What If You Dont Have Any Work Experience
Maybe youre a student looking for their first customer service job?
Or maybe, you have experience in the field, but never in a retail environment?
Dont worry, as there are ways to get around this.
All you need are the core job skills and a willingness to learn.
And you can showcase this with related job experience or school projects.;
For example, if youve ever worked as a cashier, you can talk about any crossover skills and experiences. Just like a customer service representative, you were friendly, dealt with customers concerns, and operated a POS/computer.;
Hard Skills For Customer Service
Here is a list of 10 hard skills for customer service to use on a resume:
Customer Service Resume Examples For 2021
When it comes to growing a business, reputation is everything. As the face of the organization, the customer service team in instrumental in building and maintain that reputation.
To be a successful customer service manager or representative, you need to have a wide-ranging skillset.
You need to be patient, empathetic, a strong problem solver, and you need to know your company’s product or service inside and out.
You shouldn’t also have to be an expert at building a resume to convey this to employers.
We’ve analyzed over 500 customer service resumes and chosen the 5 best examples to help you land your next job in 2021.
We’ll also share our key findings from this analysis to help you put your best foot forward on your resume.
Why this resume works
- There is a lot of information contained in this resume. Yet, it doesn’t feel overwhelming or hard to read. Your job with your resume is to quickly make the case to the hiring manager that they’d be a fool not to invite you for an interview.
- The best way to do this is by making your points concise and highly relevant to the job you’re applying to. Notice this resume objective example is tailored for “AMP Corporation”. As a rule of thumb the more you customize your resume for each job application, the more likely you are to get an interview.
Read Also: How Many Jobs Should Be On Your Resume
Whats A Resume Objective For Customer Service
A resume objective for customer service is a three-sentence opening statement that sums up why youre perfect for a specific customer service job.
Use a customer service resume objective if youre:
If youre not in one of those situations, start your resume with a summary of qualifications, resume summary, or resume profile.
Entry Level Customer Service Representative
Source: LiveCareer
This resume is a great example of someone who has no direct customer service experience, but does have experience interacting with customers of different backgrounds. The fictitious Justine has made a clean-looking resume that clearly states the experience she has had working with customers, and shows familiarity with hitting a metric of some kind in her sales position. She also uses her “Summary” portion to highlight her unique skills.
That being said, since she has no direct customer service experience, some elaboration on relevant skills, like working with an internal ticketing system or building relationships with customers would have been a nice touch. Hiring managers are looking for reasons why you’re beginning a career in this industry, so make sure a passion for the work is clear in the resume.
Also Check: Sample Narrative Resume
Why Are Customer Service Skills Important
For many businesses, people working in customer service roles or using customer service skills are the human face of the company. These businesses rely on employees who can create a positive dialogue with customers, helping to foster loyalty and a good reputation.
If you are in a customer service role, common in industries like food and beverage or retail, a large part of your success might be attributed to your ability to provide positive experiences to customers. Learning and developing traits that make a strong customer service worker paired with on-the-job experience can help you advance in your role.
Related: 9 Tips for Improving Your Customer Service Skills
Customer Service Skills For Cover Letter
In your cover letter, you may want to mention specific examples of when and how you used your customer service skills. For example, if you worked as a hotel manager, you could write:
During my time as a hotel manager, I ensured all customers had their needs met within minutes. Particularly during the changeover period between check-in and checkout, occasional problems would arise where some rooms did not get cleaned in time. When this occurred, I always ensured that guests rooms were cleaned immediately and within minutes, and offered complimentary items to help rectify the mistake.
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How Do I Describe My Customer Service Skill Levels
When describing your customer service skills on a resume, it is important to indicate your level of proficiency.
Generally, there are three levels commonly used on resumes:
- âExpert: At an expert level, you can employ a skill according to your own assessment of a situation. Little to no outside direction is required.â
- Intermediate: Intermediate skill levels indicate that you are proficient but may still need some supervision.â
- A novice skill level lets employers know you understand the basics but do not consider the skill one of the best proficiencies.
We recommend only including your very best skills on a resume.
As such, you should aim to mainly include skills that fall into either the expert or intermediate categories.
