top customer service skills for resume

20+ Key Customer Service Skills to List on Your Resume in 2024 (With Examples)

To land a job in customer service, you need to showcase your best skills to employers. Customer service involves both technical and interpersonal skills. This makes a diverse skillset all the more important! In this guide, we will uncover the best customer service skills to include on a resume. Plus, we will provide you with tips and tricks for formatting.

What is Customer Service?

Customer service is a vast industry spanning many different forms of business.

From answering customer calls to building customer relationships, there are many responsibilities involved.

Aside from the general Customer Service Representative, other common examples of jobs within customer service include:

• Call Center Representatives
• Administrative Assistants
• Restaurant Workers
• Salespeople

Essentially, any job that deals with working directly with customers falls under the customer service umbrella.

Why Should I Include Customer Service Skills on My Resume?           

When applying for a job in customer service, showing your ability to work well with people is key.

Including skills on a resume allows you to showcase your best strengths to employers.

By adding specifically customer service skills, you can demonstrate your most relevant abilities according to the job you are applying to.

You never want to include skills just for the sake of it.

It is imperative to always tailor your skills to match the requirements listed in the job description.

Moreover, you should always be honest in what skills you include.

Never list a skill you don’t actually have!

Need help brainstorming skills? We have a free guide with 100+ Key Skills for a Resume in 2024 (with Examples for Any Job) to help you out.

Beautiful resume templates to land your dream job

What Are the Best Customer Service Skills I Should Add to My Resume?

Before you can determine the best customer service skills to include on your resume, you need to understand the two main types of skills:

• ‍ Interpersonal (Soft) Skills: These skills are based on emotion and human interaction. Much of customer service relies upon interpersonal skills such as communication and problem-solving. ‍
• Technical (Hard) Skills: Hards skills have to do with your technical abilities, such as writing or working with software.

When writing out your skills on a resume, it is important to include both soft and hard skills.

For customer service, you should always take the time to plan out the skills you want to include.

By making a large list you can then narrow it down to the most relevant and best ones.

10 Soft Skills for Customer Service

Here are our top 10 soft skills for customer service to consider adding to your resume:

• ‍ Conflict Management: Being a customer service representative means dealing with conflict. The ability to calmly and effectively manage customer conflicts is essential.
• ‍ Communication: Communication skills are arguably the most important soft skill for customer service. You need to be able to communicate clearly and easily with all types of customers. ‍
• Empathy: Customers want to feel like you relate to them. A strong sense of empathy comes in handy when working in the customer service realm.
• ‍ Compassion: You never know what’s going on in a customer’s head or life. Treating each situation with compassion towards the customer is highly necessary.
• ‍ Problem Solving: During customer conflicts, being able to think of a solution quickly is key.
• ‍ Patience: Miscommunications can occur when interactions are rushed or not given proper attention. Having patience is crucial when working in customer service.
• ‍ Attention to Detail: Many technicalities can affect customer service. The ability to pay close attention to a customer’s issues and the solutions given is a core component of good customer service.
• ‍ Intuitive: Making customers feel as though all their problems have been solved is very beneficial. Acting intuitively and proactively to address potential customer issues makes for great customer service.
• ‍ Goal-Oriented: When working with customers, it is essential to set clear goals and boundaries. This helps to ensure everyone understands the expectations and standard of work being provided.
• ‍ Persuasion: In sales positions especially, having the ability to persuade a customer’s emotions and viewpoints is highly necessary. You should be able to position yourself as the guide that can offer the best solutions to them.

10 Hard Skills for Customer Service

Here is a list of 10 hard skills for customer service to use on a resume:

