92122 | Berufe im Dialogmarketing - fachlich ausgerichtete Tätigkeiten | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
Source: © Statistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 – überarbeitete Fassung 2020, https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. KldB codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own mapping (eigene Zuordnung) and are not a Bundesagentur für Arbeit correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: de-direct v1)
Japan classification links (JSCO)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and JSCO occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| JSCO code | JSCO title (Japanese) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 256 | 電話応接事務員 | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Dec. 2009, MIC Notification No. 555). JSCO codes and Japanese titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a MIC correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: jp-direct v1)
Sources, licenses and AI Changing Work's modification and translation notices for this page: Credits & sources