Customer Service Resume Examples &
Tips to Get You Ahead
How can you create a great resume if you’re in customer service? Use our tips and customer service CV examples to get the job you deserve.
How can you create a great resume if you’re in customer service? Use our tips and customer service CV examples to get the job you deserve.
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Table of Contents
Check out this customer service resume example to help you create your own impressive resume. If you need some help, our Resume Builder guides you step-by-step. After you look at this example, get started on building your customer service resume.
To start or enhance your career in customer service, you need to develop an impressive customer service resume that will help you stand out from the competition. When writing your customer service resume, follow our tips on this page, including:
Employers are looking to see that you are the right fit for the job role that you are applying to. Consider these elements to include in your resume:
Based on your customer service experience level will help determine which resume format to use. Here is an overview of the most popular resume formats:
Also known as the reverse-chronological resume, this is the most popular format. If you have ample customer service experience, this chronological resume format works well because it focuses on your job history. List your most recent job first and work backward. Including your skills shows the employer that you have the qualifications to perform this specific job. Customer service managers would most likely have enough customer service industry experience to use this resume format.
Almost always the right choice. Ideal if you’re applying for a customer service position that’s similar to the job you’ve most recently had or still have. If you want to show the trajectory of your customer service career over the course of multiple years, there’s no better format than a reverse-chronological resume.
On the flip side, if you don’t have much experience with customer service, a reverse-chronological resume might not adequately highlight your relevant skill set for the position you want. Similarly, any long stretches of unemployment will feature prominently on a reverse chronological resume and could lead to interview questions that might be difficult to answer.
If you have less customer service work experience, a recent graduate or you are rejoining the workforce after an absence, a functional resume is the right format for you. The functional resume allows you to emphasize your skill set, education and past training rather than job history. Besides listing skills that showcase your talent, you can also include volunteer work that required your customer service-related skills like communication, problem solving and compassion.
A good choice for a career shift. If you’re hoping to make a big career change from a field outside of customer service, a functional resume allows you to highlight skills or experiences that might be more relevant to a customer service job. A functional resume can also help minimize resume blemishes like “job-hopping” or unemployment.
Not a favorite of hiring managers. Because many people use this format to conceal unfavorable experiences, it invites some suspicion. To overcome this suspicion, write a direct cover letter with a brief explanation for your career shift.
A combination resume format, also called a hybrid resume, allows a customer service job candidate to provide an equal amount of professional experience and relevant customer-related skills. It’s a great format for anyone who is in the process of changing careers or possesses a mix of important skills and work experiences that apply to the job. Job candidates looking for a customer service representative position may want to use this resume format.
Great if you have little or no work experience. You can highlight your relevant skills. Then you’ll show your job history, volunteer work, and other relevant experiences that demonstrate you have the character and capabilities to be a good customer service professional.
As this resume is not as common as the standard reverse chronological resume, many employers may not appreciate the deviation from the standard resume organization they usually see. If the company uses an ATS (as most do), your resume may never make it out of the first round.
Regardless of the resume format you select, you want to be sure that your margins look even on all four sides, set to one inch. Opt for a professional and legible resume font such as Arial or Verdana so your resume reads well in the ATS. All resume sections should have consistent line spacing to ensure an aesthetically pleasing appearance. You should also consider the overall amount of white space on the page. You want to find a happy medium so it does not look sparse, yet you are not simply cramming your information on the page.
Our Resume Builder can help you quickly create an attractive and functional resume. Just pick a customer service resume template, one of the resume formats and the builder will guide you through the resume creation process with job-specific advice for each resume section.
Before you start writing your professional resume, read the job description and see what the employer is looking for in a candidate. Then, think about your work experience and skills, and consider what information you want to include in the resume sections below.
Your customer service resume begins with the header at the top of the page.
Include the following:
Confirm that your contact information is current so the hiring manager can easily contact you for a job interview if selected.
The next section is your resume summary or resume objective. If you have ample customer service work experience, you will write a resume summary; a two-to-three-sentence paragraph that provides a brief overview of your best skills and work history. In customer service, you would typically feature how you’ve performed your responsibilities, the number of customers you dealt with daily and your proven customer satisfaction in the industry. For example:
Customer service professional with four years of experience combines energy and empathy with a solid history of achievement in retail. Areas of expertise include communication, problem-solving skills and reading physical and emotional cues.
