If the job you’re seeking is in the customer service field, you’ve got to develop the key skills that make you an appealing candidate. These skills should bolster your ability to assist customers in resolving their issues, while also ensuring that customers walk away happy.
Employers understand the importance of stellar customer service, so when they’re recruiting, they’ll be on the lookout for applicants with resumes that promote their awesome customer service skills.
Here are the top skills you should incorporate into your customer service skills resume:
1. Communication
When you’re assisting customers, you need to be able to convey information clearly and concisely to the customer so that they can resolve their issue without added confusion. Not only are the words you choose important, but conveying your message with tact can also be equally important in determining if your communication with the customer is ultimately effective.
How to Convey Communication Skills On Your Resume
Here’s an ideal bullet point from our call center representative resume sample.
- Handle 50+ customer interactions per day, giving detailed, personalized, friendly & polite service to ensure customer retention
Notice how the inclusion of “50+ customer interactions” quantifies the applicant’s experience, which clearly expresses to employers just how heavily communication features in the applicant’s daily duties.
2. Technical
Working in the customer service industry requires you to use specific software and equipment that enhances your ability to help customers. Outside of the usual Microsoft Office tools, you’ll need to adapt to customer support software such as Blazedesk or LiveChat, as well as familiarize yourself with any new software that your company decides to adopt.
How to Convey Technical Skills On Your Resume
Let’s take a look at an excellent bullet point from our customer service resume example.
- Trained two new employees in how to use Kayako, entering customer data and organizing customer interaction logs
Notice how this applicant directly names Kayako, a customer service software, while describing how he what he has used Kayako for in his daily duties. He also trained other employees on how to use Kayako, which is a definite plus because it shows managerial potential.
3. Interpersonal
Customer satisfaction is a great way for employers to assess an employee’s interpersonal skills.
Interacting with people is a key part of customer service. If you have stellar interpersonal skills, your approachable demeanor and ability to cultivate friendships is a valuable asset that will help you build stronger customer relationships that benefit your company.
How to Convey Interpersonal Skills On Your Resume
Let’s return to another well-crafted bullet point from our customer service resume example.
- Received an average 85% customer satisfaction rating to date, 15% higher than company average
Customer satisfaction is a great way for employers to assess an employee’s interpersonal skills. This is because customers are unlikely to give customer service agents high ratings if they weren’t treated well, even if their questions were ultimately answered.
4. Problem Solving
When a customer comes to you to resolve an issue, you need to have the problem solving skills necessary to effectively deal with the issue at hand, no matter what it is. This skill is also related to conflict resolution.
If the customer is angry and has a problem with your company, you’ll also need to know how to de-escalate the situation and resolve the matter of contention efficiently.
How to Convey Problem Solving Skills On Your Resume
Let’s take a look at our customer service representative for another exemplary bullet point for you to consider.
- Research complicated cases without prompting to provide more comprehensive service to customers
This professional experience bullet point is an excellent example of our applicant proactively seeking out information to solve a problem and provide better customer service. Since the research was done without prompting, it shows initiative and reinforces how this applicant is a capable employee.
5. Patience
This ability to stay collected at all times is an important weapon in the arsenal of a customer service agent that your employer definitely appreciates.
Whether the customer is having a bad day and takes it out on you or just has an asinine question, customer service representatives need to have a lot of patience to field all of these queries without losing their cool.
If you blow up at customers, you risk damaging your company’s reputation and turning away paying customers of your product or service.
How to Convey Patience On Your Resume
Let’s check out our customer service representative resume sample for a notable bullet point.
- Remained courteous and calm at all times, even during moments of intense customer displeasure
Being able to stay cordial, even in the face of “intense customer displeasure” provides evidence of this applicant’s large reserves of patience. This ability to stay collected at all times is an important weapon in the arsenal of a customer service agent that your employer definitely appreciates.
6. Knowledge of Product or Service
Since you’re presenting yourself to the customer as an expert or authority on the field of your product or service, you need know everything about it so that customers have confidence in you and the solution you offer.
Whether your company specializes in a product or service, as a customer service professional, you need to be extensively familiar with it.
How to Convey Knowledge of Products or Service On Your Resume
Here’s an example of a well-written bullet point from our call center representative resume sample.
- Memorized entire line of company products & services, including prices and special discounts
In this professional experience bullet point, the applicant notifies the employer that he was able to familiarize himself with the entire catalog of the company’s products and services.
If an applicant has memorized everything there is to know about the company’s products and services, he’ll be able to provide better customer service.
This is what makes this memorization bullet point especially appealing to employers.
7. Time Management
As a customer service agent, it’s unlikely that you’ll be helping one customer at a time. In times like this, excellent time management skills come in handy. You need to know how to balance multiple tasks at once and solve them all in a timely manner.
How to Convey Time Management Skills On Your Resume
Let’s take a look at this quality bullet point from our customer service representative resume sample.
- Handle 90+ calls daily, with duties including signing up new customers, retrieving customer data, presenting relevant product information, and canceling services
Having the bandwidth to “handle 90+ calls daily” requires exceptional time management skills. Employers know that without the ability to productively use his time, the applicant wouldn’t have been as efficient or as accomplished, which is why this is an effective professional experience bullet point.
8. Empathy
Empathy is the ability for someone to understand the feelings of another person as if he or she had experienced them him or herself. This ability is incredibly useful for people in the customer service field because it allows these agents to better understand where customers are coming from so that they can help customers out more effectively.
How to Convey Empathy On Your Resume
Here’s a model bullet point from our call center representative resume sample.
- Handle 50+ customer interactions per day, giving detailed, personalized, friendly & polite service to ensure customer retention
The use of the word “personalized” in this professional experience bullet point indicates that this applicant has the capacity to take in the customer’s circumstances and reflect back what they need. This is an exercise in empathy that makes the applicant a valued customer service professional.
9. Adaptability
Customers can throw a wrench into things with unexpected requests, so having the quick wits about you to adjust to the new circumstances at hand is a prized quality.
If you’re a customer service representative who is able to switch from one situation to the next without breaking a sweat or panicking, customers will feel better about entrusting you with their affairs.
How to Convey Adaptability Skills On Your Resume
Here’s a praiseworthy bullet point from our customer service representative resume sample.
- Learned how to use Kayako and Zendesk customer service software, as well as Parcel Audit to track shipments and report on movement
In this professional experience bullet point, notice how this applicant had to learn how to use multiple customer service tools over the course of his job. This shows how he had to adapt to new situations and wasn’t afraid to pick up new expertise along the way, which is a highly valued trait in customer service agents.
10. Multiple Languages
If you’re polylingual, you have a definite advantage over any customer service applicants who are only proficient in one language. Customers feel more comfortable speaking to someone in their native tongue, so if you can reach out to them in their first language, your customer will undoubtedly be impressed.
How to Convey Multiple Language Skills On Your Resume
For the final time, let’s revisit our call center representative resume sample for a first-rate bullet point.
- Conversational in Spanish (able to meet all customer service requirements with Spanish speakers)
Spanish is a highly valuable language to know in the customer service field. According to Statistical Atlas, 13.1% of households in the United States speak Spanish at home. This means that by being “conversational in Spanish”, this applicant has a distinct advantage because he is able to provide customer service in the native language of the large number of Spanish speakers in the States.
