Customer representative jobs aren’t always easy and even people who truly posses all the traits and love the job have off days, but for people who have secured these positions without really knowing what the job entails or ensuring they’re the right fit, the job can be downright miserable. While these might be considered “ice breaker” questions, they are no less important than any other questions you’ll be answering during your interview and you should make sure you’re prepared to answer them quickly and efficiently. After all, customer service is more than just being a friendly face, and employers want to make sure you know this. including tips on how to score the highest marks. Remember, we’re thinking like ninjas, and like a ninja, you’ll need to tuck and roll when confronted with a situation like this. Don’t focus on what the company will be providing you. Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com. Regardless of what the company is producing, be it a physical product, a less tangible service or a combination of both, knowing exactly what the company produces and how the public interacts with them is critical when it comes to providing customer service. Would you agree/disagree with them and why? For some, this is the most challenging question to answer, as they How to Answer Before your interview, spend time researching the company and … Why It Works: This is a good example of how to use the STAR interview response technique to strengthen your answer with an illustrative anecdote from your past work experience. Answered by professional interviewers and hiring managers. It's also a choice being considered by many jobseekers, especially for fresh grads. What do you like/dislike the most about customer service? For a Common job interview. 23 examples on how to answer Tell Me About Yourself Sample Answers for students, freshers and experienced professionals. Especially in a job interview for a customer service role, it's important that you prove to the hiring manager that you understand how to convey the right messages with your appearance and demeanor. A job in the customer service industry is one of the most in-demand careers today. Alison Doyle is the job search expert for The Balance Careers, and one of the industry's most highly-regarded job search and career experts. Tell me about a time when you turned an unhappy customer into a delighted customer. While the basic tenets of good customer service are the same from organization to organization, the details can vary widely. Consider the role and company culture Knowing a bit about the job, the company, and even the people you are meeting can go a long way when crafting your response to the "Tell me about yourself" interview question. As long as you include the specifics of the situation, the task you were tackling, the action you took and the ultimate results of those actions (including, if applicable, what you learned from your unhappy customer) all while demonstrating your ability to problem solve, learn from your mistakes, and ultimately maintain the integrity of the company in a professional way, then this answer could be just as valuable to a hiring manger as 100 stories about how you won the day each and every time. It’s also an opportunity for you to demonstrate your flexibility and adaptability (also great qualities) and your ability to think on your feet and work in a team (all equally valuable customer service qualities!) Here is how to answer questions about customer service, along with tips on what the interviewer is looking for, and examples of the best responses. Focus instead on answers where both the representative and the company treated you with respect and went above and beyond without bending rules or doing anything underhanded or shady. Be sure to tailor your own answer to fit your experience, and the company you are interviewing with: There are many components to customer service, and you need all of them to truly satisfy customers. Again, researching the company you’re applying to ahead of time will only help you as you will want to use an example that closely aligns with the policies of the company you’re now applying to. I then had it shipped to our branch, and the customer had the item within four days. The context is your job interview, and introducing yourself means giving the best answer to “tell me about yourself” question. (Ooh, see what we did there?). When you're interviewing for a job, you need to be prepared for all kinds of interview questions, from the standard ("Where do you see yourself in five years?") In many ways, a really exceptional customer service representative is a bit like the ninja of an organization, ready to assume any role in order to make sure a customer is satisfied with their experience, all while simultaneously preserving and protecting the integrity of the company they’re working for. I have always felt good customer service is a critical part of any successful sales/marketing strategies and the reputation that a company has for maintaining long satisfaction is something that has always fascinated me. An interviewer asks the question, “What is customer service?” for a couple of reasons. While you might consider those amazing examples of customer service, the company these individuals represented at the time probably wouldn’t. While this might seem like a no-brainer tip, this is a critical step you should take even before applying for a customer service position, much less accepting an opportunity to interview. Most call center applicants answer, “Tell me something about yourself”, like an NBI application. His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan, Penn State, Northeastern and others. Not only will you be better prepared to answer any question the interviewer might throw at you, but you’ll also be able to truly target those answers. Also, review more common interview questions about customer service to be sure you're prepared for the interview. Remember how we told you in the tips and tricks that it was a good idea to learn everything you could about the company and their products before you go into the interview? However, another important part of customer service is communication—you need to listen to people’s concerns and answer questions in a clear, efficient manner. At its core, customer service is all about communication and communication is a quality (there’s that word again) that a hiring manger is absolutely going to be specifically looking for. Why they ask this: The hiring manager is curious about what you think good customer service is. The perfect answer is one that strikes a balance between being too self-reliant and being too indecisive. You’ll also find examples of strong answers to the question. Well don’t worry, because we created a free PDF that outlines the most common questions and gives you word for word sample answers that you can use at your next interview. Why It Works: This interviewee focuses on a single component of good customer service – active listening – to good effect, demonstrating a solid command of the listening process within a customer-facing role. For any situational question you’ll want to focus on qualities you possess and how those align with the needs of the company in relation to the job you’re applying to. 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