If you have less work experience, are an entry-level job seeker or are changing careers, a resume objective is better suited for your resume. An objective is similar to a summary but also includes a statement on your career goals. In customer service, mention your most relevant skills used on a daily basis in handling customers (communication, empathy and dependability) and include future career goals, such as gaining a leadership position in managing customer issues quickly and patiently. For example:
Former retail manager with eight years of direct customer experience and technical expertise seeks opportunity to transfer well-developed communication skills to customer service position.
When hiring managers or recruiters look at your customer service resume, they’ll be looking for a few key resume skills that a customer service professional should have.
Here are some top soft skills you may want to include:
Here are some hard skills and technical skills you may include:
Remember to include your most relevant skills that are directly tailored to the job you are applying for. The employer will be looking for the most qualified customer service job candidate so include the right skills on your resume.
This resume section is where you can show off your customer service experience. Start with your most recent position and work backwards to your previous jobs. Include your position title, years of experience and a brief description of your job duties performed in that role. Whether you list experience as a customer service rep, customer service manager, customer service assistant or customer service specialist, use powerful action verbs, quantify your achievements and highlight your accomplishments rather than simply list daily job tasks. You want the employer to see that you can handle the specific responsibilities that match the new job that you are applying for.
Here are a few examples of work experience section bullet points to consider for your customer service resume:
Your education section on a customer service resume will depend on the level of the position that you are applying for. Entry level positions may not require a college degree. Customer service managers may require a bachelor degree in business administration, communications or another major. Either way, list your top academic achievement whether it is a college degree or high school diploma. Include the name of the school you attended, graduation year, academic honors, awards and licenses. Unless requested, don’t include your GPA.
Here is an example of a college graduate’s resume education section:
Rollins College
BBA – Bachelor of Business Administrations, May 2019
Magna cum laude
Dean’s listMarketing Student of the Year, May 2018
2nd place, Business Plan Contest, December 2019
Here is an example of a high school graduate’s resume education section:
Winter Park High School
High School Diploma, June 2019
Honor roll
Manager, Young Business Leaders Club
Business Achievement Award presented at graduation, June 2019
If you have additional accomplishments that will make your customer service resume more impressive, you can add additional resume sections. This may include volunteer activities, additional relevant training, awards or certifications. Include the organization name, location and time of involvement. The fact that you performed these extra efforts will show that you have many skills required in the customer service field in addition to an exemplary work ethic.
If you can speak more than one language, that is usually important to list on a customer service resume. You can list your proficiency in a number of different ways. For example, “Fluent in English; Intermediate proficiency in Spanish.”
Here are some examples of volunteer activities, training certificates and awards:
Volunteer work
Information Booth, St. Patrick’s Church Spring Fair, 2018 to present – 500+ attendees.
Raffle ticket fundraising, Wilton Animal Shelter, August 2019 – Raised $750
Orlando library, Children’s section, June 2019 – Shelf organization of 200+ books
Online Customer Service Training Certificates
LinkedIn: Build Your Skills in Customer Service, August 2019
LinkedIn: Customer Service Foundations, September 2019
Dale Carnegie: Attitudes for Service
Awards
Orlando True Value Hardware, Employee of the Month – Customer Satisfaction “A” rating, December 2021
Volunteer of the Year, St. Killian’s Church, Farmingdale, NY, December 2018
Grandville Community Service Award, Grandville, Ohio, June 2019
Make sure to keep your customer service resume sections concise and relevant to the job you are applying for. If you’re not sure where to start with formatting your resume, then it may be helpful to look at customer service resume examples or start with a resume template.
ResumeHelp is filled with expert job search resources and guides for writing a professional customer service resume to accompany your references.
Customer Service Skill Tips – Learn everything you need to know about listing your customer service skills in your resume.
Tips for a Customer Service Job Description – Gain lots of helpful tips on how you can best feature your customer service job.
More Resume Examples for Hundreds of Jobs – Looking at industry specific resume examples is the perfect way to start writing your professional customer service resume.
