A Customer Service Resume is an official document used by job applicants to overview their relevant skills, professional qualifications, and experiences.
It also summarises an applicant’s achievements. It is used by hiring managers to see if an applicant is a good fit for the open customer service position.
Customer service jobs are highly competitive. Recruiters receive several applications for a single position. It attracts applicants with various backgrounds both inside and outside of the customer service industry. Resumes help highlight the main qualities and skills the reciter is looking for. The competitive nature of the industry requires recruiters to scrutinise the applications they receive closely.
This resume’s primary purpose is to distinguish applicants from other individuals who respond to the job opening. It shows how applicable an applicant is to the employer. It also makes it easy to organize an applicant’s skills and work history. A strong resume sells the applicant’s most vital skills and accomplishments.
It grabs the recruiter’s attention and helps ensure that an applicant is considered for the open customer service position. It also makes a quick and lasting first impression on the recruiter. Often a resume for customer service reflects an applicant’s self-confidence.
Templates to Help You
How to Write a Customer Service Resume
An applicant considering a position in customer service should understand how to write a resume for the role. Writing this resume will help ensure that the applicant provides adequate details. It will also ensure that each detail of the resume is relevant.
The following is a guide with examples on how to write a resume for customer service:
Study the job description
The first step an applicant should take before writing a resume is to review the job description. The applicant should identify the critical skills that the hiring manager is looking for from the job posting and description.
The duties and responsibilities that the applicant has experience in and are indicated in the job description should also be identified in the resume. The resume for customer service should contain relevant past experiences in the duties identified and between four to six skills indicated in the applicant’s description.
Research the position
Secondly, an applicant should research the duties and responsibilities of the position, especially if it is new to the industry or the indication is going through a career change. The research will provide the applicant with a clear understanding of the employer’s expectations of the individual occupying the position. The applicant can use the information gathered to include to create a resume that caters to the need of the role.
Include your soft and hard skills
This resume should contain hard and soft skills gained by the applicants in previous positions. These skills should be relevant to the duties and responsibilities the applicants will be required to carry out in the position. Understanding these skills helps communicate the applicant’s capabilities to the employer.
Hard skills are the measurable abilities of the applicant, such as the ability of an individual to use a specific kind of software. The applicant should list hard skills relevant to the customer service job that can be applied to the role.
The hard skills that an applicant may indicate in the resume can include:
- Computer skills (Mac or Pc)
- Typing skills
- Knowledge of a product or service
- Mathematical skills
- Ability to speak multiple languages
- Support center
- Ability to use email, Blaze desk, C-Desk, excel, Live Chat, headphones and microphones, Microsoft office suite, outlook, and Zendesk/Talkdesk
Soft skills are abilities that interpersonal skills. They relate to how the applicant works and interacts with other people. They are harder to measure. They provide the hiring manager with more information on the applicant’s professionalism as a customer service employee.
When indicating soft skills, the applicant can include abilities like adaptability, attentiveness, conflict resolution, decision making, creativity, focus, empathy, dependability, leadership skills, negotiation, politeness, persuasion skills, quick thinking, time management, positivity, willingness to learn, up-selling ability to under pressure, closing ability active listening and responsiveness.
Additional skills can also be included in an applicant’s resume. They will help strengthen the resume and increase the applicant’s chances of being considered. These skills will apply to any customer service position an individual is applying for.
The additional skills include the following:
- Communication skills: The applicants should highlight an ability to communicate clearly and politely to customers about any problems they may be having with the product or service. Applicants should remember that proper communication skills are central to customer service. Outlining communications skills in the resume will show the hiring manager that the applicant can cater to customers’ needs.
- Technical skills: The resume for customer service should highlight the applicant’s ability to use specific software necessary for the position as an example of how competent the applicant is. The job posting will contain the type of software or technical skill the applicant must have. Technical skills help make the applicants’ jobs more accessible or more organised. They also help speed up the services offered to customers.
- Interpersonal skills: Interpersonal skills are also crucial in the customer service industry. Hiring managers require customer service representatives to be friendly and sociable to de-escalate problems with customers should they arise. Indication of this skill in an applicant’s resume shows the hiring manager that the candidate can win over new customers.
