Customer Service Resume Job Description. Customer Service Resume Job Description: Fill & Download for Free

During 2000 to 2002 I was the human resources manager of a small software company in the Bay Area of California. My duties were typical of an H.R. Manager, which included compliance with all employment laws, developing job descriptions, handling employee complaints, sexual harassment problems, handling payroll and payroll disputes, and so on. In addition, as usual, I was responsible for finding and submitting candidates to management for open positions.One day I received a beautifully packaged resume. I say packaged because it was wrapped in unusually pretty paper. Inside was the most eye appealing resume I had during my decades of hiring ever seen. It was a large 8 1/2″ by 11″ thin notebook and the outside was beautifully hand scripted. I no longer remember the exact words, but they were something like this: “Inside You Will Find the Most Qualified Individual You Have Ever Evaluated.”There were literally dozens, if not a hundred other resumes on my desk for the position of sales manager besides this one. But, and of course, I read this one right away, not first, but within the first ten.Inside was a neatly typed two page resume on sheep skin like paper about a 45 year old woman who had recently divorced and had been a home maker all her life. She entitled all her household and home duties as:Management: and about her duties managing a home, grocery shopping, fixing meals, getting husband and kids off to work and school, and so on.And she delineated each and every category by tying it into my ad for a sales manager.Naturally, the first thought was that she didn’t qualify for sales manager, and, in fact, I didn’t think she qualified to work any position in our firm.That night after I left late from work I couldn’t keep from thinking about her. The next day I called her and had her come in for an exploratory interview. I told her she didn’t qualify for the sales manager position, but that we had other openings and maybe she might fit one of those.When I first saw her, she was the spitting image of what I thought a 45 year old mother of three home maker should look like. Not very tall. Somewhat plump. Not actually pretty, but not homely either. She wore a regular dress without frills. But what amazed me most about her was that she looked so clean. Know what I mean? That clean shiny look some people have. An Ajax glow! It was uncanny.And then she began talking; her voice was actually melodious. I mean that. It was soft, but at the same time seemed so pleasant that I sort of melted from her vocal charm.Not to belabor this because I’m catching myself reminiscing, we had a customer service clerk position open that called for someone with experience to handle all the questions about our products and, especially, complaints.I had two bosses, the Controller and Vice President of Operations. I convinced them that the homemaker lady would be ideal for the position. Both objected: “She doesn’t have any work experience.” But, both liked me and gave in.She got into the job quickly, learned all about our products, and gave 120% to the job. After a few months, complaint resolution was up 20% (meaning more complaints were resolved), we received letters from satisfied customers praising our customer services representative. After three months, she was promoted to group leader, and four months after that to customer services manager. I don’t know what happened after that because I left to seek other opportunities.In summary, one of the most wonderful employees I had the chance to hire resulted from a very unusual and well written resume.

Seeing how you perform on the job!One of the hardest parts about hiring is knowing those on the job skills that are so important in customer service. You want to know if your candidate has the ability to:Grow customer loyaltyNurture a close-knit customer communityWin new customers by removing barriers and reassuring potential buyersBut just based on candidate’s interviews and resumes, you’ll never really know whether he or she is going to meet your customer support team’s needs.Here is an example of a customer service skills test that we always use to see if our potential hires are up to scratch:And we’ve got one more in our guide to hiring customer service excellence.Hope that generates some ideas. We also have a big blog post on seeking passion from candidates from customer service interview questions.

(Edit - 5/14/2020): I am very surprised at the amount of “upvotes” and shares my response has received and I am thankful for that! I am most appreciative of the positive feedback and the questions I have received. I wanted to update this response a little to provide some more insight for those seeking employment, reviewing resumes, hiring for your organization, etc…I have finished some consulting work for a 2 small companies (<20 EEs) in Texas who are scaling and wanted help finding quality talent in addition to providing some training to their HR/Hiring Managers. While working with them, I shared some philosophies that apply not only to the job seeker, but the person doing the interviews and hiring alike.To the person hiring: When hiring someone, you should always be looking for a problem solver. A business in itself is a problem solver. The company you represent is providing a solution to a problem (whatever is in demand). The product or service you provide is a solution. Inside your business, problems will come up. Especially, new start-ups or businesses who have been around forever and operating on antiquated tech or software, policy creation, accounting, personnel, etc. Whenever an organization makes a decision to hire, it is because there is a problem and they need to bring someone in to fix it. Don’t think problems are all negative either. Hiring someone to take on an increase in workload is a positive problem to have, one in which you want to have. It goes both ways. Moreover, when looking at resumes or interviewing people, the one thing on your mind is, can or will this person fix my problem?As an HR Manager, it is my responsibility to know about 99% of the things going on within my company. If you have an HR person that can’t tell you the workload going through a department, that is an issue. I personally make it my routine to meet with dept. managers to ask how their depts. are performing. Not only does it help me understand what they’re doing, it shows them that upper management and/or C-suite are engaged and have better communication.Most of the time I receive a quick, “good-good” or “great, thanks”, but there are those times where I get the needed info, “We’re swamped and John Doe is overwhelmed and falling behind!”