If you’re targeting a position in customer service, you will need to prepare an optimised customer service CV. Customer Service jobs have a high number of applicants, so it’s important that your CV stands out from the crowd. But what do recruiters and employers want to see in a customer service CV?
There are a number of key skills that are crucial for customer service roles. Don’t just list these skills or you will likely find your CV at the bottom of the no pile. You need to show tangible evidence that you can utilise these skills to provide the high-quality customer service that your potential employer is looking for. So what are the key skills recruiters want to see?
- Communication – Communication is important for almost every position, but few require strong communication skills more than customer service. The role is all about interacting with customers, so you need to demonstrate that you are an adept communicator who can provide advice and information to customers from various backgrounds and through various mediums. If you haven’t got experience in customer service, touch on the ways you communicated with colleagues to improve the efficiency of tasks or the ways you communicated with fellow students while working on challenging school projects.
- Problem Solving – Working in customer service, you’re going to encounter customers’ problems, which will then become your problem. Show that you can resolve problems swiftly and efficiently while maintaining your composure.
- Conflict Resolution – Similar to problem solving, you will need to draw attention to your ability to resolve conflicts. Maybe you could include a few specific achievements that detail the time you turned an angry customer into a happy customer.
- Relationship Building – The best customers are the ones who come back, so a key aspect of your role in customer service will be building relationships. You don’t have to have experience in customer service to show that you can forge relationships. Turn to your team working experiences or your university activities to show how you created new relationships that helped you achieve results.
- Administration – Some customer service jobs might require administrative tasks or transaction processing. Ensure your CV demonstrates your efficient management of administrative duties, even if it is something as simple as filing documents.
Aside from skills, your customer service CV needs to send a message that tells the recruiter you enjoy operating in customer-facing environments. Let reader know about your customer-driven approach to tasks and your proven track record of going the extra mile to please customers.
Customer Service Job Interviews
If you make it to the job interview stage of the application process, you’re likely to be asked to describe a time you have demonstrated your customer service skills.
In this case, it is often beneficial to use the STAR format to impress the recruiter with your ability to solve problems through effective customer service. The STAR format consists of Situation, Task, Action and Result.
Start by detailing the situation; tell the interviewer what the problem was. Were you dealing with an aggravated customer who was demanding a refund?
State the task that you identified in response to the situation. Did you weigh up a range of alternatives? What did you want to achieve?
Then go into the action. Explain what you did. Maybe you managed to communicate with the customer on a personal level and then offer him a new service at a discounted price.
And finally, tell the interview about the result. Was the customer pleased? Did the customer leave you positive reviews or go on to become a returning customer?
This method is an effective way of showing your customer service skills, rather than telling the recruiter about them. If you have any further queries about preparing your customer service CV, get in touch with us here.