Work Context Index
Jobs with the fewest telephone conversations
O*NET asks people in every occupation "How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?" and publishes the mean answer on a 1-to-5 scale. This page lists the 25 occupations whose mean sits lowest, with the BLS wage, education and outlook for each.
Which jobs involve the fewest phone calls?
Across the 894 occupations O*NET 30.3 rates, the 25 lowest for Telephone Conversations average between 1.05 and 1.83 on O*NET's 1-to-5 scale, where 1 means "Never" and 5 means "Every day"; the median across all occupations is 4.32. Lowest are Cutters and Trimmers, Hand (1.05), Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic (1.18), Gambling Dealers (1.41). Their median BLS wage is $43,220 (2025, 23 of 25 with a BLS line item), and 24 of the 24 with BLS education data typically need less than a bachelor's degree.
- Occupations compared
- 894 O*NET 30.3 occupations with published Work Context ratings
- What O*NET asks incumbents
- Telephone Conversations: "How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?"
- Scale
- 1 = Never; 3 = Once a month or more but not every week; 5 = Every day. Values are mean incumbent ratings.
- Wage and outlook source
- BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, Table 1.2 Occupational projections, 2025–35, and worker characteristics, 2025 (Employment in thousands). 0 of the 25 occupations listed have a dedicated RoleSprint page.
Source and method
O*NET 30.3 Database (Work Context), U.S. Department of Labor, and BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2. Verified 2026-09-05. Ratings are reproduced from O*NET as published mean incumbent responses on each question's own 1-to-5 scale. Percentile ranks, composite averages and the resulting order are RoleSprint's computation and are described on the methodology page. Wage, education and outlook fields are reproduced from BLS for the matching SOC code and left blank where BLS publishes no line item.
The 25 occupations
Ordered by mean rating for Telephone Conversations, lowest first. Scale: 1 = Never; 5 = Every day.
| # | Occupation | O*NET value | Rank | BLS wage and education |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cutters and Trimmers, Hand O*NET-SOC 51-9031.00 | 1.05 of 5 Never | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $38,020 median (2025) No formal educational credential · -18.9% 2025-35 |
| 2 | Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic O*NET-SOC 51-4031.00 | 1.18 of 5 Never | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $46,330 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -10.5% 2025-35 |
| 3 | Gambling Dealers O*NET-SOC 39-3011.00 | 1.41 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $34,320 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +3.4% 2025-35 |
| 4 | Foundry Mold and Coremakers O*NET-SOC 51-4071.00 | 1.41 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $48,110 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -23% 2025-35 |
| 5 | Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-6064.00 | 1.49 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $38,670 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -10.3% 2025-35 |
| 6 | Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-9111.00 | 1.55 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $43,220 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +4.1% 2025-35 |
| 7 | Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators O*NET-SOC 51-2051.00 | 1.55 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $46,880 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +4.6% 2025-35 |
| 8 | Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic O*NET-SOC 51-9195.00 | 1.59 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $46,170 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +5.8% 2025-35 |
| 9 | Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-9124.00 | 1.63 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $48,250 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +2.5% 2025-35 |
| 10 | Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-9196.00 | 1.63 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $50,270 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -3.6% 2025-35 |
| 11 | Sewing Machine Operators O*NET-SOC 51-6031.00 | 1.64 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $36,670 median (2025) No formal educational credential · -15.1% 2025-35 |
| 12 | Model Makers, Metal and Plastic O*NET-SOC 51-4061.00 | 1.65 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $63,340 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -17.3% 2025-35 |
| 13 | Helpers--Production Workers O*NET-SOC 51-9198.00 | 1.71 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $39,070 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -8.2% 2025-35 |
| 14 | Dancers O*NET-SOC 27-2031.00 | 1.73 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | Wage not published No formal educational credential · +2.2% 2025-35 |
| 15 | Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers O*NET-SOC 51-2023.00 | 1.73 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | No BLS line item for this occupation |
| 16 | Tire Builders O*NET-SOC 51-9197.00 | 1.74 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $57,390 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +0.8% 2025-35 |
| 17 | Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-6042.00 | 1.74 of 5 between "Never" and "Once a year or more but not every month" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $35,650 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -6.9% 2025-35 |
| 18 | Passenger Attendants O*NET-SOC 53-6061.00 | 1.77 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $37,720 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +6% 2025-35 |
| 19 | Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-6063.00 | 1.77 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $39,530 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -13.7% 2025-35 |
| 20 | Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic O*NET-SOC 51-4035.00 | 1.77 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $52,800 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -13.2% 2025-35 |
| 21 | Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products O*NET-SOC 45-2041.00 | 1.79 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $35,730 median (2025) No formal educational credential · -3.4% 2025-35 |
| 22 | Machine Feeders and Offbearers O*NET-SOC 53-7063.00 | 1.80 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $41,220 median (2025) No formal educational credential · -13.1% 2025-35 |
| 23 | Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-9192.00 | 1.80 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $43,530 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +3.4% 2025-35 |
| 24 | Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-9193.00 | 1.83 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 97% of 894 occupations | $41,330 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +5.9% 2025-35 |
| 25 | Rock Splitters, Quarry O*NET-SOC 47-5051.00 | 1.83 of 5 Once a year or more but not every month | Lower than 97% of 894 occupations | $48,740 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +5.8% 2025-35 |
Values are mean ratings from O*NET 30.3; most come from surveys of people in the occupation, some from occupational experts, and some for newer occupations from O*NET analysts. Wage, education and outlook are from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 for the matching SOC code and are blank where BLS publishes no line item.
How this was measured
Telephone Conversations (O*NET element 4.C.1.a.2.f). The question put to incumbents: “How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?”
- 1
Never
- 2
Once a year or more but not every month
- 3
Once a month or more but not every week
- 4
Once a week or more but not every day
- 5
Every day
894 of 894 occupations have a published, unsuppressed value for this element. The percentile beside each occupation is its position among them.
The full method, including how ties are broken and what the data cannot tell you, is on the methodology page.
Narrow the list with BLS data
Each variant keeps the same measure and restricts the occupations by a published BLS threshold. A variant exists only where the restriction actually changes the list rather than the heading; the combinations that left the answer much as it was were not published.
Combine this with other conditions
The explorer ranks all occupations on any set of measures you choose, with the same values and the same arithmetic as this page.
Open the explorer with this selectionThis page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. RoleSprint has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Wage, education and outlook figures are reproduced from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What to do next
These rankings describe occupations in general. The next question is whether a specific opening in one of them actually matches what you can show, and that is answered by comparing the posting with your resume.