. Now is when I (your person) come into action. I will sit with managers and discuss a number of things like workflow trends; is the work load increase just a temporary thing? How long has it been this way? How much production or time have we lost? … my Job becomes a fact finder (investigator) to go to the executive team to say, “Everyone, we have problems X, Y & Z… My recommendation is to hire or not hire more personnel to handle the increased work load. If we hire 1, 2… this is what we can expect in terms of increased production.” If the ROI on hiring a problem solver (new hire) is greater than the expenses, it makes sense.When reviewing resumes, have those problems you need to fix not only on your list of questions, but they should be on the job posting, listed in the form of a job description. Why is that important? This gives the job seeker a chance to see your problems and ask themselves if they’re the right problem solver to help you and apply.When you know your problems you can clearly define the solution(s) you’re looking for. So, before you go hiring your best friend from the neighborhood because you want to have lunch with them and chat about everything in the world because it’s fun, you need to ask the question of how effective of a solution is this to my problem, or will it create a new problem? Nothing wrong with hiring your friend, I’m just using that as an example. I say, “hire solutions and make a new friends,” LOL.This is not a blanket, one-size-fits-all thing. You should know your organizations needs, the culture, the work and training required, etc… hiring an 18 y/o to flip burgers and serve fries doesn’t require the same scrutiny as hiring a Project Manager who will be overseeing multi-million dollar projects. However, you can use this problem solver philosophy to help narrow your search regardless of your industry.To the job seeker: If you want a job, be a problem solver. I can’t tell you how many times I have had people come into my office with zero experience and say, “well, I can learn if you train me”. That’s not a bad thing and many times, companies are willing to make that happen. Cross-training employees is a GREAT thing actually and makes employees more diverse in their skill sets and more of an asset to the company. However, when companies are scaling, they typically have an increased workload or they’re getting behind the scale early to ensure workloads don’t decline or services don’t get messed up. Therefore, when you’re looking at a job description, look at it like you’re reading a list of problems. Not Responsibilities. I mean if you’re hired, your responsibility will be to fix the problems. So, read the job description line by line and say to yourself, “this company is having these problems…”Ex. “Warehouse Manager needed to oversee the day to day operations of a small team of employees, ensure loads are being sent out on-time with little to no fulfillment errors, reduce load fulfillment times to increase delivery times, and be able to train, help and work as part of the team to accomplish tasks when needed. Knowledge of warehouse safety, logistics, and equipment operations is required. “I read this like this… ”Company A has problems:1) They don’t have a warehouse manager.Solution: I can manage a warehouse.2) They don’t have someone to see day to day operations of a small team of employees.Solution: I have managed 30 or more employees before and their day to day operations, I can do that.3) They need help ensuring load times are being sent out on time.Solution: I know three different options that have helped me improve load times, I know I can use 1 or more of those options to help.4) they have problems with fulfillment accuracy.Solution: I know I used my training in lean six sigma to learn more about efficiency and accuracy in order fulfillment. I can share that with them.5) They need someone to train and help when necessary.Solution: I was a trainer in my previous position and trained over 50 people over the years I was there. I can do that. I was also a hands-on leader. I would never ask anyone to do the job I can’t or won’t do myself.6) They lack warehouse safety and equipment operations experience.Solution: I have my OSHA 30 and know the 29 CFR 1910 like the back of my hand in addition to being forklift and scissor lift certified.Now that you see the company’s problems, you can have a better understanding of your capabilities as a problem solver to help. This is where using the job description helps you uniquely tailor your resume to capture the attention of a hiring manager.*Some people think it’s a daunting task to create multiple resumes. Well, it is. However, if you want the job you want, it’s necessary.More importantly, when you know the solutions to problems, you become CONFIDENT! This confidence is brought out your job interview! When you’re confident about something, it becomes easy to talk about therefore making you look good!When it comes time to creating your resume, as I explain below, use your resume to briefly show your solutions:Previous employment:Warehouse SupervisorManaged team of 9 employees day to day operations.