• ‍ Microsoft Office & Google Suite: Microsoft and Google programs are widely used across all industries. Familiarizing yourself with these programs will give you a competitive edge, as employers won’t need to train you on how to use them.
• ‍ Writing: Writing skills are majorly important in any job related to communication. In customer service, this often translates to writing emails and official company copy.
• ‍ Bi/Multi-Lingual: Speaking multiple languages is always a plus in customer service. If you can fluently speak and translate more than one language, be sure to include this on your resume.
• ‍ Data Entry: Customer service can sometimes involve a huge amount of data. Understanding the basics of data entry is foundational for a successful customer service professional.
• ‍ Performance: Customer service professionals take on a persona used to persuade, empathize, and relate to customers. Having a good ability for performance and acting can be highly useful in this field as a result.
• ‍ Situational Analysis: Every customer and situation is different. An important hard skill for customer service reps to have is the ability to thoroughly analyze each situation. This can involve note-taking, research, gathering feedback, and many more essential tasks.
• ‍ Telecommunication: In an increasingly digital world, good telecommunication has become crucial for customer service. This can refer to any interaction happening digitally, including phone calls and online services.
• ‍ Bookkeeping: A fundamental component of customer service is keeping thorough records. Transactions, contracts, and more can all fall under the umbrella of bookkeeping. Honing these skills is good for any professionals seeking employment in customer service.
• ‍ Closing Ability: A customer service professional must develop a specific skill known as their “closing ability.” This is their ability to finalize a deal or transaction with a customer. It combines many soft skills, such as negotiation and persuasion, to create a more technical skill.
• ‍ Product Memorization: The ability to memorize large quantities of information is highly important in customer service.

No matter whether they are hard or soft skills, all your skills should be selected according to the job.

In fact, tailoring your resume for the job is crucial for impressing employers!

Read our career advice article on how to Tailor Your Resume to Any Job in 4 Easy Steps to learn more.  

How Do I Describe My Customer Service Skill Levels?

When describing your customer service skills on a resume, it is important to indicate your level of proficiency.

Generally, there are three levels commonly used on resumes:

• ‍ Expert: At an expert level, you can employ a skill according to your own assessment of a situation. Little to no outside direction is required. ‍
• Intermediate: Intermediate skill levels indicate that you are proficient but may still need some supervision. ‍
• Novice: A novice skill level lets employers know you understand the basics but do not consider the skill one of the best proficiencies.

We recommend only including your very best skills on a resume.

As such, you should aim to mainly include skills that fall into either the expert or intermediate categories.

How Do I List My Customer Service Skills on a Resume?

To include customer service skills on a resume, there are two main formatting options:

• Listing the skills in the work experience section
• Creating a dedicated skills section

Oftentimes, the best approach is to combine these two formatting options.

Including soft skills in your work experience section allows you to include greater context and explanation.

Comparatively, hard skills need less explanation and can benefit from being place in a separate section.

Here are two quick breakdowns for these formatting options:

Method 1: Listing Customer Service Skills in Your Work Experience Section

Work Experience Customer Service Representative, Whole Foods April 2018 – May 2020 · Good communication skills · Worked closely with customers · Learned better closing tactics

Why It’s Wrong: In this example, the bullet points are too vague and provide little information about the person’s responsibilities.

Adding in skills to your work experience section should add extra value, not detract from the descriptive nature of the section.

Work Experience Customer Service Representative, Whole Foods April 2018 – May 2020 · Communicated daily with customers through the call center · Fostered loyal customer relationships through an empathetic approach · Developed a strong closing ability and increased sales by 15 percent

In this corrected example, the skills clearly tie into the person’s qualifications.

The information given is much more insightful into the applicant’s work ethic and skill set.

ProTip: When describing skills in your work experience section, make sure to use active language. For help in doing so, take a look at our list of 350+ Action Verbs to Make Your Resume More Effective in 2024 .

Method 2: Creating a Dedicated Customer Service Skills Section

Customer Service Skills · Caring for customers · Answering the phone · Helping customers with returns · Using Microsoft Excel and other programs

Why It’s Wrong: This example fails to use strong skill keywords.

Additionally, it is not inherently bad to include extra words in a skills section.

However, these extra words should add value, not just take up space in your word count.

Customer Service Skills · Empathizing with Customers’ Specific Needs · Call Center Telecommunication · Conflict Resolution for Customer Returns · Microsoft Office Suite

In this corrected example, the extra words being used give the skill greater detail and specificity.

Do you need more help writing your ideal resume? Check out our guide on the 20 Best Resume Writing Tips and Tricks for 2024 (with a Free Checklist) !

Final Takeaways

Customer service is a massive industry with many employment opportunities.

To heighten your chances of landing a job in this field, focusing on your related skills is key.

