Customer Service Representative Resume Skills and Keywords

What skills should I put on a customer service representative resume?

The top skills to put on a customer service representative resume are Microsoft Office (Excel), along with customer and personal service, sales and marketing, and service orientation. Employers also look for dependability, cooperation and social orientation, which are best shown through results in your bullet points rather than listed.

• Microsoft Excel
• Customer and Personal Service knowledge
• Sales and Marketing knowledge
• Service Orientation
• Dependability
• Cooperation
• Social Orientation

What software should customer service representatives know?

Customer service representative job postings most often ask for Microsoft Office (Excel). Many customer service representatives also use CRM, contact center and network conferencing software; which products matter depends on the employer, so list the specific products a posting names and you have used.

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Office

What hard skills do employers want in customer service representatives?

Customer service representatives need customer and personal service, sales and marketing, and service orientation far more than most workers, and administrative knowledge more than most. Name these in your resume summary and prove each one with a bullet that shows you using it.

• Customer and Personal Service · Needed far more than in most jobs
  Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Sales and Marketing · Needed far more than in most jobs
  Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Service Orientation · Needed far more than in most jobs
  Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Administrative · Needed more than in most jobs
  Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Administration and Management · Needed more than in most jobs
  Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Active Listening · Needed more than in most jobs
  Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Compared with the average rating across all jobs in Department of Labor data.

What soft skills do customer service representatives need?

The most important soft skills for customer service representatives are dependability, cooperation and social orientation, followed by self-control and empathy. Show them through results in your bullet points rather than listing them as single words.

1. Dependability: A tendency to be reliable, responsible, and consistent in meeting work-related obligations.
2. Cooperation: A tendency to be pleasant, helpful, and willing to assist others at work.
3. Social Orientation: A tendency to seek out, enjoy, and be energized by social interaction at work.
4. Self-Control: A tendency to remain calm and composed and to manage emotions effectively in response to criticism or difficult situations at work.
5. Empathy: A tendency to show concern for others and be sensitive to others' needs and feelings at work.

What keywords should a customer service representative resume include?

A customer service representative resume should include the exact tool names, skills and job title from the posting. For customer service representatives, common keywords include Microsoft Office (Excel), Account Representative and Call Center Representative. Applicant tracking systems and recruiters scan for these words, so use them wherever they truthfully describe your experience.

How do I write customer service representative resume bullet points?

Start each customer service representative bullet point with a past-tense verb and a core task, such as “Checked to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems,” then end it with a measurable result: what changed, by how much, and for whom. These starters come from the job’s most important tasks.

What are other job titles for a customer service representative?

Other job titles for a customer service representative include Account Representative, Call Center Representative, Client Services Representative, Customer Care Representative (CCR) and Customer Service Agent. Government job data groups them as “Customer Service Representatives.” Search for these titles too, and use the posting’s exact title on your resume when it fits your experience.

• Account Representative
• Call Center Representative
• Client Services Representative
• Customer Care Representative (CCR)
• Customer Service Agent
• Customer Service Representative (CSR)
• Customer Service Specialist
• Customer Support Representative (Customer Support Rep)
• Guest Service Agent
• Member Services Representative (Member Services Rep)
• Account Adjuster
• Adjustment Clerk
• Automotive Service Advisor
• Automotive Service Writer
• Bill Adjuster
• Claims Customer Service Representative (Claims CSR)
• Clerical Adjudicator
• Client Relations Specialist
• Client Service Representative (Client Service Rep)
• Client Support Professional

What education do customer service representatives need?

Most customer service representatives need a high school diploma or equivalent to get hired. New hires typically get short-term on-the-job training. No prior work experience is usually required. On your resume, list coursework or certifications in customer and personal service, sales and marketing, and administrative knowledge. In a federal survey, 55% of customer service representatives said the job requires a high school diploma and 17% some college courses.

How much do customer service representatives make?

Customer service representatives earn a median salary of $44,770 a year, according to May 2025 federal wage data. The lowest-paid 10% earn less than $31,750, and the highest-paid 10% earn more than $63,590. Employment is projected to shrink 5.3% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3.5% average for all jobs, with about 289,500 openings a year.

Openings still come up as people retire or move on, but in a shrinking field, skills that carry over to other jobs matter more on your resume.

What’s changing in this field

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects these trends to shape hiring. If your experience touches any of them, say so.

• Capital/labor substitution - share decreases as advances in speech and language processing and in artificial intelligence (AI) allow computers to handle customer service interactions with greater frequency.

What other jobs can customer service representatives do?

Customer service representatives’ skills carry over best to jobs as sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel; telemarketers; and insurance claims and policy processing clerks, which use the most similar skills and day-to-day work.