What does a Customs and Border Protection Officer do?

Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Day to day that includes work like examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S and Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.

What skills should a Customs and Border Protection Officer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, and Social Perceptiveness 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 Customs and Border Protection Officer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Automated Manifest System AMS, Corel WordPerfect Office Suite, Global positioning system GPS software, IBM WebSphere MQ, and Law enforcement information databases. 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 Customs and Border Protection Officer work?

O*NET records 27 titles for this occupation, including Customs Inspector, Customs Officer, Special Agent, and US Customs and Border Protection Officer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Customs and Border Protection Officer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% 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 Customs and Border Protection Officer 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.

Customs and Border Protection Officer resume example

A resume for a Customs and Border Protection Officer needs to show the work itself: investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Day to day that means work like this: examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S; detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation. 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.

Customs Inspector
Customs Officer
Special Agent
US Customs and Border Protection Officer
US CBPO
Canine Enforcement Officer
K-9 Enforcement Officer
Import Specialist
MIA
Agriculture Specialist
Air Import Specialist
Border Patrol Agent
Customs and Border Patrol Agent
Customs Import Specialist
Customs Opener
Customs Packer
Customs Specialist
Customs Verifier

O*NET records 27 titles for this occupation in total.

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.

Examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S.
Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.
Inspect cargo, baggage, and personal articles entering or leaving U.S. for compliance with revenue laws and U.S. customs regulations.
Locate and seize contraband, undeclared merchandise, and vehicles, aircraft, or boats that contain such merchandise.
Interpret and explain laws and regulations to travelers, prospective immigrants, shippers, and manufacturers.
Institute civil and criminal prosecutions and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of those in violation of immigration or customs laws.
Testify regarding decisions at immigration appeals or in federal court.
Record and report job-related activities, findings, transactions, violations, discrepancies, and decisions.
Determine duty and taxes to be paid on goods.
Collect samples of merchandise for examination, appraisal, or testing.
Investigate applications for duty refunds and petition for remission or mitigation of penalties when warranted.

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.

Examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect cargo, baggage, and personal articles entering or leaving U.S. for compliance with revenue laws and U.S. customs regulations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Locate and seize contraband, undeclared merchandise, and vehicles, aircraft, or boats that contain such merchandise, 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.

Automated Manifest System AMS
Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
Global positioning system GPS software
IBM WebSphere MQ
Law enforcement information databases
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Word
National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
SAP software
Treasury Enforcement Communications System TECS

Tools and equipment

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

Barcode scanners
Compound light microscopes
Desktop computers
Digital video cameras
Fingerprint scanners
Gamma ray spectrometers
Hazardous material detectors
Hydrometers
Identification card scanners
Ion mobility spectrometers
Laptop computers
Measurement calipers

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.

patrol
incident reporting
de-escalation
investigations
emergency response
public safety

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
02Critical Thinking
03Speaking
04Reading Comprehension
05Social Perceptiveness
06Judgment and Decision Making
07Monitoring
08Writing
09Active Learning
10Coordination

Knowledge areas

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

Law and Government
Public Safety and Security
English Language
Customer and Personal Service
Psychology
Administrative
Computers and Electronics
Geography

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.

39%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
27%Bachelor's Degree
14%Some College Courses

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Customs and Border Protection Officer do?: Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Day to day that includes work like examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S and Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.
What skills should a Customs and Border Protection Officer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, and Social Perceptiveness 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 Customs and Border Protection Officer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Automated Manifest System AMS, Corel WordPerfect Office Suite, Global positioning system GPS software, IBM WebSphere MQ, and Law enforcement information databases. 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 Customs and Border Protection Officer work?: O*NET records 27 titles for this occupation, including Customs Inspector, Customs Officer, Special Agent, and US Customs and Border Protection Officer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Customs and Border Protection Officer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 39% 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 Customs and Border Protection Officer 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.