Call Center Skills For A Resume And How To Improve Them

Updated 19 April 2023

Several organisations have call centres dedicated to providing able and prompt customer support. These organisations hire call centre agents who can address customer complaints quickly and represent their brand professionally. If you are interested in becoming a call centre professional, learning about the skills required for the job can help you prepare yourself for a call centre job. In this article, we discuss call centre skills for a resume, explore a list of skills, learn the steps you can undertake to improve them and look at call centre skills in the workplace.

What Are Call Centre Skills For A Resume?

Call centre skills for a resume are a combination of hard and soft skills that help call centre agents perform their job well. It allows them to represent the brand professionally and to offer memorable customer service experiences. Call centre skills can help agents quickly understand customer problems and offer swift resolutions.

As they may be the only point of contact between a brand and its customers, these skills are extremely important. These skills also help call centre agents to work well within teams and form interpersonal relationships. Mentioning these skills on a resume tells the hiring manager about the skills that a candidate has and helps them understand if the candidate can do the job well.

Examples Of Call Centre Skills For A Resume

Here are some skills that call centre agents can require, which you can mention on your resume:

Communication

One of the most important skills for call centre agents is communication, as it helps them interact with the client. Excellent communication skills ensure agents can understand the customers easily and offer them appropriate solutions to their problems. It is imperative that call centre agents speak and articulate accurately relevant information and answer questions clearly in the required language.

It is also important for these agents to know telephone etiquette and can represent the brand voice of the company. You can improve this skill through practice and by taking feedback from peers and superiors.

Active listening

An important part of a call centre agent's job is to listen to a customer to understand the issues they may be facing. This requires them to be active listeners. For this, a call centre agent is required to concentrate on every call and give attention to every detail. It is important for call centre agents to make notes of important details that may help them in solving the problem. Through active listening, they can understand the tone of the customer and be empathetic towards them so that they can provide excellent service and ensure customer satisfaction.

Problem-solving

Customers contact call centres when they face a problem and require the help of a call centre agent to solve them. Some customers may be displeased because of an issue and insist on immediate resolutions. In such situations, it is important for call centre professionals to be calm and be able to solve the problem efficiently. Problem-solving skills can help them understand the problem and identify prompt solutions. For this, it is also important for call centre agents to have analytical thinking so that they can understand and assess the details of the problem from different perspectives quickly.

Computer skills

Almost all of a call centre agent's work is completed online using computers. This requires them to have excellent computer skills and technical adaptability. The company may use different proprietary software or customer relationship management software. It is important for call centre professionals to know how to operate this software as they help them perform their job.

Product knowledge

When customers contact a call centre, it is usually because they are facing some issue with the company's products and services. This makes it important for call centre representatives to have a comprehensive knowledge of the business's offerings so that they can solve the problems effectively. It is also important for them to be aware of the departments to connect the customer to when there are other technical problems that require expert attention.

Organisation skills

A call centre agent may answer calls continuously for long hours and have several calls waiting. Organisational skills can help them prioritise and manage all their calls in an organised manner with equal efficiency. These skills can also help them keep their workspace organised to ensure a smooth workflow.

Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking is an important skill for call centre agents, as the job requires them to complete multiple tasks simultaneously. They may be required to answer and return calls, reply to emails, escalate issues, inform the concerned departments and request feedback from customers. All of this may happen simultaneously through different external and internal channels of communication. This requires call centre agents to be able to work on multiple tasks efficiently.

How To Improve Call Centre Skills?

Here are some steps that you can take to improve your skills required to work at call centres:

1. Practice your skills

Practicing your skills can help you feel confident about your work and understand the nuances of effectively resolving customer issues promptly. Consider creating a script that you can follow for calls and emails. You can practise these scripts and work on the areas where you require improvement. As a lot of your work may be on computers, you can also practise your typing skills along with speed to increase your productivity.

2. Organise your work

Learn different techniques for organising your work. You can use the free tools available on the Internet to create a workflow or manage your time. You can create to-do lists if you have several tasks you require completing in a day. Ensure that everything you require managing customer calls effectively, like notepads and pens, is ready before you start answering calls for the day.

3. Seek feedback

It is important to identify the areas that require improvement so that you can work on them to improve yourself as a professional. You can ask a senior-level employee or your manager for feedback. Many call centres have recordings of all their calls. You can ask permission to listen to those calls so that you can understand how you can improve.

It can also a good idea to observe your seniors at work and understand how they solve customer complaints. You can also present different scenarios to them and ask them about how they handle such situations.

4. Gain product knowledge

To be confident and fluent while talking to customers, try to be aware of all the features of the products and services the company offers. If the company you work for has several offerings or works for multiple clients, it is ideal to be up-to-date with the client preferences to ensure effective and prompt service. You can use notes and flashcards to memorise and refer to on your customer calls.

5. Solve puzzles

A call centre agent's job requires excellent problem-solving capabilities and analytical thinking. You can develop these skills by solving puzzles and riddles that test your analytical thought process. Once you are comfortable solving these puzzles, you can also set a timer or a time limit and try to solve the puzzles within a time frame. This can help you develop swiftness in your problem-solving problem process.

Call Centre Skills In The Workplace

Here are some call centre skills that can help you improve your performance in the workplace:

Prioritise your tasks. Before you start working, create a list of tasks that you want to complete and prioritise them. It can help you get a better understanding of your day at work and help you be more productive.
Practice time management. Plan your schedule, allocate time to each task and allow some extra time to finish any extra work. You can try to complete your tasks within the time limit to improve your speed.
Minimise distractions at work. Turn off your mobile phone at work and avoid any other distractions. Staying focused on one task can help you complete it quickly and efficiently as you easily move to the next task.
Ask questions. Whether it is your coworker or a customer, ask questions that can help you understand a situation better. With complete information, you can solve problems more effectively.