How To Write A Resume Objective For A Customer Service Job
As an aspiring customer service representative, your resume objective should prove youd be an effective customer service employee.
The most important points you must hit in your objective are your,
List these details first . If you have any additional important resume skills relevant to the role, include them too.
Unsure whether you need a customer service resume objective or resume summary? Both introduction types can help you land the job.
At some point in your objective , include quantifiable data tied to your resumes work experience like numbers, percentages, or dollar amounts. Such data proves your ability to handle the responsibilities that come with the position.
Your customer service representative data might include your customer retention rate, the number of new accounts you opened, and/or how much profit you drove to your company.
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Customer Service Resumewriting Tips For Getting Hired
CareerBuilder | February 23, 2021
Stand out to hiring managers with the best customer service representative resume. Here are four examples to include as you write your resume.
Customer service representatives are on the front lines of a company. CSRs deal directly with customers and often have to diffuse stressful situations and solve problems quickly and calmly. If HR teams make poor hiring decisions for their customer care teams, then they could end up with employees who make the situation worse and isolate customers. This is why the hiring and training process is so lengthy and involved for customer service representatives.
Include customer service experience on your resume
When possible, include quantifiable information about your performance and your company within your resume. This helps HR departments understand how you performed at your job and what your workload looked like. While customer service is similar across companies and industries, each company has its own distinct expectations, too.
Specify the technology you know
Historically, customer care representatives relied on phone banks to receive their calls while upper management monitored their performance. However, today’s customer care teams are responding to calls, answering emails, and engaging in customer chats all throughout the day. To manage these multiple forms of communication, companies have started to invest in various software programs like FreshDesk or LiveAgent.
Use The Right Keywords
When you apply for a job through an online job board or company website, your application will likely be passed through an applicant tracking system first, before a hiring manager gets a chance to review it. ATS programs scan your resume for certain keywords to determine whether or not your experience is a likely match for the role youve applied to. If the ATS doesnt find enough of the right keywords on your resume, it might not ever make it to a recruiters inbox.
Tailoring your resume for each job you apply to will help you hit most of the right keywords, but heres a list of common customer service resume keywords to get you started:
- Accounts
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Choose The Right Format
When looking to showcase your skills and experience in customer service, there are three types of resume formats to consider depending on your background and career objectives including chronological, functional or combination. The main goal in resume writing is to create a highly-readable document that allows employers to quickly see why youre a good fit for the job.
Here is a brief description of each resume format type and when to use each:
Chronological lists your work experience in reverse-chronological order. It is best used if your current or previous role was in customer service.Functional focuses more on relevant skills than work history. It is best used if you are looking to transition into a customer service role and want to highlight the skills you have related to the field. This format is also especially helpful if you have a career gap as it places the emphasis on your skillset.Combination blends chronological and functional resume types. It is best suited if youre transitioning career and have a diverse employment history.
Read more: Resume Format Guide: Tips and Examples of the Best Formats
Ask A Manager For Feedback
Managers are often responsible for observing how employees work with customers. As such, you may want to ask a manager for feedback on your customer interactions. If most of those interactions happen over email or other digital means, it might be helpful to forward or print out your communications for your manager to highlight your strengths and areas for improvement.
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Skills To Include On Your Customer Service Resume
Your “skills” section on your resume has to serve two functions:
Unfortunately, these two functions are sometimes at odds with each other.
If your goal was just to get past the ATS system then logically you would try to include as many skills as possible on your resume. In fact, before these systems got more advanced people used to use white text on a white background and jam in as many keywords as they could on their resume!
Of course, once you get past the ATS the hiring manager will review your resume. If they see a paragraph worth of skills, that will raise a red flag.
For customer service resumes, it is much more effective to demonstrate expertise in a few skills than to try to list as many skills as possible on your resume.
The rule of thumb is that if you would be comfortable being interviewed on a given skill, then you should include it on your resume.
For example, if you say that you know a CRM like HubSpot on your resume, then you should be able to demonstrate that expertise on your resume.
What about non-technical skills like “problem solving”? This rule still applies. Can you think of a specific instance when you demonstrated effective problem solving skills in a past role or project?
