Customer Service Resume Examples and Writing Tips
You can answer questions and provide valuable information, but how well can you convey your qualifications in a customer service resume? You need to showcase relevant experience, like maintaining customer loyalty and responding to inquiries, and provide tangible results that prove your expertise. Ready to make your customer service resume stand out? Our blog post details the key sections to include, top writing tips, and handy customer service resume examples.
Key Sections To Include in a Customer Service Resume
The best customer service resume examples follow the same basic structure. They start with a strong, informative header, and then continue to work experience, education, and skills.
However, they aren’t all the same, so it pays to construct your resume with care.
Follow our guide to craft a compelling resume, learning the best formats from our detailed customer service resume examples.
Header
Your resume header tells the hiring manager crucial information. It relays your full name and contact details in seconds, so they know how to contact you if they’re interested.
Your header should contain the following details:
- Full name
- Job title
- Phone number
- Email address
- Location
- LinkedIn URL
This information ensures that recruiters can immediately contact you via their preferred method, whether it’s through a phone call, an email, or a LinkedIn message.
Here’s an example header for a customer service resume:
Jonathan Romero
Customer Service Support Agent
555-0154
jonromero@example.com
Santa Fe, New Mexico
linkedin.com/jonathanromero/
Resume objective or summary
Now it’s time to add a resume objective or summary. The two are very similar – a 2 to 4 paragraph that tells the hiring manager who you are – but they’re suitable for different professionals:
- Resume objective: Best for job seekers with little experience, as it details your skills and goals.
- Resume summary: Best for job seekers with relevant work experience, as it details your experience and achievements
Here’s a resume objective example:
“Dedicated student seeking a challenging role as a customer service agent. Relevant experience at the campus help desk, answering inquiries and educating fellow students. Eager to leverage strong interpersonal skills and passion for helping others to provide exceptional support.”
Here’s a resume summary example:
“Dedicated customer service agent with 3+ years of experience in handling diverse client needs. Proven ability to deliver exceptional support through effective communication and problem-solving skills, growing customer loyalty. Maintained a customer retention rate 30% above the industry average and a customer satisfaction rate of 98%.”
Work experience
Work history is the most important element in a customer service resume. Hiring managers not only want to see that you have previous experience, they also want to know if you have the specific, relevant experience they require.
Start with your job title, then provide the company name, location, and dates of employment. Then add bullet points of accomplishments you achieved in the role.
Here’s a quick example of a work experience entry:
Customer Service Support Agent
Witty Solutions, Las Cruces, NM
November 2020 – Present
- Resolved customer inquiries quickly and efficiently, leading to a customer satisfaction rating of 98% based on customer feedback surveys
- Implemented a new feedback system resulting in a 20% increase in positive customer reviews over six months
- Reduced average call handling time by 25% through the implementation of efficient troubleshooting techniques
Education
Not all customer service professionals have or need a strong education section, as many customer service roles are entry-level. However, if you have education, it’s crucial to list it and list it properly.
Simply provide the name of your degree, the name of the institution, and its location. If you have a GPA over 3.5, include that, too.
Here’s an example:
BAA in Marketing
NMSU Global Campus, Las Cruces, NM
2012 – 2016
GPA: 3.8
Is your highest level of education a high school diploma? Then provide that:
High School Diploma
Santa Fe High School
Graduated 2016
Hard and soft skills
Next, list your strongest and most relevant hard and soft skills. Customer service roles famously require a wealth of skills to do the job right, so it’s important to check the job description to see which abilities are most important to the employer, instead of listing every skill you possess.
Here are the most common technical skills for customer service representatives, to get you thinking:
- Technical Literacy
- Product Knowledge
- Point of Sale (POS) Systems
- Microsoft Office and Google Workspace
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
- Data Entry
Here are the most common soft and interpersonal skills for customer service roles:
- Problem-Solving
- Conflict Resolution
- Communication
- Empathy
- Patience
- Up-Selling
Optional sections
The most common optional sections are Languages, Volunteer Work, Certifications, and Hobbies and Interests.
These sections aren’t required but can be useful for people with little experience or education, or those who want to highlight more specific achievements and competencies.
For example, volunteering at a summer camp displays your interpersonal skills.
Always list any additional languages you speak. It’s a great benefit to companies when customer service representatives are bilingual, and recruiters are always on the lookout for them.
Ready to put these sections into action? Grab one of our resume templates and start filling in these sections now.
Tips for Writing a Customer Service Resume
Now you’ve laid a powerful foundation, so let’s discuss a few tactics to make your customer service resume stand out.
A recruiter scans hundreds of resumes every day and you can grab their attention by following a few best practices, such as quantifying your achievements and tailoring your resume specifically.
Check out more of our resume articles for more insights, tips, and tricks to make your resume shine.
Tailor each resume you submit
It’s easy enough to build one resume and apply to every job with it, but it isn’t effective. It’s worth the extra work to closely examine the job description, determine which skills and capabilities the company needs, and then add them to your resume before applying.
This practice helps you decide which work experiences and skills to provide, especially when you have many to list. It’s also the main way to build an ATS resume, which is a resume designed to get past an employer’s applicant tracking system.
Quantify your achievements
Quantifying your achievements is the practice of adding measurable metrics to your resume. This gives the hiring manager a solid example of the accomplishments you’re capable of and is much more valuable than simply listing past responsibilities.
Here’s a comparison of standard responsibilities vs. quantified achievements:
- Standard responsibility: Handled customer calls, answered questions, and resolved issues
- Quantified achievement: Provided a high-quality customer experience by streamlining call processes, reducing customer wait time by 25%
Browse our resume examples for more samples of quantified achievements to inspire your resume.
Try a functional resume
A functional resume is a resume structure that focuses on skills over work experience, so it’s perfect for professionals who are just getting started.
A customer service skills resume lists categories of skills, providing bullet lists of achievements you’ve earned with that skill. It focuses on your core abilities and transferable skills, showing the hiring manager that you have relevant capabilities, even if you don’t have the right experience.
Create an Eye-Catching Customer Service Resume
Building a great customer service resume can be daunting, but with the right strategies it’s a cinch:
- Ensure your contact details are readable and concise
- Tailor your resume to the job description, listing relevant experience and skills
- Quantify your achievements
- Include attractive optional sections, like spoken languages
Ready to put that inspiration to use? Head over to CVwizard’s Resume Builder to create a professional customer service representative resume today.
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