Customer Service Representative Jobs Overview
Customer service representatives use advanced communication skills to answer customer questions, handle complaints, troubleshoot technical issues, document customer interactions, and perform customer outreach. Some customer service representative jobs require you to interact with customers solely over the phone, while others demand face-to-face meetings or communication through social media, live chat, text message, and/or email.
You can find part-time and full-time work in almost every sector as a customer service representative. A high school diploma is usually required for entry, with most employers providing on-the-job training. You may or may not have to work in an office setting, as many employers allow their customer service representatives to work from home.
The duties that you perform as a customer service representative greatly depend on the sector you work in. According to date from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, customer Service Representatives are particularly in demand in the following sectors:
- business support services
- general merchandising retailers
- insurance agencies and brokers
- credit intermediation
No matter the industry you work in as a customer service representative, some of your basic job duties will likely include:
- addressing problems, challenges, and inquiries made by customers
- allaying consumers' fears by providing them guidance
- staying calm when handling complex client concerns
- creating new accounts for customers
- making product recommendations
- directing customer concerns to the right department
- compiling information from customer interactions to use in creating products and customer reports
Customer Service Representative: Salary Range
Your skills as a customer service representative can earn you $24,546 to $51,129 per year. The median annual salary for this occupation is $31,834.
New York, Los Angeles, and Phoenix are just three of the many cities with above-average median salaries for customer support representatives and a high demand for these workers. Some of the top-paying roles in these cities and other locations across the nation for customer service agents are:
- technical customer service representative - $33,578 per year
- client service representative/associate - $41,798 per year
- insurance customer service representative - $34,730 per year
- automotive customer service representative - $27,651 per year
- customer service supervisor - $39,455 per year
Want to learn how much money you can make as a customer service representative in your neighborhood and throughout the country? Use the Monster Salary Tool.
Finding the Best Customer Service Representative Jobs for You
To build a satisfying career, it's important to find customer service representative jobs that align with your interests and values. For example, if you have a special interest in coding, consider looking for IT customer service jobs. If you want to manage a team of customer service workers, look for customer support manager jobs.
Setting goals for promotion and salary increases is common among customer service professionals. Some even earn degrees and certifications to better their chances of getting hired for higher-up positions like manager or executive.
To find positions that help you follow a successful career path, ask yourself these questions when going through job postings and job descriptions for customer service representative jobs:
- Can I see a future for myself in this field?
- Does the company provide room for advancement in the position?
- What type of training will I need to be successful in the job?
- When interacting with clients, will I use the phone, email, or meet with them in person?
- Does the job allow me to work from home?
- Do I have a set schedule I have to follow each week, or do I have the flexibility to choose my own schedule?
Application Advice for Customer Service Representatives
Applications are often the first point of contact that employers have with their employees. For this reason, it's crucial to employ a proofreader before submitting your content. You can also use the advice in the sections below to ensure you submit competitive applications for customer service representative jobs.
Application Preparation
Reading the customer service representative job description thoroughly and making a list of its requirements is the first step in getting ready to apply for the position. Adding these requirements to your application demonstrates to the hiring manager that you are capable of doing the job. Here are some additional tips you can use to polish your application:
- Highlight any skills you have that are relevant to the position, such as interpersonal, active listening, and communication.
- Avoid repeating the same thing over and over by carefully choosing your words.
- Proofread the application several times before submitting it.
- Explain rather than tell by using descriptive adjectives to showcase your customer service skills.
- Trim the content in your application to only include relevant information.
Popular talents commonly listed by applicants for customer service representative jobs are:
- creativity
- adaptability
- conflict management
- patience
- problem-solving
- empathy
- technical knowledge
- attentiveness
- emotional intelligence
- writing
Craft a Resume That Gets Noticed
Your resume for customer service representative jobs should focus on selling your strengths and highlighting your contributions in past jobs. It should be straightforward and showcase your strongest points in customer service, such as communication, time management, and the ability to negotiate, handle orders, and enter data. You can even include goals you set for yourself, such as building long-term relationships with customers, to illustrate your interpersonal skills.
Choosing the right format for your resume is key to getting hiring managers to notice it:
Many employers hiring customer service representatives use applicant tracking systems to recruit new workers. Adding resume keywords relevant to the industry you want to work in will boost your resume's performance in these systems. Some of the most valuable skills and talents that recruiters look for when hiring customer service workers that you can use as resume keywords are:
- teamwork
- Microsoft Access
- sales
- customer satisfaction
- customer relationship management
- international logistics
- transportation
- supply chain management
- social media
- marketing
- logistics management
Monster makes it easier than ever to create customized resumes for customer service representative jobs. If you want a resume that showcases your customer service skills and easily gets noticed by recruiters who use applicant tracking systems, use Monster's Resume Writing Service.
Write an Impactful Cover Letter
Introduce yourself and state why you want to work as a customer service agent at the beginning of your cover letter. Don't forget to provide information about the customer service position you're applying for and how you heard about it.
Next, emphasize your previous experience working with clients. Examples of this might include problem-solving skills, customer service prowess, and a willingness to go the extra mile to satisfy requests.
Include concrete instances of your ability to provide excellent customer service. This might be a moment when you helped a client through a challenging situation, went out of your way to assist them, or earned praise from them.
