3 Ways to Showcase Skills on a Customer Service Representative Resume – Geoff Scott

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Are you seeking a job in the customer service sector? Customer service is a competitive industry, and if you want to land one of the best jobs then you need to ensure your resume stays at the top of the pile. You can keep it there (and in the hands of a hiring manager) by showcasing your skills throughout your application.

Here are three actionable ways to include industry-specific skills across your resume, so that employers can’t help but reach out to you with a job offer.

#1. Use a Resume Summary

There are several types of resume introductions, but the resume summary is the most popular one among job seekers interested in customer service positions because it’s skills-centric. 

Specifically, you can use a resume summary to highlight skills most relevant to your target position, which allows you to quickly convey your strongest work-related abilities to a potential employer.

Your resume summary should comprise four bullet points that focus on your customer service-related skills and achievements. 

Each bullet point should contain at least one quantifiable statistic or number. Using quantifiable data in your introduction will set you apart from competing applicants as it gives hiring managers a concrete idea of your ability to accomplish work tasks and projects.

Let’s look at an example from a customer service representative resume that uses this technique. 

Quantifiable data, such as that shown above, should be clear and concise, and easily convey your marketable skills. Achieve this, and you’ll be well on your way to getting more interview invitations.

To write a great resume summary: 

  1. Identify your top role-relevant skills
  2. Give quantifiable examples in your bullet points
  3. Keep the description concise 

#2. Fine-tune Your Skills Section

Even if you have an extensive set of skills, it’s a bad idea to list each one out individually — doing so is excessive, and could end up overwhelming the hiring manager (plus, they might not believe you anyway). 

It’s imperative that you only put skills on your resume that will be usable for your job as a customer service representative, otherwise those skills will simply take up space and offer no real value to recruiters, employers, or anyone.

There are two types of skills that you should mix throughout your resume, and they’re called hard skills and soft skills. These two kinds of skills complement each other and help provide a balanced image of you as a CSR candidate.

  • Hard Skills

Hard skills are technical or job-specific skills learned through education or training. They are desirable because they prove that you can perform a role. 

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Let’s look at some hard skills that would be relevant for a customer service representative:

    • Computer competence
    • Any specific software that you are certified/experienced in
    • Technical/product knowledge
    • Math skills
    • Typing
    • Foreign language fluency

  • Soft Skills 

Innate abilities that are tied to your personality are called soft skills. These skills reveal what type of employee you would be, and how you would respond in work situations — especially your interactions with customers. 

Here are some of the most common soft skills employers want in their new customer service agents:

    • Communication skills
    • Interpersonal skills
    • Adaptability
    • Problem-solving
    • Time management
    • Teamwork
    • Complaint resolution
    • Negotiation

Which Skills Should I List?

Listing too many skills on your resume undermines your credibility, so only select the most relevant ones. 

Analyze the job posting and see if anything in particular sticks out. It should list the core responsibilities and requirements of the position. Use these as a guidepost for how to write your resume.

Let’s take a look at a customer service job posting. Soft skills are highlighted in green and hard skills in purple. 

There are plenty of skills — both hard and soft — to build your skills section around. Some requirements may combine both skill types, so assess which of your abilities best complement each other before putting them on your resume.

#3. Tie Your Abilities into Work Experience Bullet Points

Hiring managers are deluged with resumes and don’t have the time or resources to interview everyone. Therefore, your resume must stand out. A great way to do this is by including skills-heavy work experience bullet points. 

Remember — your resume has a finite amount of space to prove whether you’re a good candidate (or not). The most effective work experience bullet points should thus communicate not only your experience on the job, but also the skills acquired and used while working those jobs.

Your job title summarizes your role, so don’t waste space elaborating on it. Furthermore, don’t simply list duties and responsibilities. Instead, tie them to achievements (preferably quantifiable ones), as well as the skills you honed while working.

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Check out how this customer service representative applicant effectively ties achievements and skills into their work experience bullet points:

This candidate effectively combines their skills and links them to quantifiable examples of how they wielded those skills in the workplace, clearly showing the employer that they can come in and not only do the work, but also benefit the company in a variety of measurable ways.

 Here is a step-by-step example of how you can write your own effective work experience bullet point: 

Step 1: State a duty or responsibility you had: Negotiate contract renewals with current customers. 

Step 2: Add some quantifiable data: 79% retention rate.

Step 3: Combine the two, highlighting your achievement: Negotiate contract renewals with current customers, achieving a 79% retention rate. 

The resulting bullet point provides concrete data and also gives the hiring manager an insight into your personality through the listed soft skill (in this case, negotiation). If you fill your resume with such bullet points, you’ll make a quick, positive impression on a (future) employer.

 Takeaway

Ensuring your resume includes the most relevant skills for your desired position is crucial if you want to land an interview, and that’s especially true for aspiring customer service representatives, who work in a competitive field that requires a wide range of skills to succeed.

However, if you can effectively showcase your skills throughout your application, you’ll catch the eye of the hiring manager and land work before you know it.

Geoff Scott
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