Good customer service representatives are an integral part of any business — defining a company’s image, customer loyalty, customer-business interactions and much more.
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Call Center Agent
Customer Success
Sales Assistant
Retail Cashier
Retail
And the aim of this customer service resume example and writing guide is to help you project an image that you are that very person, someone who will provide a great customer service experience for a company that needs precisely that.
Resume guide for a customer service representative resume
Take your resume to a whole new level with the help of Resume.io. Our expert-backed guides and resume examples cover over 500 professions.
Plus, you can use our resume builder to create an interview-winning application in no time. What we’ll cover in this guide:
- What does a customer service representative do?
- Helping your resume win the battle against hundreds of other applicants
- Resume writing that's not only informative but actually fun to read
- Showing your professionalism and skills on your resume without rich previous experience
- Creating a resume that leads you to great employers and jobs.
What does a customer service representative do?
Customer service representatives typically work by phone addressing questions and resolving complaints raised by clients who have already purchased goods or services from a company.
Some customer service reps also meet clients face to face, by email or via live online chat. The reason for the interaction is not always an existing problem, as sometimes it’s simply a matter of helping to process orders, assist with billing, provide more information or even sell new services.
But customer service reps often deal with clients who are unsatisfied for one reason or another. Customer service reps typically need abundant reservoirs of patience and a demeanor that remains pleasant, helpful and informative.
How to write a customer service representative resume
Before you start writing your customer service representative resume, you need some guidance. Your resume should contain the following elements:
- The resume header
- The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
- The employment history section
- The resume skills section
- The education section
Using the above structure will allow you to lay out your resume like a pro. You also need to keep your audience in mind here. Luckily, here are a few facts about customer service that can help guide the resume writing process:
Fact #1: Customer service is one of the best areas for entry-level applicants. Customer service provides amazing opportunities for career growth for talented employees. Working in this position also develops a huge amount of soft skills. It allows for awesome networking in the professional world.
Fact #2: Customer service is viewed by companies and brands as extremely important. And it affects the bottom line. That's because 91% of customers are willing to spend more with a business when it has a level of personalized customer service.
Fact #3: Technological solutions, CSR platforms and chat bots are changing how customer service is provided.
In addition, digital customer service experience is about apps, interfaces, digital requests, CSR platforms, etc. Along with an emphasis on social and communication skills, technological aptitude is becoming more important for customer service representatives. In this resume guide, we'll take a look at how this impacts your resume in each section.
Optimize your resume for the ATS!
If you want to get ahead of the competition, including the right keywords in your resume could be the answer.
Many recruiters now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The software reviews incoming applications to see how well they fit the criteria of the job.
If you want to get past the ATS screening software, peppering your resume with keywords from the job advert will help. Give it a go now!
Choosing the right resume format for a customer service representative
Resume formats influence how you are perceived before any physical meeting. The two most important goals to pursue with any resume format are as follows:
- To avoid a complicated resume format at all costs.
- Try to make the format symmetrical, clean and easy to read.
As a general rule, we recommend the reverse chronological resume format as standard. However, there will be times when other options better suit your career goals. To get the inside scoop, read our comprehensive resume format guide now.
Include your contact information
First things first, you need to work on your resume header. This part of your resume contains your basic information. You should include the following elements:
- Full name & title. Your first and last name. You should also include the name of the role for which you are applying.
- Professional email address. The golden rule is to have an email address that includes your first and last name. Avoid nicknames or random words.
- Phone number. You can use your personal number here so they can call you.
- Location. You only need to list your city and state. You don't need to include your entire address or details like your zip code here.
- LinkedIn. Should your LinkedIn profile be up to date, add a link to it here.
Make sure that the information in your header is clear and easy to read. If you are using a colorful template, check that the text stands out for the right reasons.
Don't include the following:
- Personal details. You don't need to include private things, such as your social security number or marital status.
- Date of birth. The hiring manager does not need to know how old you are.
Michelle Smith
Customer Service Representative
Social security number:
123-45-6789
Make use of a summary
For many people, a customer service representative position is one of the best entry-level opportunities. Your resume summary should be a short but engaging story.
For many recruiters and HR professionals, your summary may be the most important part of your resume. If your basic qualifications are in place, the summary is what makes you stand out. It’s your first introduction, and it’s often your only chance to be creative on your resume.
Your customer service representative resume summary should be a description of yourself with a premium on interpersonal skills, but with a dash of technological aptitude. You can include some handy action verbs to stand out from the crowd here.
As for personal qualities, two are king: dependability and empathy. Customer service is time-sensitive, so it’s important to show you’ll be there when needed. Empathy ensures you connect with the clients on a human level.