Here are our 5 main takeaways for listing customer service skills on a resume:

• Include both your hard (technical) and soft (interpersonal) customer service skills.
• Relate your skills to the job you are applying for.
• Use skills in both your work experience section and a dedicated skills section.
• Provide context around interpersonal skills.
• Aim to include your best – or “expert-level” – skills first.

To learn more about creating the perfect resume, check out our many free resume guides and career advice articles !

Browse more resume templates that fit your role

Ed is a co-founder of Easy Resume. His background in scaling teams at tech startups over the last decade has given him extensive experience and knowledge around how to hire top talent and build successful teams. He enjoys mentoring, coaching, and helping others reach their career goals. When he's not writing about career-related advice, he's playing with his dog, Lilo, or going on long hikes in upstate New York.

Get inspired with more resume examples

More advice that will accelerate your career path, 15+ key healthcare skills to list on your resume in 2024 (with examples).

Healthcare is a massive and important industry that contains all sorts of professionals. To land a job in healthcare, you must understand what relevant skills employers are searching for. In this guide, we will cover key healthcare skills to include on your resume and why doing so is so important.

15+ IT Skills to List on Your Resume in 2024 (With Examples)

IT is a massively growing industry with tons of potential for professional growth. It’s no wonder why so many applicants are flocking to these jobs! In this guide, we will cover what IT skills are and offer you examples of some of the top skills to include on your resume.

50+ Key Technical Skills to List on Your Resume in 2024 (With Examples)

Including technical skills on a resume is an absolute necessity. These types of skills show employers your quantifiable qualifications. In this guide, we will cover exactly what a technical skill is and some of the best examples to include on a resume.

20+ Key Computer Skills to List on Your Resume in 2024 (With Examples)

With the world becoming more digitally focused, having strong computer skills is more important than ever. In this guide, we will cover what computer skills are and which ones are best to include on your resume.

Read our how-to guides on making your resume perfect

How to write a resume header.

Your resume header is the very first thing an employer will see. Not only does it need to contain the correct information, but it needs to stand out as well! In this guide, we will teach you how to write the ideal header for your resume.

How to Write Your Resume in Reverse-Chronological Order

When setting out to write the perfect resume, choosing a format is an important decision. Reverse-chronological resumes are the standard format, so knowing how to craft one is key! This guide will teach you how to write the best reverse chronological resumes.

How to List Contact Information on Your Resume in 2024

Learn how to format contact information on your resume and what information to share with the hiring manager.

How to Write a Two-Page Resume (with Examples & Tips)

Don't know whether you should write a one-page or two-page resume? Find out when it is appropriate to write a two-page resume and learn how to write it correctly.

Professional resume templates to help land your next dream job.

Facebook • Twitter • Linkedin • Pinterest • Crunchbase

Protect your data

This site uses cookies and related technologies for site operation, and analytics as described in our Privacy Policy . You may choose to consent to our use of these technologies, reject non-essential technologies, or further manage your preferences.

• Resume and Cover Letter
• 11 Best Customer Service...

11 Best Customer Service Skills for Your Resume (With Examples)

10 min read · Updated on February 16, 2024

The right customer service skills on your resume can lead to promotions

All companies worldwide have one thing in common – they all have customers. This means all companies need to hire people with great customer service skills. 

Some roles will require you to work with internal customers. For example, if you're working in IT, you'll likely have to interact with employees to help them fix computer issues. Those employees are internal customers. Other roles will require you to work with external customers – the people who are buying goods and services from the company. 

A well-crafted resume that highlights your relevant skills for a customer service position will help your resume to beat the applicant tracking system, or ATS , which is the first step to getting your application noticed. 

When you use these 11 best customer service skills in your resume, you'll stand out from the crowd as someone who can work well with others, anticipate needs, and solve problems. 

Use these skills and examples to produce an interview-winning resume. 

11 customer service skills and proficiencies for your resume

It's important to note that there's a difference between hard skills and soft skills . Some of these 11 customer service skills that you can use on your resume fall into the hard skill category, and some of them are soft skills. 

You can tell them apart by identifying which are job-specific skills that allow you to get things done and which are more interpersonal-type skills that allow you to get along well with others. It's important to have a good balance of both skill types. 

