8 Tips for Showcasing Customer Service Skills on Your Resume CareerMetis.com

8 Tips for Showcasing Customer Service Skills on Your Resume Original Image Source â€" UnSplash.comWhen reviewing a customer service candidate, hiring managers value one thing above all else â€" the applicant’s relevant skills. Yet most job seekers don’t properly optimize their resumes to target the employer’s desired skill-set.This is a critical mistake.Even if you’re a qualified candidate with a swath of CSR-related abilities at your disposal, tucking them away at the bottom of your resume Below, we’ve compiled 8 top resume writing tipsSome job descriptions Such skills should be included on your resume the same way as they are in the job description â€" in the form of a simple listin your skills section.2) The Basic DescriptionThe basic description of the job often offers some of the biggest clues regarding what skills to put in your resume.For instance â€" in our example description, the company mentions dealing with “high call volumes” and using the “Footprint ticketing system.”If you have experience handling either, thes e would then be great skills to heavily emphasize on your resume.3) Required Experience/QualificationsevalAlmost all job descriptions will include a section regarding the basic requirements or qualifications they need in a candidate. The wording of these sections will tell you everything about which skills that the company values most.Take a look at the section highlighted in orange in our example job description. You’ll notice that different words are used to describe different requiredskills.By taking note of this wording, you can order the relative importance of each ability:ExcellentCustomer Service SkillsStrongCommunication SkillsProficientwith Active DirectoryExperience in High Call Volume EnvironmentsNotice how a word like “excellent” is much more emphaticthan the term “experience”. By paying attention to this wording, you can start to see what abilities this particular company prioritizes.Make them the primary focusof your resume, and watch the interview calls come rolling in.TIP 2 â€" Use Your Entire Resume â€" Not Just the Skills SectionSource â€" UnSplash.comA major resume-writing mistake for aspiring CSRs is to try and shove all of their most important customer service abilities into a small skills section. Your resume is likely around one page, and you should be using mostof that page to showcase your skills.Take full advantage of your resume introduction, professional experience, skills, and education sectionsto show potential employers you have what they need. Doing this will ensure the hiring manager gets a full picture of your various job skills, as well as your ability to use them in a work setting.Only giving a potential employer a small taste of your skills by cramming them into one or two sections is not enough. Provide them a full course meal by using every part of your resume, so your application leaves them satiated rather than unsatisfied.The next four tipswill demonstrate exactly how to use each section of your resume to ful ly showcase your customer service skills.TIP 3 â€" Sprinkle Some Essential Skills into Your Career ObjectiveevalThere are several types of resume introductions, but the most common for customer service representatives is the career objective.Since your introduction is the first thing a hiring manager will read, you can use your objective to include key skillsthat immediately solidify you as a qualified candidate. It’s also perfect for emphasizing your unique expertise.Take a look at the career objective examplebelow, and pay particular attention to the skills colored in orange:Customer Service Manager with 6 years of experience in a call centerenvironment. Excel at approaching customer carewith a positive attitude, as well as communicatingwith customers to solve technicalor salesissues. Familiar with Freshdesk andZendesk software. Aiming to effectively fill the customer service management role at your company using my proven skills.Notice how in just three sentences this candidate manages to mention their call center expertise, as well as list seven other important customer service abilities. While there is no context regarding these skills, it gives the hiring manager a glimpse of what you have to offer and encourages them to read further.evalTIP 4 â€" Prove Your Skills in Your Work Experience SectionListing out your skills in a resume objective and/or skills section is helpful, but alone won’t cut it in a competitive job market. Potential employers don’t only want to see the skills you have. They want to know you can use themto effectively to help customers.This is where your professional experience section comes in. The additional space this section takes up gives you time to explain how you’ve used your abilities to provide excellent customer service in the past. There’s even a techniqueyou can use to highlight your skills more effectively, and we’re going to teach it to you.It’s called the PAR method â€" a three-step approach that can help a nyone write better experience section bullets.Problem:Identify a responsibility or common customer issue at work. This could include customer service software or technology that you use on a daily basis.Action:What you did to address the problem. in this case, how you used your customer service skills)Results:The outcome