How to Write a Call Center Resume That Will Get You Hired

Overview

• What a call center service representative does
• Specific skills you’ll want to include on your resume
• How to quantify your relevant work experience

Those interested in working in a call center will find that this role offers an exciting career choice. By answering calls and troubleshooting problems with customers, these service representatives know that each day will bring something different.

An important part of finding a call center position is knowing how to create a resume that highlights your accomplishments and makes you an appealing candidate. This article will tell you what you need to know about the industry and show you how to craft a winning call center resume.

A call center service representative plays a critical role in managing customer relationships. They answer inbound calls and may make an occasional outbound call. During these calls, they’ll address various customer needs. Customer complaints and customer inquiries are two common types of calls, as customers look for help with their products or services.

Call center representatives work for businesses in a number of industries, ranging from credit card companies to health care organizations. Regardless of the industry, representatives work to improve customer satisfaction and respond to the callers’ needs according to the business’s guidelines. These professionals are often some of the only live representatives that customers interact with, making them an important part of the company’s image.

During your job search, you’ll want to create a quality resume that highlights your experience and accomplishments. You’ll also want to review the job description as you draft your resume to ensure you align your experiences with the job’s desired competencies. Complement your resume with a quality cover letter that further highlights your strengths and ability to excel in the position.

Below are the steps you need to take to create a call center resume.

It’s important to remember that resume writing is similar to creating an advertisement. You want to show what makes you an excellent candidate for this particular job so the recruiter or hiring manager picks yours out of the stack to review more closely. That means it shouldn’t include your entire work history but instead focus on your most relevant experiences.

The template you follow for your call center representative resume, therefore, should be easy to follow. For many applicants who have at least some experience in the field, the most common format is to list your work experience in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent job first. This helps highlight the progression of your career. Someone just getting started in the field, however, might instead choose to highlight important skills by listing relevant jobs under those skills.

Regardless of the format you select, you’ll want to have your contact information prominently displayed so the prospective employer doesn’t have to search for it. Including a phone number, email address, and mailing address works best. If you have a quality LinkedIn profile that helps strengthen your resume, include that as well.

At the top of your resume, an introduction that provides a summary of who you are and why you want this particular call center job can help highlight your accomplishments and what makes you a good candidate. This may include a resume objective that tells the hiring manager your career goals as a call center representative.

This section shouldn’t be particularly long — it might be only a sentence or two. At most, it can be a short paragraph. Use it to highlight your most significant skills but not to repeat everything you list below.

You’ll want to draw attention to the skills that matter most to the hiring manager looking for a new call center representative. Look over the job description again to help you better understand what this employer wants to see in call center professionals. Use the skills section to highlight soft skills that will benefit you in this type of job and any product experience or related call center skills you have. Consider the following abilities and see if you’ve used them in ways that you can highlight as bullet points.

• Communication skills. Call centers deal with customers calling with questions and concerns, so representatives need excellent customer service skills and the ability to explain things clearly and helpfully to benefit the caller.
• Listening skills. Representatives also need to be active listeners, understand what the customer wants to communicate, and help them resolve issues.
• Problem-solving skills. Representatives also need to be proficient in problem-solving and troubleshooting. You’ll need to be able to provide creative solutions to unique problems, show customers how to implement solutions, and otherwise work closely with customers to ensure their satisfaction.
• Data entry. Keeping track of important information regarding customer calls helps the business provide better service for customers moving forward.
• Foreign language skills. Call centers also sometimes have customers who speak other languages. If you have any additional language skills, such as Spanish, let the prospective employer know.
• Multitasking. Success as a call center representative often calls for some multitasking, as you may field calls, track data, and communicate with other representatives. Examples of your abilities in this area will be well-received.

Relevant work experience is one of the most important parts of your resume to become a call center agent. Your work history will help you highlight your accomplishments and what you can bring to this specific position. This section should focus on work experiences that matter most to the job.

Create a list of relevant work experiences, starting with the most recent. Under your work experiences, draw attention to your most significant accomplishments. Use action verbs and phrasing that accentuates what you did with bullet points. If possible, use concrete metrics that measure your success so hiring managers have quantifiable examples of your success.

A resume example might be: “Instituted new inbound call answering strategy; increased customer satisfaction by 20% in two months.”

Your potential employer will also want to learn more about your educational background. List your highest degree earned, whether that is a high school diploma, an equivalent education, or a college degree. Note if you have any particular honors, as well.

The location of your education information will depend on your individual resume. If you have ample work experience relevant to the call center field, you’ll want to put that experience higher up with your education below it. On the other hand, recent graduates who may not have much work experience might put their educational accomplishments further up.

When it comes to becoming a call center representative, Joblist makes it easier than ever to find a new job. The platform allows job seekers to search for their preferred position and save jobs to apply to later.

To help you find the best call center jobs, take our quiz to get personalized job matches. If you want to find the right call center representative position for you, get started on Joblist today.