A Customer Service Agent is a front-line staff at any business or company. They are the first person a customer contacts to acquire information about a product, or submit an order, to file complaints, or request returns. Customer service agents resolve any doubt or issue customers might have about the products, services, or policies of the company.
They process orders and returns, follow up on open cases, and document customer data. The agents might operate over the phone, answer emails, or be at the customers' disposal on live chat. They have to have up-to-date information about the products and processes of the company in order to efficiently troubleshoot. Collecting customer feedback to create reports about the efficiency of their service is also the responsibility of customer service agents.
As they are the first interaction a customer will have with a business or institution, their job is to create and maintain a good relationship with customers and create an attractive image of the company. However, customers rarely bother to make contact unless they have a problem, so customer service agents should expect an outpouring of customer frustration. Make sure you have nerves of steel and know-how to keep you calm if you decide to give this position a go.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a customer service agent. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.95 an hour? That's $26,933 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -2% and produce -51,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many customer service agents have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, computer skills and customer-service skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a customer service agent, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.3% of customer service agents included customer service, while 10.3% of resumes included check-in, and 8.9% of resumes included outbound calls. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the customer service agent job title. But what industry to start with? Most customer service agents actually find jobs in the transportation and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a customer service agent, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 27.8% of customer service agents have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.8% of customer service agents have master's degrees. Even though some customer service agents have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a customer service agent. When we researched the most common majors for a customer service agent, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on customer service agent resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a customer service agent. In fact, many customer service agent jobs require experience in a role such as customer service representative. Meanwhile, many customer service agents also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or sales associate.
