At least once per day, you meet someone who works in the customer service sector.
Clients judge a book by its cover.
If companies are the books, then people like you are the cover.
Therefore, organizations look for good professionals to represent them.
They expect you to be positive and empathetic, to deal with every problem, even on bad days.
Proving that you are a top customer service worker is hard, but we've got a solution for you!
Here is a customized guide with real resume examples that you can follow to conquer every job position in 2022.
We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job to make the customer experience a little bit better.
This customer service resume guide will teach you:
- 6 customer service resume examples that prove your remarkable approach towards customers
- How to balance soft and hard skills
- How to provide evidence for industry knowledge relevant to the position
- Ways to fill up the gaps in your resume
- How to explain your experience and summary on your resume
- How to make recruiters call you for an interview by writing an excellent resume
Customer service resume samples
Entry level customer service resume
Why this resume works?
The following resume has a compelling summary with quantitative data and specific hard skills relevant for the position.
The Experience section consists of:
- action verbs
- achievements backed up with numbers
- specific and accurate statements
Strengths also positively impact the Customer Service resume.
They provide extra evidence for industry knowledge.
Additionally, the certificate proves that the person is a trustworthy professional.
Customer service representative resume example
Why this resume works?
- The summary provides relevant data that perfectly describes a Customer Service Representative
- The Experience section proves deep industry knowledge and professionalism
- Soft and hard skills support the Experience section
- References show that the applicant knows how to establish valuable relationships with colleagues
- Communication and negotiation skills are desired for this position
Retail customer service resume example
Why this resume works?
- Quantitative data in the Experience and Summary section prove deep expertise
- Management, SMART goals and Industry Expertise section provide evidence for strong knowledge and adaptability
- The use of action verbs perfectly supports all the statements listed as experience
- High-performance metrics indicate strong interpersonal and problem-solving skills
- Candidate’s education proves that they are reliable
Call center customer service resume example
Why this resume works?
The strengths of the following candidate indicate a balance between hard and soft skills.
Applicant's experience shows:
- Valuable information about industry knowledge and skills
- Quantitative data and action verbs are a must-have in a Customer Service resume
- A clear sign that the professional achieves high-performance metrics
- Good communication skills are the basis for top future performance
Customer support resume example
Why this resume works?
- Problem-solving skills stated in the Strengths section indicate deep experience
- Achievements also prove this person is a go-getter and a reliable professional
- Admirable education signifies deep industry knowledge and literacy
- The Summary section perfectly overlaps soft and hard skills in this resume sample
- This professional has deep expertise in customer support, which is what many recruiters look for
The customer service job market
The annual salary for customer service representatives in May 2020 is $35,830. The lowest 10% earned less than $24,120, and the highest 10% more than $57,830.
This sector is experiencing high resignation rates. Customer service is not declining, despite the hit of the pandemic.
Employment of customer service workers is projected to show little or no change from 2020 to 2030.
How to write a customer service resume
It is important to emphasize skills, experiences and achievements that will make you stand out from the competition.
Now, you must focus on the key factors.
Let’s start from the fact that good professionals leave clients satisfied. Customers will use the company’s product/service again only if you:
- Solved their problem
- Had professional and polite attitude towards them
In other words, pay serious attention to your communication and problem-solving abilities.
Include these skills in different sections like Experience, Summary and Strengths.
Do not forget to mention technical skills like computer literacy, technical support and data entry.
Client acquisition, negotiation and company policies are also valuable skills.
Provide evidence that you know how to manage client information and accounts.
Do you have any courses taken?
Management, marketing, and sales certificates might have an enormous impact on your resume.
Mention similar skills in the experience section to prove that you know how to put things into practice.
And last but not least, tailor your Customer Service Resume to the job posting-it is crucial!
Customer service resume formats
There are 3 main resume formats:
Your choice of resume formats should be influenced by 2 factors:
- Years of experience
- Industry experience
Reverse-chronological resumes correspond to professionals with a couple of years in the niche.
Functional resumes are relevant for jobseekers and career changers. Have in mind that this format is less popular among recruiters.
Hybrid resumes combine the best characteristics of the previous two formats. They are suitable for all types of professionals-entry-level and seniors.
Do not forget the style and layout! Here are some resume tips:
- 12p resume font size
- Use 10’ resume margins - the best option for great resumes
- If you have under 10 years of experience-use one-page resume, otherwise - two-page resume
- Check your grammar and spelling - recruiters won’t hire illiterate people
- Save your resume in a PDF format
Also, learn how to make your resume stand out by writing exceptional Education and Language skills.
Here is what a recruiter will look for in your resume:
- What is your customer service experience and how deep is it?
- Can you provide evidence for problem-solving skills?
- Are clients and bosses satisfied with your performance?
- Do you have any additional knowledge like sales, marketing or databases?
- How did your interpersonal skills help you excel in your previous job?
Top resume sections."