(I am now like, cool, my team is only 6, so he can do that if he did 9) You just answered questions 1 & 2 for me.Managed the implementation of LoadMaster software after using Lean Six methods to reduce load times by 30% and improve fulfillment accuracy by 60%.You just answered problems 3 & 4 and showed me you know what Lean Six is.Trained new hire employees and provided refresher training to 50 employees over last 3 years with current/previous employer using practical and classroom methods.You just answered problem 5 by showing me you can train and do the job when needed.Performed monthly safety audit inspections on warehouse and equipment to ensure compliance with 29 CFR 1926 and other applicable safety regulations.You just answered question 6.You have now effectively made me go, “Awesome, this person can handle my problems. I want to call and set up an interview.”Some of you may be asking, “What if I’m coming from an entirely different job?”Very valid question. I would in-turn ask you, “Why?” What is it about your current type of work that makes you want to change? Are you looking for a promotional position or are you willing to start at an entry level position and work your way up? If I’m looking for a Senior Manager to run a dept. of Jr. Structural Engineers and I get your resume that says you were a Manager of a retail store, there I don’t care how many years you have. If you don’t know anything about structural engineering, I’m not hiring you. Now, if you were a structural engineer who climbed the management ranks then yeah, lets talk.This isn’t to persuade you not to apply for upward mobility in another industry, I’m just pointing out the fact that if you read the job posting and you can’t walk in to that job and be a solution to 75% of those problems right away, you’re aren’t a good solution. There will be company specific things you will need to learn, that is a given, but if you don’t have a semi-expert understanding of basic principles of the job you’re performing, it will show on your resume and in the interview. If you don’t, before you apply, hell, do your research! That way you can throw something together. Play the Bon Jovi song, “Livin’ on a Prayer” before work each day in hopes the fake it till’ you make becomes, “I’ve made it” sooner than later.The key for anyone transitioning to another industry is 2 things. 1) transition into something you LOVE. Typically, you will have taken time to learn it, you’re passionate about it, and can speak confidently about it during the interview. 2) Do your research and find a way to effectively apply your past experience to the position in regards to problem solving. If you were a customer service rep, or manager of them, and dealt with peoples problems all day, that can translate into other roles very easily in some companies. If you can’t translate your past and current abilities into problem solving solutions for that job description, you aren’t the solution. Move on.Okay… so, I hope this provides some more insight to both the people looking to hire and those looking to be hired. Please feel free to ask any questions!The original post follows:Great question and this is something I speak on a lot when I talk to groups or individual job seekers.People have been following a trend that started nearly 100 years ago. It just hasn’t changed much, but people still seem to put their current or previous job description down in bullet points.Your job title and previous company can already give me an idea of what you did. Well, crappy HR/Hiring Managers/ and others who just don’t know how to hire typically look at a crap resume and can’t tell you the difference, they have been accustomed to doing their own the same way they see them. For example, lets say I’m looking for a warehouse manager. Typically, I will get resumes that look like this: (example only)Worked in warehouse moving boxes using forkliftForklift certifiedTook inventory daily of stocked itemsEnsured packaged material matched with purchase order requestManaged inventory for all of warehouseManaged team of inventory specialistsEnsured all orders were filled in a timely mannerblah blah blah blah blah…If this person has on their resume that they worked at “Plumbers Supply” and listed their title as “warehouse supervisor”, just by their title alone and the name of the company, I can tell you with about 90% accuracy what this persons job description was. I don’t need them to explain it to me in their resume. It’s a waste of time.If I asked you what a Waiter/Server at a restaurant does, you could probably tell me. If I asked you what an Auto Mechanic does, you can probably tell me. If I asked you what a data entry person or a customer service rep for Verizon does, you could probably tell me… so, the fact that people still put their job description on their resume boggles me as literally, I can tell just by their job title and the previous employer. For the most part, that is.So, to finally answer your question, I’d like people to stop putting their job descriptions on resumes. It’s a waste of time. A resume is a brochure about yourself and your professional capabilities. When you go buy a car, you don’t look at the fact that it has 4 wheels and can drive down the road. You want to see the interior features, the technology it has, the horsepower it has, fuel economy, etc… your resume should not be any different. I want to see what kind of asset you’re going to be to my company, and the best way to give me a glimpse into that is to give me some insight into your work accomplishments, give me some qualitative and quantitative data I can use to mentally measure your ability a tad. At least enough to get me interested to want to interview you. For example (we’ll keep the warehouse manager thing):Managed 7 inventory specialists day to day production schedulesReduced inventory time by 20% by reorganizing returned items by item ID.Increased fulfillment times by 15% per inventory specialist by implementing a tracking software called, “ABC…”Created incentive program for inventory specialists that increased fulfillment accuracy by 60%Worked with Operations Manager to develop a load system to assist delivery drivers in reducing load times by 30 minutes per load saving 4 hours of load time per day.Use lean six methodologies to reduce errors in fulfillment discrepancies to under 2 per 100 orders filled.These types of things make me go WOW! I actually have some data to tell me what kind of employee this person was/is and might be able to be for me! I can now create some interview questions that will give me some more information into their work performance.So many hiring managers I’ve met have the wrong way of looking at filling a job. Yes, we all want to hire someone who will fit in with our culture, but more than anything, I want to hire someone that can elevate or take my company to the next level. That’s the only way we’re going to grow. So, I look for quality candidates that show me the “luxury” of their personal brand. The details of the body of who they are, not the surface stuff we all see and already know just by their title or where they work.Hope this makes sense! Any more questions, please let me know! Thanks for asking!Ryan