Of course, these customer service skills will be in addition to your experience and education, but you can weave the keywords into your these sections. You should also quantify your skills whenever possible, mentioning specific instances and using concrete examples to prove you have experience with each customer service skill on your resume.

Hard skills for a customer service resume 

Since every company has customers who require assistance, modern employers are always seeking people with customer service skills. Here are the four most important hard skills hiring managers want to see on your resume:

1. Product knowledge 

You can't help customers if you know nothing about the product or service being offered by the company. It's critical that you take the time to learn about what's available and how to answer questions about the company's offerings. You may also need to troubleshoot problems with products and offer recommendations to improve the customer journey. 

Here's what that looks like on your resume:

“Increased revenue by 15% by recommending product offering add-ons.”

2. Technical proficiency 

Have you ever heard the acronym CRM? It stands for customer relationship management, and most companies use some type of CRM software to track customer interactions and follow up on leads. This is one of the many ways you can demonstrate technical proficiency in customer service skills on your resume. 

Here's an example of how to include this customer service skill on your resume:

“Used Salesforce to update and maintain a customer database of 200 leads and mapped the customer journey from initiation to close.”

3. Communication technology 

This may seem similar to the technical customer service skills for a resume above; however, it goes a step beyond simply using tools to track customer journeys. This has to do with directly interacting with customers. It could be as simple as using email and multi-line telephones, or more complex, such as using Slack to collaborate with people across the globe. 

Here's how to include communication technology customer service skills on your resume:

“Answered as many as 75 incoming client calls per day using a 6-line telephone system.”

4. Data analysis

One of the best ways to support successful customer interactions is through data analysis . You have to know what's going on in the customer's journey to be able to adequately answer their questions, determine customer trends, and improve customer satisfaction. 

Here's how to write a data analysis customer service skill bullet point on your resume:

“Analyzed and dissected data from disparate sources to identify trends and solve problems, improving customer satisfaction scores by 12%.”

Soft skills for a customer service resume 

Now that you know what hiring managers want to see insomuch as you getting the job done, let's learn what they are looking for regarding interpersonal skills. 

5. Active listening 

Are you the type of person who knows what you want to say in response to someone speaking before they ever finish a sentence? Or do you take the extra initiative to pay attention to nonverbal cues and follow up with clarifying questions to gain a genuine understanding of what someone is saying? If you fall into the latter category, then you practice active listening . That's definitely a customer service skill for your resume!

Here's how to demonstrate active listening on your resume:

“Improved customer service issue resolution time by 15% by actively listening to and paraphrasing customer concerns to get to the root of the problem.”

6. Emotional intelligence 

When you work with customers – whether they are internal or external customers – chances are you're going to come across a situation that requires you to demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence. It's easy, after all, to let our emotions get the best of us, but being that person who can exude compassion in the most challenging situations is something most hiring managers need and want. 

Here's an example of how you can prove you have a high EQ on your resume:

“Built a reputation for de-escalating customer situations by leveraging a high EQ, resulting in a 30% reduction in calls being transferred to supervisors.”

7. Problem-solving 

You can pair problem-solving skills with data analysis skills to showcase your well-roundedness as a job seeker. It's even better if you're able to add the ability to make autonomous decisions after you solve a problem. Either way, hiring managers value people who take the initiative to fix issues rather than someone who passes problems off to others to figure out.

Here's a fantastic example of a way to show off analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making customer service skills in one bullet:

“Turned around lackluster sales by analyzing 3 months' worth of trends to identify problem areas and recommending improvements to closing processes.”

8. Communication 

This is the one that most people get wrong on their resume. It's easy to simply write that you have “good written and verbal communication skills,” but how do you prove it? You write an action-based resume bullet that shows off your ability to communicate clearly and with different types of people.

Here's what that could look like:

“Respected by leaders for being able to clearly articulate complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences, which reduced the number of errors on orders by 30%.”

9. Collaboration 

In today's ever-shrinking world, there will likely come a time when you'll need to talk to someone in a different department, a different company, or even in a different country. If you're capable of working cross-functionally to share knowledge and achieve goals, then you can add collaboration as a customer service skill on your resume.