Looking for some inspiration? Check out our:
If you find the job description to be confusing, too wordy or complicated, there are additional tools you can use to analyze it. Word clouds are a great way to understand which ideas and qualities are the most important to an employer.
Services like Wordle or Worditout.com will help you make sense of listings that aren’t written in a clear way. Word clouds will also show you hidden patterns if there are any. This may become your secret weapon against automated ATS filtering.
You can find adaptable customer service representative resume examples summary below:
Customer Service Representative dedicated to identifying customer needs and delivering effective solutions to all problems. Excellent time management skills combined with a superior knowledge of the customer service industry. Bilingual, hardworking, and ready to learn.
Dedicated Customer Service Representative with 5+ years of experience dedicated to providing quality care for ultimate customer satisfaction. Proven ability to establish and maintain excellent communication and relationships with clients. Adept in general accounting and finance transactions.
Experienced Customer Service Representative with over 10 years in the industry working with leading brands, such as Samsung and Apple. Proven track record of customer satisfaction with 99.5% overall conversion rating. Skilled in training new reps and working as part of a team.
Outline your customer representative work experience
Customer service representative positions may be perceived as entry-level. But there’s room for growth. And there’s also room to demonstrate your life/professional experience in other fields.
Craft a career history to impress employers. There’s some great news for people making a career change from other areas: this is one of the most universal professional fields, with a variety of industries requiring specialists in customer service.
Some of the most common positions are in the business support, restaurant and food, retail, banking and financial areas.
If you have worked in similar fields before and are applying for related jobs, it makes sense to prioritize this relevant years of experience on your resume.
The next thing you want to do to surpass your competition is to provide resume bullet points or notes on your achievements, milestones and noteworthy duties in previous jobs.
Adapt this sample to your own experience for a highly effective work history section.
Branch Customer Service Representative at AT&T Inc., Seattle
August 2018 - Present
- Maintain up to date knowledge of products and services.
- Handle customer calls and responded to queries about services, product malfunctions, promotions, and billing.
- Work to address all customer concerns in a timely and effective manner.
- Handle large volume of calls on a day-to-day basis with a sense of calm and good work ethic.
- Develop successful tactics to sell products and services to customers.
- Work to understand the needs of each customer.
Customer Service Representative at Gold Coast Hotel, Seattle
August 2016 - August 2018
- Greeted customers with enthusiasm and a delightful and helpful attitude.
- Provided guests and potential guests with up-to-date information about hotel and promotional offerings.
- Effectively sold rooms to walk-in customers.
- Responded to guest complaints in a professional and effective way.
- Processed payments and informed hotel staff of room status and availability.
- Provided superiors with work logs, demonstrating accountability.
Customer Sales Representative at Macy's, Bellevue
October 2014 - May 2016
- Greeted customers in a friendly and helpful manner.
- Provided high quality customer service to customers.
- Handled sales transactions and returns in a timely manner.
- Answered all questions regarding products and promotions.
- Aimed to keep customers satisfied and returning to Macy's.
How to write a customer service representative resume with no experience
If you're new to the working world, don't panic. You can still write a convincing resume. So what do you do if you just graduated from college?
Be sure to highlight your rich work/life experience, your past jobs in other fields and your best qualities, and demonstrate some real passion about being productive in a customer service position.
Include the diverse range of skills that you have in your application. Chances are, you've picked up some skills from voluntary work or even your education. Focus on how you will use these in your newfound role.
Include the relevant key skills that make you a great customer service representative
Your skills section needs to be truthful and needs to reflect who you are as a valuable professional.
Create a master list of your most noteworthy skills, where you brainstorm and write out every competency you possess that could go on your resume. Save that list and keep it for future resumes, and enrich it as you gain more experience.
When using it for resume creation, filter out the "weakest" points and transfer to your resume only those that apply to the specific customer service job you’re aiming for.
- Write out a "master list" of skills that you possess to varying degrees of expertise and relevance.
- Cherry-pick the most appropriate and important based on the job application and employer.
- Ignore social skills (these are critical for CS specialists).
- Ignore the specifics of the industry and job application.
- Create a skills section in your resume without prior research (such as guides or statistics).
Most prospective customer support representatives have an intuitive understanding that soft skills are king for the profession. But guessing and knowing for sure are quite different.
Soft skills are going to be the main focus of any recruiter or HR professional evaluating a customer service application. You need to have excellent communication, teamwork skills, and organizational skills as standard.
