What skills should a Customer Service Representative put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Customer Service Representative list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Active Data Online WebChat, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Customer Service Representative work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Account Representative, CSR, Customer Service Specialist, and Member Services Representative. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Customer Service Representative need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 55% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Customer Service Representative role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Customer Service Representative resume example

A resume for a Customer Service Representative needs to show the work itself: interact with customers to provide basic or scripted information in response to routine inquiries about products and services. Day to day that means work like this: confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints; keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Account Representative
CSR
Customer Service Specialist
Member Services Representative
Member Services Rep
Call Center Representative
Client Services Representative
Customer Care Representative
CCR
Customer Service Agent
Customer Support Representative
Customer Support Rep
Guest Service Agent
Claims CSR
Client Service Rep
Inbound CSR
Utilities CSR
Account Adjuster

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

Customer Care Representative (CCR)
Customer Service Representative (CSR)
Customer Support Representative (Customer Support Rep)
Member Services Representative (Member Services Rep)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints.
Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken.
Check to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems.
Contact customers to respond to inquiries or to notify them of claim investigation results or any planned adjustments.
Determine charges for services requested, collect deposits or payments, or arrange for billing.
Complete contract forms, prepare change of address records, or issue service discontinuance orders, using computers.
Refer unresolved customer grievances to designated departments for further investigation.
Resolve customers' service or billing complaints by performing activities such as exchanging merchandise, refunding money, or adjusting bills.
Review insurance policy terms to determine whether a particular loss is covered by insurance.
Solicit sales of new or additional services or products.
Compare disputed merchandise with original requisitions and information from invoices and prepare invoices for returned goods.
Obtain and examine all relevant information to assess validity of complaints and to determine possible causes, such as extreme weather conditions that could increase utility bills.

13 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Check to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Contact customers to respond to inquiries or to notify them of claim investigation results or any planned adjustments, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Active Data Online WebChat
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
ADP Workforce Now
Airtable
Apple Keynote
Apple macOS
Applied Systems Vision
AS/400 Database
Astute Solutions PowerCenter
Austin Logistics CallSelect
Austin Logistics CallTech

113 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Autodialing systems
Automatic call distribution ACD system
Calling line identification equipment
Cash registers
Desktop computers
Dialed number identification systems DNIS
Global positioning system GPS receivers
Multi-line telephone systems
On hold players
Personal digital assistants PDA
Predictive dialers
Scanners

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

customer service
CRM
call handling
issue resolution
data entry
ticketing

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Service Orientation
03Speaking
04Reading Comprehension
05Critical Thinking
06Complex Problem Solving
07Time Management
08Monitoring
09Negotiation
10Persuasion

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Administration and Management
Sales and Marketing
Mathematics
Administrative
Computers and Electronics

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

55%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
17%Some College Courses
14%Bachelor's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Customer Service Representative do?: Interact with customers to provide basic or scripted information in response to routine inquiries about products and services. Day to day that includes work like confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints and Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken.
What skills should a Customer Service Representative put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Customer Service Representative list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Active Data Online WebChat, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Customer Service Representative work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Account Representative, CSR, Customer Service Specialist, and Member Services Representative. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Customer Service Representative need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 55% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Customer Service Representative role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.