How to Write a Resume – Follow expert writing tips to make your customer service resume stand out among the competition.
A good customer service cover letter is an important step toward being offered a job interview. That’s because a cover letter addresses the hiring manager or recruiter directly by providing a highlighted summary of your job experience and skills. You are not only saying how you meet the job requirements but also mentioning your passion for the industry and the company you are wanting to work for.
The most effective cover letters are easy to read and quickly grab the reader’s attention. Length should be somewhere between a half page and ¾ of a page. Certainly, write no more than one page. Don’t put too much time into summarizing your experience — that’s the resume’s purpose. But give some insight into how you specifically fit their company and what value you would bring to the position.
ResumeHelp offers you lots of cover letter writing tips and customer service cover letter examples to follow when writing a cover letter to accompany your resume. Our Cover Letter Builder will guide you through every step of the cover letter writing process.
If you’re looking to get started working in customer service or want to enhance your customer service career, you want to show that you enjoy solving problems through effective communication and presentation skills.
On your resume, include all relevant experience that shows your ability to work directly with customers. Highlight specific customer-related accomplishments that demonstrate your ability to work in a fast-paced work environment where negotiation and conflict resolution is expected.
For references, check out the resume samples on this page, as well as our library of resume examples. Many successful job candidates have followed a customer service resume example to build their own.
On your customer service resume, you can describe your skills in your resume summary or objective, your work history section and in the skills section. Use a combination of soft skills (personality traits and attributes) and hard skills (learned on the job or through training).
Use these skills to convince the potential employer that you have what it takes to handle customer issues, describe products, take orders, help navigate customers around a store, settle complaints and other customer service tasks.
With so much competition among job seekers, to make your customer service resume stand out, be sure to be specific. Feature customer support work experiences that show hiring managers you’ve gone above and beyond in assisting customers. Display customer satisfaction ratings, if possible. Include metrics like how many customers you help daily or the number of incoming phone calls you handle. Find sections in your resume to demonstrate how you performed excellent communication, multitasking and time management.
If you don’t have relevant customer service experience, you can mention examples of performance that could transfer to customer service jobs. Think about experiences in prior positions that highlight the hard and soft skills mentioned above. Many jobs involve customer service skills, even if the role isn’t specifically named a customer service role, so highlight those crossover skills.
Your qualifications will depend on the actual customer service rep role that you are applying to. Refer to the job description for specific role requirements and compare them to your own work history resume section. To be qualified as a customer service representative, you will have to effectively communicate with customers, evaluate the issues and quickly come up with solutions.
Most importantly, a customer service rep must possess patience and interpersonal skills, especially to handle complaints and escalated situations. A customer service representative resume example is a great way to start writing your own resume.
To improve your customer service skills, it’s important to stay positive and refrain from saying things like “no”, “I can’t”, “I don’t know” or other similar statements. While working to improve customer satisfaction, practice active listening while trying to empathize with the customer. Additionally, it’s crucial to know the product you’re representing like the back of your hand. After all, if you’re not up to date on the product you’re working with, customers can become frustrated and misunderstandings may arise quickly.
To improve your customer service skills, it’s important to stay positive and refrain from saying things like “no”, “I can’t”, “I don’t know” or other similar statements. While working to improve customer satisfaction, practice active listening while trying to empathize with the customer.
Additionally, it’s crucial to know the product you’re representing like the back of your hand. After all, if you’re not up to date on the product you’re working with, customers can become frustrated and misunderstandings may arise quickly.
Customer service is so important because many customers become easily frustrated with a company if they aren’t helpful. Your job as a customer service representative is to handle customer needs, improve customer satisfaction and retain customers.
Staying positive, providing solutions and extending a genuine helping hand to customers can ensure customer loyalty, increased retention, and high customer satisfaction ratings.
While most skills are important, not all skills are worth including on your resume. Avoid listing skills that don’t relate to the specific job you’re applying for, or basic skills that most people perform on a daily basis.
Don’t include skills that you are not proficient in performing. Only include relevant skills that can set you apart from other applicants. If you never worked in customer service, feature transferable skills from previous jobs that can be utilized at the new customer service job. Perhaps you were a library assistant who organized books but also helped library patrons select a good book. You technically were performing customer service skills.
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