A Guide for Creating an Effective Customer Service Résumé

When a candidate decides to create a customer service résumé he/she may be uncertain whether to use curriculum vitae instead and which of these two is the appropriate way to approach certain opportunities.

Résumé

A résumé is defined as a summary. It is a concise collection of one’s personal, educational and professional qualifications and experience prepared by a candidate applying for employment.  A candidate may use a résumé to shed light on professional experiences throughout his/her lifetime leading up to the employment opportunity currently targeted.

A résumé caters for most employers in the United States when we talk about candidates applying for non academic jobs. A customer service résumé falls under this category given the application is being made for the U.S. This document changes for every different job and is concise, usually of a single page at maximum length, designed to make the applicant stand out from the competition.

Curriculum vitae

Curriculum vitae are defined as the course of one’s life or career. They form outlines of personal and professional records for candidates applying for recruitment. These are in depth documents covering a candidate’s achievements in chronological order, mostly used for academic applications in the U.S.

Curriculum Vitae are prevalent in European countries and the UK. There is no usage of résumés in these regions. For each candidate these documents are left unchanged and are accompanied with cover letters that are customised when prospectus employees apply for different openings.

Customer service résumés

A customer service résumé is as intrinsic to brief descriptions of an applicant’s skills as a résumé of any other field.  What information is shared and how it is enlisted is excessively fundamental to a well formulated document. What format is chosen and how the information is presented comes a close second. This is responsible for accentuating important achievements and delegating an improved impression to the employer which increases the chances of a call for recruitment.

Best formats for a customer service résumé

The most common formats welcomed in the industry of customer service recruiters are the chronological and functional formats.

The chronological format

This begins with a brief mention of the candidate’s full name, address and contact information.

Next a title mentions the field of work the applicant targets and for a customer service résumé this means “Customer Service Representative”

Immediately underneath the field title a career summary is entered, along the lines of the one explained in an earlier section of this article.

It is now preferable to mention the candidate’s strengths in a simple tabulated form, ensuring that relevant keywords, also mentioned earlier, are made full use of.

The most important highlight of this format is a chronologically catalogued section of job history. It usually falls under the heading of “Professional Experience”. Most recently held occupation is the first to be mentioned and this follows a descending trend to the earliest most relevant job. This heading comes immediately after the candidate’s strengths, to ensure that strengths are not over looked as employers skim through the essential information of past employment and academics.

The second most crucial detail a candidate has to mention is academics; these are mentioned immediately after employment. They usually fall under the heading of “Education/ Training”; also following a chronological descending trend.

Academics are followed by “technical expertise” encompassing the candidate’s skills when it comes to any relevant software.

The last detail one should mention is “affiliations” which can simply be listed down.

In summation the order of information presented in a chronological customer service résumé is:

 The functional format

This begins with the same Candidate Credentials as the chronological format.

Next the title of “Customer Service Representative” mentions the field of work for a customer service résumé. This is also similar to the chronological format.

The “Career Summary” follows these two just as in the previous design.

The most important and quite possibly the only change made in this format is one that highlights the “Objectives” of a candidate in detail immediately after the career summary. One may now include departments and keywords in sub headings with a few statements describing why he/she would be a good fit in each of the mentioned divisions.

This is now followed by “Professional Experience” in a simple listed descending format.

“Education/Training” follows professional experience in this format as well. This is also in a descending order.

The final detail to mention in the functional format is “Technical Expertise”

In summation the order of information presented in a functional customer service résumé is:

Best practices while creating a Customer Service résumé.

It is is essential to include certain information in your document. One must ensure that none of the categories mentioned ahead are left without being discussed. This helps conform to current best known practices.

Career summary

A résumé targeted to a specific career goal is instantly differentiated from the more general approaches made while designing the document. This can make all the difference when an employer glances through an applicant’s information. It is therefore important to streamline the information in a customer service résumé to showcase one’s goal of working in the customer service representative position.  A career summary that highlights every skill, relevant to customer service, is highly recommended.

An example of a well written career summary with content rich in pertinent experience, for a customer service résumé, is as under:

Example

Committed customer service representative with an experience of over two years in administrative and support services. Known for complex problem solving skills and an undying consistency in customer satisfaction. Confident, reliable and dedicated to ensuring the best customer service.

Employment Results

This is the second most important aspect of a candidate’s résumé. This means highlighting the increase in productivity due to his/her presence in the firm.

A simple yet effective way to catalogue this into a résumé  is to add a small sub section, in the experience tab, with productivity mentioned before and after the applicant’s enrolment in that position.

An example of highlighting results in a customer service résumé is as under:

Example

Firm achieved a positive feedback rating of 4/5 before employment.

Firm achieved a positive feedback rating of 4.5/5 after five months of employment.

Employment Stability

Highlighting stability in one’s work ethic can be accomplished by a chronological mention of experience.

This however, is not recommended if an applicant has a relatively inconsistent history while sustaining jobs. In such a case one must highlight his/her customer service skills and ensure that focus is pulled away from the record of employment.

Keywords for a customer service résumé

This may seem odd but it is highly recommended to integrate job relevant keywords for any résumé. This technique works well online, for firms that use specific candidate searches in their database while they look to hire.

Examples of relevant keywords while constructing a customer service résumé are as under:

Examples

By following the guidelines mentioned in this article a candidate can increase his/her opportunities for employment in customer service.