The final paragraph of your customer service cover letter should focus on selling yourself as the perfect candidate for the job. Create information for this part by learning about the organization and describing how your background is an asset to the open job. The last sentence in this paragraph before the final closing should invite the reader to contact you with questions.
Submit the Application
Many employers of customer service professionals in almost every industry use Monster to recruit new workers. Connecting with these employers requires nothing more than a free Monster membership.
To get the most out of the Monster platform when using it to find a job, use these tips:
- Use a proofreader to keep the content in your profile, applications, resume, and cover letter free of errors and typos.
- Click the Apply button on job postings to send your profile to the recruiting managers.
- Set your profile to 'visible' to ensure all recruiters and hiring managers can easily access your work history, resume, and cover letter.
- Keep your contact information updated with the correct phone number and email address to ensure recruiters can contact you for interviews and job offers.
What to Do After Sending an Application
Those in charge of hiring customer service representatives often wade through hundreds or thousands of applications every month. Keeping your applications fresh in the memory of these hiring managers is crucial to landing a job. One of the easiest ways to do this is by sending follow-up messages.
How to Do Application Follow-Ups
A follow-up communication to a hiring manager should include information about when you applied, what you are looking for in a job, and what you can bring to the table in terms of customer service. Use one of these subject lines to make sure the recruiting manager sees your follow-up email:
- Did you see my application for the customer service representative job?
- Customer Service Representative Application Follow-Up
- [Your Name]'s Application Follow-Up: Next Steps?
- Customer Service Job Applicant Follow-Up
Interview Advice for Customer Representative Jobs
Interview questions in the field of customer service often take the form of behavioral inquiries, which require candidates to provide examples of their prior experience in related positions. You can find out whether an interview will ask behavioral-based questions by asking about the interview's format when confirming its time and location.
If the interview doesn't focus on behavioral questions, it will likely focus on your competencies. A competency-based interview allows you to demonstrate how your skills and abilities in customer service, such as advanced technical knowledge and conflict resolution, make you a good candidate for the job.
Ahead of the Interview
Taking time to prepare for your next interview will help you feel less anxious and give your best performance. No matter the format of the interview, you can use these tips to help you prepare:
- Get together with a friend and do a few fake interviews.
- Check the employer's website to study its language.
- Plan out how you can best demonstrate your qualifications for the job.
- Make a list of everything you need to know about the job, from the start date to the needed hours to whether or not you can work remotely.
During the Interview
Interview questions for customer service representative jobs are likely to focus on the specific field in which the company operates. However, during the interview, you can expect to answer questions very similar to the following:
- What do you do when a customer becomes upset?
- Which talents in customer service do you think are the most important?
- How can you guarantee constant and pleasant interactions with each client?
- Can you provide an example of a time when you had to deal with a challenging client and explain how you handled the issue?
- Can you tell me about a time you had to collaborate with others on a project?
- Exactly what about working with us excites you the most?
- What kind of teammate are you?
- What different customer relationship management software are you familiar using?
Following the Interview
After an interview, some employers may request that you wait a particular amount of time before getting in touch. Following an employer's request is crucial to showing your ability to follow directions. However, it's always professional to send a thank-you note after an interview.
Check a position's job posting to see if it details the hiring process. If it doesn't, you can send a follow-up message about a week after the interview in addition to sending a thank-you note the day following the interview. Use one of the following subject lines to guarantee the recruiting manager reads your thank-you note:
- Thank You for the Interview: Next Steps?
- Thanks for the Meeting Yesterday for the Customer Service Job
- Customer Service Interview Follow-Up
- [Your Name] Interview: Thanks for Your Time
How to Respond to Job Offers
When you receive a job offer for a customer service representative position, check it for a deadline. Always submit an answer by the date listed or within three days if it doesn't give one.
Use the time allotted to think over the offer to weigh the pros and cons of accepting it, considering things like the demands of the position, incentives, benefits, and earnings. Other specific aspects of the offer to consider before giving an answer are:
- location
- base pay
- potential earnings
- professional growth opportunities
- required work hours
- remote flexibility
- bonuses
- vacation and sick pay
- commission-based pay
- start date
- company culture
Career Paths for Customer Service Representatives
Customer service personnel are very marketable due to their extensive skill set, which includes strong communication and dispute resolution abilities. Looking for jobs with similar titles is crucial to your job search. Professionals with a focus on customer service often work under one of the following titles:
- Customer relationship management. Develop and implement strategies for customer relationship management to boost retention, create and carry out a company-wide standard operating procedure for dealing with customers, and inform future product planning, advertising, and distribution with feedback from your current clientele.
- Customer success manager. Organize how the employer communicates with its clients, provide direction for sales staff dealing directly with customers, facilitate the buying process for both new and current clients, keep customers around by making their experiences positive, and develop plans to increase customer engagement rates.
- Customer support manager. Set up methods for assisting customers, create and update procedures for providing client service, increase focus on the customer, check up on how happy the customers are, and find information about the market and the competition.
- Customer support representative. Respond to inquiries from clients, take care of issues from patrons, refer clients to the appropriate division or manager, accept a customer's order or payment, process account updates for clients, and manage returns and exchanges.
- Customer services administrator. Supervise a team of customer care agents, responding to questions from customers and keeping tabs on their needs and wants.
Customer Service Representative: Related Professions
You can also use your skills as a customer service representative to secure jobs in related professions. The following related roles are common among those working in customer service: