Customer service covers a broad spectrum of positions in almost every industry. Moreover, it is often a subtitle. For example, a sales associate, front desk receptionist or hotel concierge refers to customer service, client relations, or user support in their job description, and may be a secondary parenthetical job title, e.g. Front Desk Attendant (Customer Service Agent.) So, creating a customer service resume extrapolates the duties, responsibilities, functions and tasks related to customer service from an otherwise entitled position.
To start, outline a basic overview of those functions that are customer service-oriented common to your various job titles and specialties, experience, skills and key personal qualities in one to three sentences each. If you have experience in this field, you may want to highlight it with relevant examples.
Make sure you use specific terms and elaborate on duties when writing your resume. You don’t want to repeat the brief phrases from your job application. For example, it is important to spell out your job responsibilities as “Customer Service Representative” and use specific examples of tasks you completed in the role. If your job title is ambiguous and does not use the words “Customer Service” in the title, but the position entailed a great deal of customer/client/user service, you need to list those functions at the beginning of the job description, followed by a list of your other tasks in brief sentences.
Customer service is not a one-size-fits-all job
That means that the resume you write needs to be relevant to the position you are seeking. A business customer support resume should have specific information tailored specifically to the customer service associate’s job description. Be sure to provide a detailed list of all relevant tasks and accomplishments so that it can be compared with the requirements listed in the job opening notice you are pursuing. This will give potential employers an idea of your knowledge and abilities and what makes you stand out from the rest of the competition.
When listing your references with contact information on your resume, choose references who can comment best on your customer service skills. The purpose of a resume is to get your foot in the door and to show employers you are serious about applying for the position and have acquired a reputation for providing superior customer service. The proper references in concert with your targeted job descriptions will demonstrate your suitability for the position.
If all of your jobs had the words “Customer Service” in the title in combination with manager, supervisor, or representative” then you can safely use a chronological style. But if your title was Sales Associate, Front Desk Attendant or Receptionist, Guest Agent or Concierge, then you would be better served to use a functional style wherein you can have a heading “Customer Service Experience” under which you outline all the extrapolated customer service responsibilities. Then under the heading “Work History” you can list your places of employment and the respective position titles that are not necessarily customer service specific.
This helps to make a professional first impression to the prospective employer. Also, don’t forget to use professional fonts such as Arial, Georgia, Century, Times New Roman, instead of nondescript fonts such as Courier.
Finally, if you have a business card bring it to an interview as it will show potential employers that you are responsible professional and can represent yourself in a positive, memorable way to customers.