Here's an example of a resume bullet that shows you know how to collaborate:

“Engaged in regular team meetings to share best practices and worked in a team of 12 people to increase overall efficiency by 10%.”

10. Positivity 

One of the main ways you can make customers happy is by being optimistic, even when pressure is being applied to a situation. If you're able to create positive customer experiences, then they'll likely be more than happy to continue doing business with you and your company.

Here's an example of a positive attitude bullet you can use on your resume:

“Demonstrated a can-do attitude by taking on additional responsibilities and assisting team members during peak times to reduce customer hold times.”

11.  Flexibility 

If there's one constant in life, it's that things will change. Sometimes those changes are things you instigate yourself. Other times, change will be thrust upon you. No matter how changes come up, if you're able to remain flexible, go with the flow, and adjust to change without any major problems, you should consider adding your ability to be flexible to your resume.

“Overcame changing management regimes and adapted to new procedures by adjusting priorities in alignment with new SOPs without sacrificing service delivery to customers.”

Where to put customer service skills on your resume

Most of the customer service skill examples in this article have been related to bullet points. So, you may be assuming that the best place to highlight your customer service skills is in the Professional Experience section of your resume . In fact, you can weave customer service skills into any section of your resume. The key is to find the place where the skill makes the most sense – contextually and grammatically – and add it in. 

Profile section

The Profile part of your resume is at the very top of your resume and includes the title or headline and summary paragraph. You can obviously add the phrase “customer service” into the title or headline, but you can also insert some of the example sentences in this article into your profile paragraph. Use them as inspiration for your own sentences, too - the ones in this article are simply meant to help get your brain juices flowing. 

Skills section

While your Skills section (or Core Competencies) won't contain actual sentences, you can still put some of your customer service skills here. Instead of writing out bullets, though, you'll simply list up to 15 keywords and phrases that make you a good match for a customer service job. 

Professional experience section

Since you are likely using the reverse-chronological format for your resume, you'll want to focus your efforts on writing out the last 10-15 years of experience using action-based bullets, like the ones in the examples in this article. It's also pretty critical that you add numbers every chance you get, so that you show what type of work you've done in the past, as that will give the hiring manager a clue as to what you'll bring to the table for their customers. 

Education and credentials section

If you have little to no experience, you can inject some of your customer service skills into the education section of your resume. You'd do this by including courses you took and by talking about any major projects you may have worked on while in school that allowed you to overcome challenges or work collaboratively with others. 

Chart your path to success

Adding customer service skills to your resume truly can help you to stand out from the crowd. Almost everyone can say that they know how to handle customers, but the actual proof they can do so is often lacking in resumes. When you use these 11 best customer service skills for your resume, you'll create something that will have hiring managers and recruiters blowing up your email with interview offers. 

If you want to make sure that your customer service skills are properly coming through on your resume, let us take a look at it for you. Upload your resume for a free review , where an expert resume writer will go over it and let you know what you need to do.

Recommended reading:

How to Describe Yourself on a Resume (With Examples)

27 Great Resume Headline Examples to Stand Out

Call Center Resume Sample

Related Articles:

7 Signs Your Resume is Making You Look Old

Software Developer Top Needed Skills

How to Maximize Your Resume Action Words to Wow the Employer

See how your resume stacks up.

Career Advice Newsletter

Our experts gather the best career & resume tips weekly. Delivered weekly, always free.

Thanks! Career advice is on its way.

Share this article:

Let's stay in touch.

Subscribe today to get job tips and career advice that will come in handy.

Your information is secure. Please read our privacy policy for more information.

Customer Service Skills for a Resume [W/ Full List & Examples]

Customer service skills are vital if you want to get hired for any customer-facing position. 

That’s because customer service skills can help you resolve customer complaints, improve customer satisfaction, and even drive new sales.

Want to learn which customer service skills are a must-have on your resume in 2024? You’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about customer service skills, including: 

• What Are Customer Service Skills
• 20 Essential Customer Service Skills For Your Resume

3 Steps to Add Customer Service Skills to Your Resume

• How to Improve Your Customer Service Skills

Let's dive in! 

