Customer Service Representative Resume Template: Guide and Free Download Examples

Ready to start writing your resume? Follow each step of this guide to learn crucial tips for crafting a good resume that will impress employers.

First, decide which of the three resume formats will best portray your achievements and skills. Each resume format serves as a blueprint for how you’ll organize your resume’s content.

The chronological format is the most commonly used format. This format focuses on the applicant’s work experience as the main source of information for the employer. However, we only recommend this format to candidates with 10 or more years of relevant experience. For example, a customer service representative who has worked for many years in multiple banks should use this format.

The functional format is a better choice for candidates with no previous work experience. In contrast to chronological resumes, functional resumes highlight the applicant’s skills section. This format is ideal for entry-level positions such as call center customer service representatives just starting out.

The functional format showcases both the work history and skills sections. Applicants who are changing careers or vying for promotion should consider this format since it shows you have valuable skills and some experience as well. Let’s say you’ve been working in telemarketing for a couple of years and you want to apply to the Call Center Manager position. The combination resume will show your potential employer you have the necessary knowledge and practical experience for that managerial role.

When writing your resume, one of the first sections you’ll tackle is the summary statement. This section consists of two to three sentences that introduce yourself to your employer. You should include key information such as years of experience, your top three skills, and any standout accomplishments.

Check out this example of a customer service representative summary statement:

When selecting the skills for your resume you should always include a good variety of the three skills types: soft, hard and technical skills. Employers want to know you can perform the task at hand, but also do it in the most efficient way possible. A mix of skills types shows you’re a well-rounded candidate.

Let’s go over what these skill types mean.

Hard skills are the skills that help you perform tasks specific to your job or industry. They are learned through education, training, or on-the-job experience. Some customer service hard skills can be upselling, cross-selling, product knowledge, and complaint-resolution.

Soft skills will be the backbone of your customer service since they describe how politely and efficiently you solve clients’ problems. Soft skills refer to your attitude or behavior when doing certain tasks. In customer service, key soft skills are excellent verbal and written communication, patience, memorization, emotional intelligence and critical thinking.

Technical skills relate to your knowledge of specific digital tools such as job-related software, Microsoft Office tools, or mass email services. For example, customer service representatives may need knowledge of customer support software and programs such as, Zendesk, SurveyMonkey, Odoo, EZOfficeInventory, to name a few.

Use this list as a resource when looking for skills to add to your customer service resume. Pick between six to eight skills to include in your resume:

Depending on the resume format you chose, you will have either one or multiple skills sections. For chronological resumes, a simple listed skills section will suffice. For combination and functional resumes, you can have more than one skills section, whether listed or expanded.

Let’s go over an example of a functional resume’s skills section entry:

Skills

Customer satisfaction

• Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars in all customer engagement surveys
• Successfully closed 100% of all customer complaints with positive customer feedback
• Won Employee of the Month award consecutively based on customer rating, highest percentage of solved complaints and management’s recommendation

The work history section is one of the most important sections of chronological and combination resumes. Key elements in your work history entries will of course include the job title, company name, its location, and dates of employment. Each job will be followed by three to four bullet points that describe the main achievements, skills and tasks you performed.

To really maximize this section, we recommend you go over the job description, and note which skills and keywords are repeated throughout. Including those skills and qualifications on your work history will make your resume score highly on applicant tracking systems (ATS) and show you’re the perfect match for that particular job.

An indispensable strategy for optimizing your work history is to include quantifiable achievements. Using percentages, dollar amounts and numbers to quantify the impact of your labor helps employers place value on your contributions.

Check out this work history entry for a customer service representative resume:

You will need a high school diploma or equivalent if you want to work as a customer service representative. When crafting your education section, you can be flexible with the information you include. If your highest level of education is a high school diploma, don’t include the graduation dates. If employers can trace back the years to when you went to school, they will know your exact age, and you can potentially face hiring bias.

For candidates with college degrees, you can include the degree title, the institution you attended, its location and dates of attendance. Check out the education section example below:

Including certified training in customer service can also boost your resume. You can add a custom section titled Certifications, and include any courses you have completed. For example:

Certifications

AIB Customer Service Representative Certificate (CSSR) Bank Training Center 01/2013