Many jobs in one way or another are related to customer service. Because companies sell their products or service to customers they deal with them on a daily basis. However, there are jobs that are not just related to customer service, they are customer service jobs. That means that people are those who represent the company both to potential and existing clients dealing with everyday issues the customers happy with the products and services received. Customer service jobs are popular and there are many jobs available on different levels: from customer service agents to managers and executive type of positions. Since this kind of careers is quite popular we decided to provide some recommendations on how to develop a successful customer service-oriented resume. It requires some knowledge and skills because there are so many job seekers who wish to get a job in customer service. We thought it would be a good idea to help our readers stand out among the competition.

Targeting Your Customer Service Resume

customer serviceAs in every other industry, you need to target your resume in order to have realistic chances of getting at least some interview invitations. When job seekers want to target their resume they have to know just one thing really - what are the company's requirements for the post. This is all the hiring manager will care about when looking at your resume and when interviewing you so the very first thing you have to focus on is requirements of the employer. Failing to meet those requirements will automatically rid you of all chances to get hired. Whatever you put on a resume it has to be relevant to the needs of employers you send your resume to. Hiring authorities are not interested in things that have nothing to do with the job that needs to be done. Even if you think it is important it is very unlikely they would view your accomplishments at the same career angle as you do. If there is anything you can use to your advantage in your resume is results you have demonstrated during your past employments.

It is good if you have relevant experience but if your experience is all about routine responsibilities that consist of answering customer questions and providing necessary assistance to clients then it is helping very much. Results and accomplishments are what really matters for HRs. Whether you realize it or not, you probably have accomplishments which you can demonstrate to a potential employer. It is necessary to quantify your results so that hiring authorities could get a better understanding of how you were performing in the past. Even if it is going to be a number of phone calls handled on a daily basis, it could still be an impressive figure. Let's say you handled over 150 calls per day for Fortune 500 company. That does sound so much better than simply 'handling incoming calls from customers'.

There are some questions that will help you discover some of the things you could mention on your customer service-oriented resume. This is not the full list obviously, but there are enough questions that could help you know what things are worth mentioning on a resume.

- Did customer satisfaction rating increase when you worked for the company?

- Did sales increase as a result of your performance?

- Have you ever received unsolicited comments from happy customers?

- Did you initiate any process improvements to customer service programs? If so what kind of impact did it have?

- Did you receive positive reviews for service quality?

- Did you receive any awards for excellent customer service quality or sales achievements?

These questions are to be answered honestly. Most people are tempted to misrepresent their facts in order to gain the favor of potential employers. However, any lie can be easily detected by an experienced HR (and most HR have some experience in catching candidates on a lie) and then your chances will be equal to zero.