What Are Customer Service Skills?

Customer service refers to the relationship between a business and its customers. The better this relationship, the more successful a business can be. 

Customer service skills are a set of soft skills that allow you to provide the best customer experience possible. They involve being able to:

• Communicate effectively
• Solve problems promptly
• Demonstrate patience
• Create genuine connections

Customer service skills are essential for any customer-facing role out there, including customer support representatives , salespeople, cashiers , and the sorts. 

But what is it, exactly, that makes customer service skills so valuable? Let us give you the data-backed answer. 

Why Are Customer Service Skills Important 

If you’re someone who’s looking for a job in customer-facing roles, you probably already know that having strong customer service skills can significantly improve your employability. 

Finding employees who can resolve customers’ complaints and make them feel heard, understood, and appreciated is of the highest importance for potential employers.  

Here are all the benefits that employees with strong customer service skills can bring to a company: 

• Improved customer experience. The better customer service you can provide, the more satisfied will your customers be. And, according to this HubSpot study, 68% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer service experiences.
• Increased profits. Happy customers are more likely to spend money on a product or service. A study by Bain found that companies that excel at customer experience grow revenues 4%-8% above their market .
• Higher customer retention. According to Invesp, investing in new clients is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining existing ones. Considering that 80% of consumers said they’d do business with a competitor after a bad customer service experience, customer service is essential in retaining customers.
• Established brand loyalty. According to the study by Zendesk, nearly three out of five consumers report that good customer service is vital for them to feel loyalty toward a brand.
• More referrals. Your customers are bound to talk about their customer experience - especially if it’s really good or really bad. According to Esteban Kolsky, Chief Evangelist for customer experience at SAP, after a positive customer experience, 72% of customers will share their opinion of your brand with at least six people.

20 Customer Service Skills to List on Your Resume 

As we already mentioned, customer service doesn't consist of a single skill, but of a set of skills. 

As such, the customer service skills you should list on your resume greatly depend on the specifics of the position you're applying for. 

That said, there are some customer service skills that are in demand for the majority of customer-facing roles out there, such as communication and active listening.  

Here is a list of the most in-demand customer service skills for your resume in 2024: 

• Active listening
• Adaptability
• Attention to detail
• Bilingual customer support
• Building customer royalty
• Communication
• Complain resolution
• Organizational skills
• Decision making
• Interpersonal skills
• Persuasion skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Product knowledge
• Time management
• Upselling/Cross-selling
• Service-based selling
• Computer skills

Now that you know what the most important customer service skills are, it’s time to list them on your resume.

Below, we’ll teach you which resume sections are best for listing your customer service skills, as well as teach you how to do it in the most compelling way possible.

Let’s get started!

#1. Mention Your Customer Service Skills on Your Resume Summary 

The first place where you can (and should) mention your customer service skills is the resume summary . 

In a nutshell, the resume summary is a short, three or four-sentence paragraph that describes you as a candidate. Typically, it mentions: 

• Your professional title and years of experience
• Your top skills
• Your most notable achievements

Done right, the resume summary will show the hiring manager you’re a qualified candidate from the get-go and get them to go through your resume in more detail. 

As such, for roles where customer service skills are practically essential, it’s very important to higlight that you possess such skills in your resume summary.

Here’s an example of customer service skills listed in a resume summary:

• Attentative and communicative customer service representative with five years of retail experience responding to all manner of customer inquiries. Career highlights include receiving 99% positive customer survey results at XYZ Convenience. Seeking a role at ABC Tech, where my problem-solving and interpersonal skills can be leveraged to achieve and maintain the highest level of customer service.

#2. List the Right Customer Service Skills 

The most obvious place to list your customer service skills is on your resume’s Skills section. 

The key here, though, is to list skills that are relevant for the role you’re applying for.

We already mentioned how different roles may require different customer service skills. A customer support agent, for example, requires comunication skills and active listening.

Whereas a sales represenative, on the other hand, requires persuasion and upselling skills.

What we’re getting at here is that you shouldn’t just randomly list all the customer services skills we covered in this article - you should pick out the ones that are most relevant for your role.

