How to Become a Customer Services Rep

A customer services rep is likely to find employment across a wide range of industries, including retail, insurance, hospitality and financial services, to name just a few. Often, a customer services rep is the first point of contact within a company, or the final step in reaching a customer complaint resolution. Answer the calling yourself by learning how to become a customer services rep.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Resume
• High school diploma or general equivalency (GED)

1. Graduate from high school before seeking a job to become a customer services rep, or obtain your GED as soon as possible. This will be required by most potential employers.

2. Take some additional credit or adult education courses, if possible, such as business or accounting courses. These will be very helpful in helping you to become a customer services rep, especially in the fields of banking or insurance.

3. Be familiar with basic computer and general office equipment and applications. As a customer services rep, you will likely need to respond to customer issues across a variety of platforms, including telephone, email and fax. In addition, you may also need to track incoming customer calls and the flow of steps taken to respond to that customer by entering information into a data management system.

4. Prepare a resume that will demonstrate that your skills and previous experience will be assets to you as a customer services rep. If you need some guidance, check out Monster.com's tips on how to prepare a resume to become a customer services rep (see Resources below).

5. Expect to take a pre-employment test before getting hired as a customer services rep. You may also be required to submit to a drug test and a background check as well.

Tips & Warnings

• A customer services rep can sometimes negotiate a flexible work schedule, or even job sharing with another employee. This is an attractive option for someone wishing to enter the customer services field but who have other obligations, such as attending school for further education or raising a young family.
• Approximately one-fourth of customer service reps work from home, another attractive incentive of this position.
• Bilingual individuals, particularly those fluent in Spanish, are in very high demand as customer service reps.
• Patience is the key ingredient to success as a customer services rep. Not every customer will be agreeable or pleasant to deal with, even if the issue is resolved satisfactorily. In fact, the sheer volume of calls alone handled on a given day can seem overwhelming. For this reason, customer service reps tend to experience a high burn out rate.

Resources

• Resume writing tips from Monster.com

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