Do You Leave Customers Smiling Then Check Out This Sample Resume For A Customer Service Rep To See How To Make Your Resume Reflect Your Talents
Customer service representative resume
Does your resume serve your career, or does it leave you hanging? To be considered for top customer service representative jobs, you need a stellar resume.
View the sample resume for a customer service rep below, or;download the;customer service representative resume template;in Word.;
Jobs for customer service reps are projected to grow by 5% from 2016 through 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Youll find the highest level of employment for this job in the following states: Texas, Florida, California, New York, and Pennsylvania; and in the following metropolitan areas: New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix, and Dallas.
As a customer service rep, you can expect to make a median wage of $32,890 per year, or $15.81 per hour, according to the BLS.
In addition, you can search for;customer service jobs;on Monster.;
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What Is Customer Service
Customer service is a vast industry spanning many different forms of business.
From answering customer calls to building customer relationships, there are many responsibilities involved.
Aside from the general Customer Service Representative, other common examples of jobs within customer service include:
- Salespeople
- Cashiers
Essentially, any job that deals with working directly with customers falls under the customer service umbrella.
How To Put Customer Service Experience On Your Resume
This article was co-authored by Kent Lee. Kent Lee is a Career and Executive Coach and the Founder of the Perfect Resume, a career development services company based in Phoenix, Arizona. Kent specializes in creating customized resumes, LinkedIn profiles, cover letters, and thank you letters. Kent has over 15 years of career coaching and consulting experience. Previously, he has worked as a Career Consultant for Yahoo and has worked with thousands of clients including Fortune 500 executives from around the world. His work and career advice have been featured in ABC, NBC, CBS, Yahoo, Career Builder, and Monster.com. This article has been viewed 15,732 times.
Customer service experience can be a valuable skill in many jobs, so you obviously want to include it on your resume. To highlight your experience, try creating a skills-based resume, where you organize your resume based on skills rather than jobs. Then, when you go to apply for jobs, make sure you tailor what you say about your experience to each position, so your potential employer can see how you’re a great fit.
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Customer Service Manager Resume
A customer service manager supervises other members of the customer service team. They are responsible for training new reps and keeping track of their progress. They help other team members handle conflicts involving customers or employees. Their role is to make sure that the team members understand company goals and also follow company guidelines.
To apply for this position, you must have;
- Ability to communicate effectively both orally and written
- Prior experience in customer service and leadership roles
- A good understanding of conflict resolution and crisis management
- A good understanding of team building
- Ability to manage retail operations
- Other customer service skills
Customer Service Representative Resume Examples
Customer Service Representatives provide the customers of an organization with guidance and information. Duties commonly listed on Customer Service Representative resume samples are answering to inquiries, giving instructions, promoting products and services and solving complaints. Those seeking to work in the field should have very good communication skills, a courteous attitude, patience, good computer skills and problem-solving abilities. A good example resume makes display of a degree in communication or marketing, although formal education is not mandatory for the role.
Looking for cover letter ideas? See our sample Customer Service Representative Cover Letter.
Find out what is the best resume for you in our Ultimate Resume Format Guide.
The best examples from thousands of real-world resumes
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How To Make Your Customer Service Work Experience Stand Out
Recruiters hate nothing more than risk.
You see, their job is on the line if they hire the wrong person.
As such, you need to prove you have what it takes, and your work experience section is the easiest way to do that
Heres the best way for customer service representatives to structure the work experience section:
- Position name
- Achieved highest up-sell rates in both 2017 and 2019
- Worked at the customer information desk for 10+ hour shifts
- Welcomed 1000+ customers during store opening event
- Won Employee of the Month three months in a row by engaging with customers in personal, yet professional manner
The key here is to showcase how valuable you were to your previous employer. Doing so will have companies competing against each other for your skills.
Instead of saying
Spoke to all customers
Say:
Won Employee of the Month three months in a row by engaging with customers in personal, yet professional manner
Simply put, the first sentence states that you spoke with customers, but it doesnt say whether you were successful in doing so.;;
The second statement goes into more detail and backs-up your claims with awards.