- The resume summary is the first thing the recruiter sees, so it’s really important
- Remarkable Experience Section helps you stand out
- Highly-specific and technical skills might be critical
- Marketing/Sales/Management Courses might be a good bonus
- References from industry experts are a vital sign of success
Every section should show how you provided value to your previous employer and what value you could give to the future one.
Recommended reads:
Building an intriguing resume summary
The Summary section might be the critical point that will define whether you will receive an interview call or not.
The recruiter is searching for someone who will represent their company exceptionally well.
If you are this person, you should introduce yourself in 2-3 simple sentences.
Therefore, you should focus on giving the most valuable and accurate information about yourself.
Here are some tips for writing your Customer Service Summary:
- It should be short and clear
- Include action verbs and accurate numbers
- Add a certification/course or something that will indicate industry knowledge
- Mention 2-3 specific tasks/duties/achievements that you performed in your previous job
- Add communication/problem-solving skills and back them with an example
Things you should avoid in your Customer Service resume:
- Scattered and vague information about your experience
- Starting the first sentence with “I”
- Complex sentences with no specific examples and quantitative data
Build an intriguing summary that won’t be forgotten in 5 minutes!
5 resume summary samples
Pro tip
If you have no experience to add to the summary, mention something extraordinary. It might be a skill or a specific situation. Moreover, you can always add what you are looking for/expecting from the position. Thus, the recruiter will understand that you have goals and motivation to excel.
Recommended reads:
customer service experience to die for
Experience is the other thing that will push you ahead of the competition.
When it comes to writing this section, there is one thing that should pop up in your head:
Be specific!
This means:
- Numbers-back up your statements with quantitative data
- Action verbs
- Exact soft/hard skills that helped you excel
- Extraordinary achievement in this position
Every sentence that lacks the 4 points above is useless and won’t get you anywhere.
When tailoring your resume to the job description, remember to focus on two main factors: communication and problem-solving skills
How did proper communication and negotiation increase your customer satisfaction rate or sales?
How did soft skills help you achieve high-performance metrics?
What programs and operations helped you solve customer problems or perform better at the position?
Ask yourself similar questions when building your resume, and write down your answers.
Customer service resume experience examples
Obviously, these experience bullet points are too general. There are no numbers, achievements or skills that could support them.
This candidate states they resolved technical support cases but did not mention any software program.
If you don't show industry knowledge in your Customer Service resume, then you won't have the chance to show it in an interview either.
This example is way different. The candidate proves that they added value to the company.
This Experience section indicates profound industry knowledge, leadership skills and ability to deal with tons of work.
How to describe the duties of a technical support engineer on a resume
Have in mind the following Technical Support Engineer responsibilities when writing your resume:
- Maintain and manage a customer complaint tracking system
- Solve computer software and hardware faults on laptops and desktop computers
- Provide technical support to customers for Microsoft SQL base software
- Provide systems administration support for Linux and Windows
- Provide email and telephone technical support for users for installation and coding
- Lead and train professionals on troubleshooting
If you wonder how to strengthen your resume for an entry-level customer service job, here are the answers:
- Compelling Certificates/Courses taken
- References
They will make you look like a reliable professional.
To fill up the gaps in the resume, you could:
- Describe the practical knowledge you acquired from your undergraduate education
- Include courses/training/practices that helped you gain real-world experience with clients
- Add achievements that indicate professionalism and support your communication/problems solving skills
- Add a Volunteering section that also involves organizational, management or other similar skills
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Best skills for customer service resume
The most important thing to do in the Skill Section is to match your abilities to the job description.
A lot of applicants might decide to emphasize soft skills in their resumes.
However, this might be a huge mistake.
Recruiters look for candidates that have computer literacy and experience with software programs.
Therefore, finding the right balance between soft and hard skills is crucial. It is a clear sign of the value you could give to a company.
“Customer experience is the next competitive battleground. It’s where business is going to be won or lost.”
10 soft skills to include on a customer service resume
- Problem Solving
- Clear Communication
- Active Listening
- Assertiveness
- Flexibility
- Fast Learning
- Attention to Detail
- Product Knowledge
- Patience
- Responsibility
Also, remember to logically connect soft and hard skills to other sections of your resume.
A Customer Service Representative with the ability to spell complex words backward sounds extraordinary but won’t help you get the interview call.
10 hard skills to include on a customer service resume
- MS Office
- Troubleshooting
- Enterprise Systems: Customer Relationship Management, Payment Processing, Automated Billing Systems
- Google Drive
- Productivity apps: Trello, Slack and others
- Emails
- Databases/Data Entry
- Project Management
- Bi/Multi-Lingual
- Telecommunication
Key takeaways
- Be specific-use action verbs and clear examples backed up with quantitative data
- Build a logical connection between each section to form a cohesive resume
- Emphasize communication and problem-solving and support them with technical knowledge
- Use keywords from the job description to list skills/certificates/education and courses
- Find the balance between hard and soft skills