Here are our top tips on how to list the most relevant customer service skills for your position:

• Check the job description. Most jobs tell you exactly which skills they’re looking for in candidates, all you’ve got to do is check the job description. As a customer service representative, for example, it’ll typically tell you that you need active listening skills, multi-tasking skills, communication skills, knowledge of CRM systems, etc. 
• Identify the skills you possess. Single out the skills that you actually possess instead of adding every single skill mentioned in the job description. 
• Add them under Soft/Hard Skills. Add skills like time management, communication, etc., under Soft Skills and technical know-how like computer skills or product knowledge under Hard Skills. 

#3. Prove Your Customer Service Skills In Your Work Experience Section 

Last but definitely not least, you should use your work experience section to prove to the hiring manager that you possess the customer service skills you mentioned in your resume summary and under your soft skills.

After all, anyone can claim they have customer service skills. It's backing up your claims with facts that can make all the difference. 

Done right, your work experience will leave no doubt in the hiring manager’s mind that they should call you back for a job interview .

Here's exactly how you should build your work experience section so that it highlights your customer service skills: 

• Tailor your work experience to the job description. Don’t use one generic resume to apply to dozens of openings. Each position has its own specific requirements and your resume sections should be tailored to show the hiring manager that you can meet them. If you’re applying for a cashier position, for example, the hiring manager will want to know about your experience as a restaurant server, but not about the time your mowed lawns as a teenager . The first experience highlights yoru customer service skills, while the second does not.
• Focus on your achievements instead of your responsibilities. The hiring manager most knows exactly what your responsibilities were in previous jobs. What they want to know is how you made a positive impact with your achievements. As such, focus on highlighting how you made an impact on your work experience section instead of simply listing what your basic responsibilities were. 
• Make your achievements quantifiable. Speaking of achievements, supporting them with data-backed evidence is what really makes a difference. After all “helped company increase customer retention by 14% by providing customers with a personalized experience” sounds much better than “helped with customer retention.”
• Use action verbs and power words . There are hundreds of words and verbs you can use instead of “helped” or “served.” The more descriptive you are of your achievements, the more impressive you can make them sound. 

Here’s an example of a work experience section that highlights the candidate’s customer service skills perfectly: 

Customer Service Representative 

YXZ Convenience Store

03/2018 - 04/2022

• Achieved the highest up-sell rates in both 2019 (2.6%) and 2021 (3%).
• Worked at the customer information desk for 10+ hour shifts.
• Welcomed and provided personalized customer service to 1000+ customers during the store opening event.

7 Ways to Provide Excellent Customer Service 

Customer service skills don't come naturally to everyone. 

Some people are much better at making customers feel heard and appreciated, while others may struggle to form that connection that makes all the difference when it comes to providing good customer service. 

Well, if the first case applies to you, don't worry. 

Below, we cover seven ways to provide excellent customer service (that can be practiced and learned):

#1. Stay positive

Developing a positive mindset and attitude is an essential part of improving your customer service skills.

Think about your own customer experiences. You’re probably not too happy when, say, you sit at a restaurant and the server taking your order looks miserable, right? Or when you call customer support to resolve an issue and they’re less than willing to help. 

So, whether you’re communicating by phone, face-to-face, or via e-mail, try to stay as positive as possible (even in the face of difficult issues or customers).

#2. Don’t say no

Even if the answer to a customer complaint or issue is “no, it can't be done” or “no, I can’t help you with this,” you should always refrain from phrasing it this way. 

When customers hear the word “no,” they’re more likely to associate it with “this customer service worker doesn’t want to help me” rather than with “this is beyond this employee’s control.” 

So, whenever it’s possible, go out of your way to solve a customer’s issue or help them. And, if doing something to help them really is out of your control, use positive language to tell them, avoid the word “no,” and try to offer them alternative solutions/options that could satisfy them. 

That way, they’ll see that you’re trying hard, despite the fact that you might be unable to solve their problem.

#3. Practice active listening

Active listening is the process of mindfully listening to a speaker, providing feedback, and being observant of non-verbal cues to ensure effective communication. 

Considering that 40% of our daily communication consists of listening , making sure you’re listening effectively to what your customers have to say is an essential part of providing excellent customer service. 