However, nearly every job market has been impacted by technological innovations. This means that hard skills have more importance than they did in previous years. For example, if you are a pro when it comes to apps or software, you're onto a real winner. Go ahead and shout about the proficiencies that you have.
Include a healthy mix of both soft and hard skills in your customer service representative resume. Check out our example below if you need some inspiration.
Customer service representative skills
Detail your education & relevant customer service certifications
Next up, you need to write your education section. Customer service specialists come from all sorts of educational backgrounds. Due to the universal nature of customer service, you can be confident in showcasing almost any degree or certificate. You may include:
- Training and certifications. That means any courses, workshops, or online courses you have taken over the years.
- Internships. If you broke into the industry by going down this route, talk about it now.
- Professional development. Should you be a member of a specific society or board, you may find that highlighting it bolsters your resume.
There’s no need to list your high school experience if you have enough content elsewhere on your customer service resume. Take a look at our example here:
Bachelor of Communications, University of Seattle, Seattle
August 2007 - May 2011
- Graduated with High Honors.
High School Diploma, Hartwick High School, Hartwick
September 2003 - May 2007
Pick the right resume layout and design for a customer service representative resume
Customer service is about human interaction, problem solving, patience and reliability. Logically, your template and visual layout should reflect some combination of accessible (clean and friendly) design with a certain amount of structure to demonstrate an organized approach to your work.
Our template collection has a wide variety of resume formats to choose from, perfect for customer service positions. You can highlight some human character and organized reliability through the template visuals. Choose one template example and tailor it to each customer service position through our editor tool.
Our templates come in four categories: Modern, Professional, Simple and Creative. Nearly all the layouts in the first three categories can be an excellent fit for a customer service job. You’ll just need to select a format based on your personal taste and the size of your relevant sections.
Customer service representative job market and outlook
If you are thinking of breaking into the world of customer services, there is stiff competition. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this role is in decline and expected to decrease by 5% between 2022 and 2032.
Since there are likely to be fewer jobs available in the coming years, it has never been more important to make sure you stand out from the crowd.
What type of salary you can expect in customer services?
Title
The exact amount you take home will depend on a range of factors. Keep in mind that some of these roles are commission-based. That means that you can make a higher income if you make more sales.
Customer Service Representative text-only resume example
Profile
Customer Service Representative dedicated to identifying customer needs and delivering effective solutions to all problems. Excellent time management skills combined with a superior knowledge of the customer service industry. Bilingual, hardworking, and ready to learn.
Employment history
Branch Customer Service Representative at AT&T Inc., Seattle
August 2018 - Present
- Maintain up to date knowledge of products and services.
- Handle customer calls and responded to queries about services, product malfunctions, promotions, and billing.
- Work to address all customer concerns in a timely and effective manner.
- Handle large volume of calls on a day-to-day basis with a sense of calm and good work ethic.
- Develop successful tactics to sell products and services to customers.
- Work to understand the needs of each customer.
Customer Service Representative at Gold Coast Hotel, Seattle
August 2016 - August 2018
- Greeted customers with enthusiasm and a delightful and helpful attitude.
- Provided guests and potential guests with up-to-date information about hotel and promotional offerings.
- Effectively sold rooms to walk-in customers.
- Responded to guest complaints in a professional and effective way.
- Processed payments and informed hotel staff of room status and availability.
- Provided superiors with work logs, demonstrating accountability.
Customer Sales Representative at Macy's, Bellevue
October 2014 - May 2016
- Greeted customers in a friendly and helpful manner.
- Provided high quality customer service to customers.
- Handled sales transactions and returns in a timely manner.
- Answered all questions regarding products and promotions.
- Aimed to keep customers satisfied and returning to Macy's.
Skills
- Excellent Communication Skills
- Troubleshooting Skills
- Multitasking Skills
- Mediation and Negotiation Skills
- Marketing Strategies
Education
Bachelor of Communications, University of Seattle, Seattle
August 2007 - May 2011
- Graduated with High Honors.
High School Diploma, Hartwick High School, Hartwick
September 2003 - May 2007
Key takeaways for a customer service resume
- Customer service has grown in complexity due to technological shifts. Competition is higher, so having a great resume is much more important than before.
- Your summary is the best way to show some personality, energy and social qualities – essential for customer service positions.
- Make use of limited recruiter time in the best way: Use reverse chronological order for your employment history.
- The resume template or layout conveys character. It's your visual ambassador preceding an interview.
If you want the perfect tool to save time and get a great job, use Resume.io’s builder tool with professionally made and recruiter-tested resume templates.
Check out our free resume samples for inspiration. And if you’ve been fortunate enough to land a job interview, check out this blog about how to ace your customer service job interview.