of the action you took (hopefully a happy customer!)By following these three simple steps, it’s easy to craft achievement-oriented bullet pointsthat prove you not only have customer service skills, but you’ve also used them to produce positive results at previous companies.Let’s take a look at an example:Utilized Freshdesk’s multichannel support functionto quickly address customer issues from phone, email, and chat, resulting in a 3% increase in customer satisfaction.This candidate proves they can effectively use Freshdesk customer service software (action) to solve customer service issues (problem) by showing the result(a 3% increase in customer satisfactio n).After reading this there will be no doubt in the hiring manager’s mind that this is a candidate who can use this software to produce results for their company. You can use this method to prove your abilities with any skill â€" including customer service soft skills.Remember that you don’t need to have skills in everybullet point, but try to make sure you include those most valued by your target company.TIP 5 â€" Place Less Important Abilities in the Skills SectionSource â€" UnSplash.comAs we’ve already discussed, your most important customer service skills should be mentioned in your resume objective or proven in your professional experience.You may be wondering then â€" what exactly is the skills section for? The answer is simple. Everything else!An effective skills section is where you include minor skills that may have been mentioned (but not emphasized) in the job description, or any skills you found difficult to prove or include elsewhere.It’s often called the “Add itional Skills” section because it’s best used for the purpose of including “additional” abilities â€" not core skills. You can think of it as the cherry-on-top skills section if you want, where you can fit in a few bonus abilities after you’ve hit upon your main skills.TIP 6 â€" Include Customer Service Training Certifications in Your Education SectionIncluding customer service training on your resume shows you’ve learnedimportant skills, and certifications prove you’re adept at using them.This makes customer service certifications one of the greatest weapons for showcasing skills on your resume. Including them is simple, as you can see in the example below:If you’re having trouble landing a job, acquiring a customer service certificationmay be just what you need to bolster your application.On the other hand, if you’re just looking to take your skills to the next level, there are many free customer service training programsand job-hunting toolsavailable onlinefor the industrious job hunter.TIP 7 â€" Don’t Neglect Non-Customer Service SkillsOf course, your focus should always be on display your excellent customer service skills, but you can still make some space for other abilities as well.There are countless other types of marketable skills that potential employers are seeking. Highlighting several that fall a bit outside the scope of your work is fine, and can even help depict you as a more well-rounded candidate.For example, customer service jobs at tech companies may require (or greatly prefer) you to have advanced computer skills and knowledge.There are also a number of abilities that are commonly useful in customer service roles, even if they’re not directly related, such as:Proficiency with Microsoft Office (particularly Word and Excel)Foreign Language CapabilitiesAdvanced or Fast Typing SkillsIncluding universally useful skills on your resume will set you apartfrom candidates who only focus on customer service abilities â€" there by increasing your chances of landing interviews.TIP 8 â€" Think Carefully About Every Sentence and Word You WriteAs someone who works in the industry, you know that communication skills are an essential component of any customer service role. As such, including them on your resume is of paramount importance.However, there’s another more subtle (and perhaps even more significant) way to demonstrate communication abilities to potential employers. And that’s by writing a good resume.Your resume itself is physical proof that you can communicate effectively. Writing an eloquent, well-formatted resume that clearly communicates your professional qualifications will prove your written communication skills beyond a shadow of a doubt.On the other hand, a resume riddled with spelling mistakes or confusing language will cause a potential employer to question your communication abilities, and subsequently your skills as a customer service representative.This is why it’s extremely importan t to not only proofread your resume, but to take the time to analyze every word andsentence you write â€" ensuring it’s as flawless as possible.Conclusion:Effectively showcasing your skills throughout your resume will help you land a fulfilling career in customer service, so be sure to take the time to get it right.If there’s anything you take away from this article, remember thesethree key points:IdentifySkills to Focus on Using the Job DescriptionHighlightSkills Throughout Your Entire ResumeProveKey Customer Service Skills with Hard EvidenceThese three essential concepts, as well as the other tips above, will ensure you floor the hiring manager with your exceptional abilities as a customer service agent and get you well on your way to landing your dream customer service job.