- Problem-solving: The applicant should indicate problems solving skills in the resume. Customers reach out to customer service when they experience issues with the product or service. Hiring managers need representatives who can develop quick, creative solutions to their customer’s problems. Employees who do well usually gain the trust of both the employer and the customer.
Add the three Ps
Three critical qualities must be evident to any individual applying to work in the customer service industry. These qualities are known as the three P’S. Hiring managers and employers are likely to look for an indication of the three P’s when selecting a candidate.
The three P’s comprise the following:
- Professionalism: The resume for customer service should demonstrate the applicant’s professionalism. Professionalism speaks to how a customer service representative relates with customers during heightened situations such as immature or upsetting behavior. Hiring managers are interested in applicants who use their professionalism to keep customers satisfied to ensure that they remain loyal to the company
- Patience: A high-quality service provider should be able to exercise patients with customers. Customer service providers will come across people who will respond differently to them. Flexibility and creativity should be used to deal with demanding customers. Hiring managers are interested in applicants who can use patience to cater to all kinds of customers in need of the company’s services or products.
- People-first attitude: The resume for customer service should reflect the applicants’ people-first attitude with real-life examples. It helps show the hiring manager that the applicant can connect with customers. In addition, the resume should show that the applicant understands that the customer is at the centre of ‘customer service.
Include the relevant duties
The applicant should highlight customer service-relevant duties in the resume. The duties will vary depending on the job title. Indicating duties relevant to the position helps show the hiring manager that the applicant can meet the company’s expectations.
The applicant may include duties such as the following:
- Recording customer information and maintaining their accounts
- Processing customer adjustments and overseeing their accounts
- Making product or service recommendations to customers based on their needs and preferences
- Manage a team of customer service representatives and ensure they meet quotas set by the company
- Adhering to communication guidelines, policies, and procedures
- Making adjustments to customer accounts, such as upgrades
- Handling and solving customer complaints
- Communicating with customers via various channels like email or phone calls
- Ensuring customer satisfaction
- Assisting customers in basic activities like placing orders, exchanges, and facilitating refunds
- Manage product recalls
- Maintain customers records using sales computer technology
- Attract potential customers
- Educate customers about deals and promotions
Create a work experience section
The resume for customer service should list the applicant’s previous work experiences. The experiences should relate to the position the applicant is applying for. The list should be arranged in chronological order to ensure a clear timeline. The applicant should include s short description of the duties carried out in the previous position. The list will provide the hiring manager with an overview of the applicant’s general achievements.
Some Last Minute Tips
Writing a compelling resume can lead to an applicant’s consideration for an interview. An applicant should always aim to improve the resume to ensure it is effective. Making updates, for instance, can help increase an applicant’s chances of obtaining the position.
The following tips may also be employed to make the customer service resume effective:
Resume objectives are a saviour
Resume objectives help show the hiring manager the applicant’s career goals. The applicant’s objectives should be between two to three sentences long to ensure they are brief. Indicating the objects helps catch the recruiter’s attention and acts as a pitch for the applicant.
Strong customer service skills
The applicant should ensure that skills related to the position are indicated throughout the resume with proper examples. It will help in enabling the applicant to impress the hiring manager. It will also help support other aspects of the resume, such as experiences and objectives. The role applicant is applying for in the customer service industry will determine what skills are indicated in the resume.
Action verbs for emphasis
The use of action verbs should be employed to help enable the applicant’s resume to stand out from others. They can also help strengthen the applicant’s resume. The action verbs should be carefully selected to ensure that they are at the center of what the hiring manager is looking for.
Some action verbs used in customer service include; conduct, implement, consult, communicate, maintain, listen, resolve, manage, provide, post, respond, sell, supply, and train.
Final Words
A customer service resume is used by applicants interested in obtaining a job in the customer service industry. It should contain skills and experiences related to the position. The applicant should also include duties relevant to the position or industry. This resume may also highlight the applicant’s objective to make it compelling. The applicant should first review the job posting and description to identify what the hiring manager is looking for in a candidate and then write the resume.
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