Customer Service Cover Letter Tips to Help You Land an Interview

If you’re hoping to land an interview for a customer service job, knocking your cover letter out of the park can help bring you closer to your goal. Crafting a great customer service cover letter that hits all the right notes, and grabs the attention of companies hiring for customer service jobs, can take a bit of time and effort that are well worth your while.

To be sure, every good cover letter, no matter the industry, requires basics like careful proofreading, addressing the right hiring manager or supervisor, and using succinct, on-point language.

Customer service jobs often demand specifics that lift your job application above the crowd. For a bang-up customer service cover letter, consider a few more specific elements that can make the case that you’re the best candidate for the job.

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Highlight your customer service and technical skills.

Given the high-pressure nature of some customer service jobs, your cover letter may want to mention your facility for dealing with people in potentially stressful scenarios. Emphasize your abilities to stay cool under pressure and to be even-handed and innovative. Consider highlighting the skills below.

Interpersonal Communication

Not only do you need the ability to communicate well with your manager and team, you also need great communication skills with customers. Being able to relate to your audience, understand their situations, and empathize with them will be necessary to the job. Highlight your abilities to communicate with ease, both verbally and in writing.

Upbeat Attitude

No company wants to hire a customer service rep who is negative. Mention your ability to stay positive when dealing with challenging customers or hard-to-resolve situations. Provide examples of how you stayed upbeat during a trying time and how you resolved any issues.

Collaborative

Depending on the role, you may need to work closely or brainstorm with your coworkers or boss. Touch on your ability to be a team player and work with others to get things done. How have you collaborated with team members in the past?

Troubleshooter

A part of customer service is helping find solutions and make repairs. Discuss your ability to identify problems and offer a fix. For example, did you troubleshoot and problem-solve a tricky issue for a customer? Discuss how you used your knowledge to create a solution.

Computer-Savvy

Computer skills will be necessary for any customer service role. Talk about your technology skills in the context of accuracy and speed in documenting customer service interactions, by phone, email, or other platforms.

Multitasker

As a customer service professional, you may be handling multiple customers at once, with multiple conversations happening across many different platforms. Discuss how you’re able to multitask and keep everything straight and efficient. Do you utilize to-do lists or a type of program to help? Mention it.

Conflict Resolution

Mention your ability to resolve conflict. Have you had experience with an angry customer that you managed to appease? Talk about the steps you took to calm the situation and how the you resolved the situation.

Use the right keywords.

There are many different customer service jobs, so be sure to carefully read the job description to help you rise above the competition and optimize your customer service cover letter. Using the right keywords is an especially smart strategy if you’re trying to beat an applicant tracking system, or ATS, and get past the electronic “firewall” many employers use to sort through the deluge of applicants they may get for a customer service job opening.

In your customer service cover letter, avoid using specific words multiple times, even if they seem on point for the job. Potential terms to consider highlighting in your cover letter include variations of the following:

• Multitasking skills
• Conflict resolution experience
• Active listener
• Problem-solver
• Performance driven
• Even-tempered
• Flexible

The list above is partial; customize your keywords to fit each job you applying for. What’s more, knowing which words and phrases to avoid in a cover letter can help you overcome hurdles, snag an interview, and, ultimately, land the job and advance your customer service career.

Emphasize relevant experience.

In your customer service cover letter, go beyond what’s listed on your resume to explain how your past career experiences are relevant to the job at hand. In particular, call attention to related positions. Being able to “show rather than tell” how your past experience relates to the job you’re seeking can resonate with hiring managers and potentially lead to a job offer.

A lack of customer service experience may not be a make-or-break obstacle. Instead, emphasize other experiences that may relate to customer support—for example, mention an instance where you used your problem-solving and people skills to resolve a problem. For inspiration, the success stories of FlexJobs members who’ve found customer service jobs offer lots of instances where people transition to customer service from other careers.

Radiate confidence and enthusiasm.

How do you “radiate enthusiasm”? That simply means avoid using a cookie-cutter approach and generic language that could be addressed to any hiring manager or any organization. Instead, you’ll want to showcase your knowledge of the company and explain why you’d be a good hire for them.

A great way to broaden your knowledge about a specific flexible employer is to research companies in the FlexJobs database that hire for customer service jobs with remote, part-time, alternate schedules, or other flexible options. Once you have a solid understanding of what the organization does, you’ll be better positioned to spell out how your skills can help your potential employer meet its mission.

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