What is a customer representative and how to become one

Q: How do I get a job as a customer service representative?

To get a job as a customer service representative, apply for customer service jobs with a resume and cover letter that describe your accomplishments working with customers in the past. Working as a customer service representative involves talking face-to-face with customers, solving problems, and helping others, so these are the most important elements to focus on during the application process.

Q: How much do customer representatives make?

Customer representatives make an average salary of $29,000. A typical entry-level salary is $23,000. With more experience, you can earn around $50,000 in a senior-level position.

Q: What are 3 important qualities of customer service?

The 3 important qualities of customer service are professionalism, patience, and a "people-first" attitude. To get an idea of why the "three P's" matter, first, let's break down what they are. The first "P," professionalism, refers to the attitude you take towards your customers. Even when a customer is upset or behaving immaturely, it's up to you to diffuse the situation, if possible, and do what you can to represent your brand in a positive light.

Q: What do you need to become a customer service representative?

To become a customer service representative, you need a high school diploma or equivalent and good communication skills. A person seeking to become a customer service representative should ideally have a few years of prior experience in a customer service environment (such as retail).

Q: What qualifications do you need for customer service?

The only qualification to become a customer service representative is a high school diploma. However, having an associate degree or even a bachelor's can open up new doors to better positions at more notable companies with more competitive salaries. An associate's degree in business or arts is highly desirable.

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

A customer representative serves as the main point of contact between a company and its customers. They address customer inquiries, resolve complaints, and ensure a positive customer experience. Customer representatives must have excellent communication skills and a knowledge of the company's products or services. They may work in retail, telecommunications, and healthcare. The role requires strong problem-solving skills, the ability to multitask, and a commitment to providing exceptional customer service.

What general advice would you give to a Customer Representative?

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Charleston Southern University

Show employers how you would not only fill an open position regarding the work at hand, but show them how you would be an asset to their team. We are in very team driven work environments currently, and hiring managers want to know what you can bring to the table. Filling a void is great for the workload, but enhancing a team culture makes them not want to work without you!

ScoreCustomer RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,351

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.9

Growth Rate -4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 7.36%

Black or African American 11.02%

Hispanic or Latino 22.75%

Unknown 5.27%

White 52.91%

Gender

female 63.26%

male 36.74%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress Level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.6

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a Customer Representative?

Pros

Opportunities for career advancement
Enhances time-management skills
Provides a stable and predictable work schedule
May offer competitive pay and benefits
Opportunity to work from home in some cases

Cons

May require working long hours or shifts that change frequently
May require working weekends or holidays
Repetitive nature of the work can be tedious and boring
Can lead to burnout from dealing with difficult customers regularly
Often requires sitting for long periods, which can lead to health problems

Key steps to become a customer representative

Explore customer representative education requirements

Most common customer representative degrees

Bachelor's

40.2 %

High School Diploma

25.0 %

Associate

20.7 %

Start to develop specific customer representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Phone Calls	16.35%
Windows	10.62%
Technical Support	8.44%
Product Knowledge	4.38%
Data Entry	3.84%

Complete relevant customer representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a customer representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer representative resumes.

Research customer representative duties and responsibilities

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Present PowerPoint presentations to brokers regarding customer service issues.
Demonstrate superb organizational and multitasking abilities
Prepare quarterly reports on the business and present to fellow employees using PowerPoint.

Prepare your customer representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer representative resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a customer representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Customer Representative Resume templates

Build a professional Customer Representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Customer Representative resume.

Apply for customer representative jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a customer representative job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do customer representatives rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Customer Representative reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2024

Pros

remote job, more schedule flexibility

Cons

very low salary, no career growth, very stressful and not rewarding

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022

Pros

I got to do a variety of tasks daily. Got treated with respect from management and other coworkers.

Cons

Sometimes I had to finish up job tasks that were assigned to others that were not completed.

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2022

Pros

Getting to know the people and the you work.with

Cons

Being required to answer a minimum number of calls a day. This pushes the idea that the caller is a number and as such, it is more difficult to personalize the call the the person calling in

What is a customer representative and how to become one

What general advice would you give to a Customer Representative?

What are the pros and cons of being a Customer Representative?

Customer Representative career paths

Key steps to become a customer representative

Explore customer representative education requirements

Most common customer representative degrees

Start to develop specific customer representative skills

Complete relevant customer representative training and internships

Research customer representative duties and responsibilities

Prepare your customer representative resume

Choose From 10+ Customizable Customer Representative Resume templates

Apply for customer representative jobs

How Did You Land Your First Customer Representative Job

Average customer representative salary

How do customer representatives rate their job?

Customer Representative reviews

Customer Representative FAQs

How do I get a job as a customer service representative?

How much do customer representatives make?

What are 3 important qualities of customer service?

What do you need to become a customer service representative?

What qualifications do you need for customer service?

Search for customer representative jobs