Tips for Using a Customer Service Resume Template

Personalize Your Summary Statement

When you're trying to get a customer service job, a summary statement is more effective than an objective statement. A summary statement shows a recruiter what you have to offer, whether that's experience providing effective customer service, or a pleasing approach when assisting clients. An objective statement merely tells a potential recruiter or employer that you'd like a position, not what you can actually offer them.

The combination resume format is ideal for a customer service resume if you have some experience in the field because it provides a way to include the kind of interpersonal skills, or soft skills, that are hard to otherwise quantify. However, be sure to include any quantifiable details that apply, such as serving a large number of customers daily or winning awards for exemplary customer service.

To help you get started, here’s an example of a summary section in a combination resume that includes measurable customer service skills.

Focus on Customer Service Skills

The skills section is where you build the foundation of your customer service resume. When you're reading job postings and job descriptions looking for keywords, think about ways you've applied the important skills listed. Choose four to six main keywords to include in your skills section. Then, tie each skill to a related action that you've performed in previous jobs.

Personalize your resume with skills that apply to the job to which you're applying. This helps to ensure you get the chance to show how well your skills fit a specific position.

Job postings on company websites and job descriptions from sites like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are useful places to look for information about what skills you need to include in your resume. Job boards that are focused on retail positions are also helpful for finding customer service-related keywords.

Look for repeated roles or responsibilities in the job posting — these frequent words are keywords and indicate crucial customer service skills that the employer is specifically looking for. Be sure to include those keywords in your resume if you have the necessary skills and requirements. Prioritize those keywords in your summary statement and scatter them throughout your work history and previous training sections.

Some customer service keywords and phrases that are commonly requested by hiring managers include:

General Skills

• Handle complaints
• Describe products and services
• Consultative selling skills
• Process orders
• Computer skills
• Account management (process payments/create invoices)
• Voice over internet protocol (VoIP)

Soft Skills

• Listening: Customers want to speak with someone who can not only solve their problems and questions but also cares. This skill will lead to higher customer satisfaction, fewer mistakes and improved brand reputation.
• Communication: The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important skills in a customer service arsenal. Miscommunication can result in poor customer satisfaction or conflict.
• Calmness: A great customer service representative needs to stay calm, even when a situation with the customer gets heated. To be the best candidate, you need to be patient and let customers know you’re working hard to solve the problem.
• Reliability: When you make a promise to a customer, you have to follow through. Don’t make assumptions and never over-promise. This customer service skill shows customers and employers they can rely on you.
• Ability to read customers' body language: A good customer service representative should be able to read the customer’s current emotional state. This is important in order to avoid misunderstanding and conflict.
• Willingness to learn: You should aim to be an expert at what you do. This will increase your confidence when working with customers and make you more credible. Always work on developing your customer service skills.
• Great time-management: While you should spend time establishing a rapport with customers, you should also work to get them what they need as quickly and efficiently as possible.
• Goal-oriented: Your goals could be “reply to every customer within an hour” or “improve customer service satisfaction ratings by 15 percent by the end of the year.” Setting realistic goals and achieving them is a good way to grow your customer service skills.
• Goes above and beyond: Try to consistently deliver beyond your customer’s expectations.
• Ability to close deals: Closing the deal doesn’t only mean making a sale. It also means you should end every conversation with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of.

If you meet more than six of the keywords you identified, fold the remaining skills into your summary statement and work history sections. Naturally, adding keywords increase the chance of an applicant tracking system (ATS) pulling your resume for further review. However, adding keywords where they don't make sense, or including them in nonsensical sentences might cause your resume to get flagged as spam by an ATS.

While customer service jobs may vary widely regarding the skills and training required for a particular position, there are some qualifications that are universal in customer service. These include things like friendly service, prompt attention to client needs and accurately recording orders. Look to the required keywords and prepare every resume to match the ad you're answering.

How to List Work Experience

You may have a lot of work experience that makes you wonder what to include in your customer service resume. If that's the case, the job posting is a valuable source of information. The recruiter who posted the open job is telling you which skills are valued at the company, so focus your work experience in a way that lets you describe the skills featured in the job posting.

Another way to determine what to include is to browse through our collection of customer service above to find one that uses a combination format. When you read the information that other customer service professionals have included in resumes, it can help you choose which details are important to mention when you add your work history.

An example of a work history section that contains quantifiable achievements is shown below.

Showcase Education and Training

When you begin to write this last resume section, where you list your education and job training, remember to keep connecting the information and keywords in the job description as much as possible. Most positions in customer service require only a high school diploma, though any advanced education or on-the-job customer service training you've taken may be added.

A sample of how to write the education section of a customer service resume is shown below.

• Certified in the operation of Microsoft Office Suite, including spreadsheet and document processing
• Experienced at using VoIP to communicate with clients