Some ways to do that include: 

• Paying attention and not getting distracted. Try to stay away from your phone and avoid multitasking when you’re interacting with customers. 
• Asking open-ended questions. Open-ended questions require more than a simple “yes” or “no” answer. You can ask such questions to get your customers to describe their needs or problems more comprehensively. 
• Asking probing questions . Similar to open-ended questions, probing questions aim to get a 360-degree view of a topic. Not to mention, they don’t just help you understand better, but also help the speaker to think more comprehensively about what they’re saying.
• Being more attuned to the speaker’s feelings. Customers don’t appreciate feeling like they’re talking to a robot. Asking them about their day and being sympathetic towards their feelings (be they frustration, anger, or annoyance), is a great way to make them feel heard. 

#4. Know your customers

The better you know your customers, the more you can understand their needs and expectations. 

In turn, you can find more creative ways to meet said expectations and improve your customer service. 

Here are some ways you can better understand customer needs: 

• Ask yourself/the team questions such as “who are our main customers?” “what market are they from?” “how does our product/service meet their needs or expectations?” and “what could we do to further help them?”
• Step into your customers’ shoes by considering your own challenges and needs as a customer or what would make your life easier while using the company’s product or service. 
• Encourage customers to give detailed feedback.
• Analyze customer feedback by identifying trends and gaps in your service. Share any results with your team or your colleagues. 

#5. Know the product/service

The better you know the company’s product or services, the more qualitative the customer service you can provide. 

As a salesperson , for example, you’ll be able to sell a product or service better. As a customer support representative, on the other hand, you’ll be able to solve customers' problems more effectively. 

On the same note, knowing a company’s products or services can come in particularly handy when you’re interviewing for a job too. The hiring manager is bound to be impressed with your dedication and effort to learn all about the company before you’re even hired.

Some places where you can easily acquire knowledge of a company’s product or services are:

• Company’s website
• Company’s handbooks 
• Online forums 
• Customer feedback 
• Your own experience with the product 

#6. Be empathetic

We cannot stress enough how important it is to connect with your customers more than just on a professional level. 

Actually connecting with the customer on a personal level and showing real empathy for their issues can really make a world of a difference when it comes to customer experience.

In the first case, if you can’t resolve a customer complaint or help with a specific issue, the customer will be much more likely to feel disappointed with you and the company in general. 

In the second, however, they might cut you some slack and still think “well, at least they listened and genuinely tried to help.”

This can be the difference between losing customers and retaining them and it’s definitely an important part of providing amazing customer service. 

#7. Personalize your customer service

Personalizing your customer service is what can make customers feel special, and who doesn’t like to feel special, right? 

Here’s how you can provide personalized customer service that’s guaranteed to improve your customer service skills: 

• Greet your customers by name and make them feel welcome.
• Contextualize your customer service depending on the customer’s lifestyle and personality.
• Don’t get distracted by anything else when you’re interacting with a customer. Make sure that the customer feels like they’re your center of attention.
• Go out of your way to find the best possible solution/option for the customer, and make sure that the customer knows how much effort you’re putting into helping them.

3 Customer Service Representative Resume Examples 

Below, we’ll show you three examples of how you should list customer service skills for different roles. 

We hope these resumes, created with our tried-and-tested resume templates , inspire you to go after the customer-facing role of your dreams:

#1. Customer Service Representative Resume Example 

#2. Cashier Resume Example 

#3. Sales Executive Resume Example 

Key Takeaways 

And that’s a wrap. By now, you should know everything there is to know about customer service skills and how to highlight them on your resume. 

Before you start putting our tips into practice, let’s go over the main topics we covered in this article: 

• Customer service skills are a set of soft skills that allow you to provide the best customer experience possible.
• Companies are always looking for candidates with strong customer service skills because they can provide the best possible customer experience and, in turn, help them increase their profits, retain customers, improve their brand loyalty, and get more referrals. 
• Some in-demand customer service skills include active listening, interpersonal skills, communication, complaint resolution, empathy, and positivity. 
• To best highlight your customer service skills, list them in your resume summary, work experience, and skills sections. 

To provide a safer experience, the best content and great communication, we use cookies. Learn how we use them for non-authenticated users.