The customer service industry is flooded with job applicants, so if you want to work in this field, you need a resume that stands out from the crowd. One of our recent clients has graciously allowed us to use her resume as a customer service resume example for our readers.
Customer Service Resume Example Case Study
Our client, Dora, is a highly experienced customer service specialist with over 30 years in the industry. She has worked for big retail chains like Kmart and Target, as well as the former magazine distribution powerhouse, Chas Levy.
Dora has the skill set that you would expect from a customer service specialist. She’s an expert at customer relationship building, solution-oriented problem solving, and active listening. In fact, Dora is so good at what she does that two companies have promoted her to train new employees, so she’s gained experience in teaching new customer service specialists how to emulate her proven customer service success strategies. She can also drive a forklift.
While Dora’s experience and auxiliary skill set is impressive, she also has an education that compliments her customer service career. She has both a BA in psychology and an MS in human behavior. Basically, she’s everything an employer should want in a customer service specialist.
Use a Highly Organized Resume Template for a Customer Service Resume
We started by analyzing Dora’s current resume. She didn’t have a formal, paper resume, but she did have a LinkedIN resume she was using to apply for online jobs. Our first step was deciding what resume format would work best for Dora. Since we wanted to highlight Dora’s strong auxiliary skills and advanced education, We decided to use a resume format with a left-hand column where we could make Dora’s skills and education stand out from her work experience and job duties list.
Keep in mind that when you’re writing a customer service resume, one of the things employers are looking to see is that you are organized. A well-formatted resume demonstrates your commitment to being well organized.
Since the customer service industry is highly competitive, we decided right away that Dora’s resume should be only one page long, and very easy for an employer to scan for keywords.
Icons Make a Resume Easy to Scan (which is good!)
We listed Dora’s contact information first, in the left-hand column of her resume. We used icons for her phone number, email address, and physical address, and listed her phone number first to make it easy for employers to find the information they need to set up an interview with her.
Highlight Education on a Customer Service Resume (but only if it’s relevant)
Next, we highlighted Dora’s education in the left-hand column. Since Dora’s education is relevant to the customer service industry, it sets her apart from other candidates. However, if she had majored in art history or any irrelevant-to-her-industry-major, we wouldn’t have featured her education so prominently on her resume.
Use Keyword-Rich Skills on a Customer Service Resume
Finishing off the left-hand column of Dora’s resume is a list of skills. Dora sent us a few jobs advertisements in which she is interested, and from those, we crafted her skill list so that employers see immediately that she has what they need. Almost every job requires applicants to know Microsoft Office and Point-of-Sale systems. Most list “customer service” and “conflict resolution” as necessary skills as well.
We are basically doing the recruiters’ jobs for them—that’s the key to landing an interview quickly. Your resume should make it blatantly obvious that you’re the best person for the job.
You will notice that we threw in Dora’s grief therapy skill in this list. While it’s not completely relevant to the kind of job she wants right now, it’s a talking point that employers will remember. Not many customer service specialists have grief therapy training, and you never know, Dora may find a job in a funeral home where this skill will make her an excellent resource for customers.
Leave off the Objective and Include a Professional Profile
Instead of starting the main column on Dora’s resume with a trite objective, we replaced her customer service resume objective with a professional profile that introduces her to potential employers. We always keep this list short; 3-4 bullet points are just enough.
Dora’s original resume had a summary at the top that said:
“30 years of customer service experience. Degrees in Human Behavior and Psychology. Exceptional working with the public”
We wanted to expand on that and give Dora a proper introduction because you only have one chance at a first impression. First, we point out Dora’s extensive 30-year experience. Then, we craft two bullet points that hit more keywords we know employers in the customer service industry need (because they list them in their job advertisements): customer-relationship building and problem solving. We end with a quick list of Dora’s certifications. Her improved introduction looks like this:
- 30 years of customer service experience
- Advanced customer-relationship building skill set
- Detail-oriented problem solver adept at adapting to high-pressure situations.
- Certifications including OSHA, forklift, IDOT First Aid, Kodak/Fuji photo processing and the Ministry of Care (Archdiocese of Chicago)
Use Keywords in Your Job Duties List
Finally, we craft Dora’s work experience list. The first two jobs on the list have very thorough descriptions, and we write shorter descriptions for older jobs. We are still keyword harvesting throughout the job duty descriptions, though. Remember: We are trying to show, without a doubt, that Dora is the right person of the job. If we make it easy for the recruiter to see that, we drastically increase Dora’s chances at landing an interview.
Dora currently works at a local motel on the weekends. In her original resume, she listed her duties as:
Greet guests. Facilitate Check in/ Check out. Give the guests excellent service. Problem solving, updating information and data, working with co-workers to give the guests the ultimate experience in vacationing.
We optimized her description for keywords, and broke it into both a short story-telling starter sentence and a bulleted list of job duties.
FRONT DESK CLERK
Happy Motel / Inverness, FL / 2013 – Present
Ensuring guests have a relaxing and enjoyable vacation experience by meeting their hospitality expectations through services such as:
- Greeting guests upon arrival
- Overseeing guest check in/check out
- Troubleshooting guest issues through teamwork with my co-workers
- Maintaining and updating customer data
Dora recently left a position at Target. This was the description of her duties on her original resume:
Responsibilities: answering guests inquiries both in person and on the phone. Fitting room experience, maintaining merchandise, creating displays, operating cash registers and amazing guest service.
Accomplishments : I work hard to give every guest an amazing shopping experience. I go above and beyond what is expected of me, both to the guest and to my team members.
Once again, we optimized it with keywords and a bulleted list:
TEAM MEMBER
Target / Lady Lake, FL / 2013 – 2018
Provided outstanding customer service while fulfilling other retail-related responsibilities including:
- Monitoring fitting rooms to reduce shrinkage and ensure customer satisfaction
- Managing inbound customer telephone calls
- Operating point of sales systems both for inventory purposes and to complete customer purchases
- Creating and maintaining merchandise displays
For the last three jobs on her resume, we wrote short descriptions that briefly told the story of what she did at the job, while still weaving keywords throughout:
RETAIL SKILLS TRAINER
Cracker Barrel / Kodak, TN and Belleview, FL / 2007-2011 In charge of training new and current employees on standard business practices, including safety concerns, product knowledge, record keeping, etiquette and providing the best possible customer service and engagement.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
Kmart / Norridge, IL / 2004-2007
Coordinated all professional development activities for a store of more than 80 employees. This included conducting test preparatory sessions, scheduling training sessions and certifying employees for forklift and other skills necessary for their positions.
MERCHANDISER
Chas Levy / Chicago, IL / 1997-2007
Circulated magazine stock at multiple stores throughout the Chicago area.
When we finished with the Work Experience section, Dora’s resume was done and ready for a final read to make sure we didn’t miss any keywords. Here is Dora’s final resume, which you can download and use as an example:
Customer Service Resume Example
[pdf-embedder url=”http://perfectlyemployed.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Dora-Resume-2018-No-contact-info.pdf” title=”Dora Resume 2018 – No contact info”]
Dora is thrilled with her new resume, and in the five days since we sent it to her, she has landed an interview with a potential employer. We know she is going to find an excellent job that fits her skill set!
Update: Dora Found a Job in Less than Two Weeks!
With her new resume in hand, Dora landed a job with an employer she loves in less than two weeks. She had multiple interviews, and was able to pick the employer that best suited her needs. Having a fantastic resume works! If you need help rewriting your resume, visit our Etsy Shop.