If you are interviewing or hiring for a Customer Service Representative position, you will want to read this post. Below are some good job interview questions for a Customer Service Representative job. The methods we used to develop these questions are the same ones we used as corporate HR in developing job interview questions for hiring managers. We have developed these questions by analyzing the core competencies or skills, job ad requirements and so forth.

Be aware that depending on the employer, Customer Service Reps may also be called:

CSR, customer service adviser, customer service agent, customer service assistant, claims clerk, customer service complaints clerk, call centre agent, customer service adviser, customer service assistant, sales and customer service agent, customer complaint agent, client service representative, customer complaint associate

Also, depending on the industry, CSR’s can be called:

accounts information clerk
bus information clerk
call centre agent – customer service
complaints clerk – customer service
counter enquiries clerk
courtesy desk clerk
customer service clerk
customer service representative – call centre
enquiries clerk
hospital information clerk
information clerk – customer service
lost-and-found clerk
order desk agent
public relations clerk
tourist information clerk

Customer Service, Client Service Jobs in Canada
Customer Service, Client Service Jobs in USA
Customer Service, Client Service Jobs in UK

Customer Service Representative, Client Service Representative Job Interview Questions

Conflict resolution skills are vital to being a successful Client Service Representative.  Describe a time when you had to deal with an irate customer who was abusive? How did you handle it?

Customer Service Reps or CSR ‘s , in call centres need to be able to talk and type.  Taking calls while typing is a requirement of the job. Describe your talk and type skills, when have you used this skill in your work history? What is your typing speed?

The ability to speak languages in addition to English is very helpful in the role of Client Service Representative ( CSR ) .  How many languages do you speak and/or write? Describe your fluency level.

Often a Client Service Representative must be comfortable working in a fast paced environment.  Normally, dealing with a high volume of customers is a requirement for a CSR. Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment. How were you able to perform successfully in this environment?

Based on your experience as a CSR or Client Service Representative, how do you calm down an angry customer?

Having emotional intelligence is an important trait to be a successful Customer Service or Client Service Representative.  The following scenario will test your ability to sense and understand other’s feelings.

Read the following scenario:

Jane purchases a VOIP phone from ABC tech to reduce her long distance bills and 2 months later discovers that it is malfunctioned. She returns it to the store within the 3 month warranty and the CSR sends it away to the manufacturer for repairs and tells Jane that it will take 14 days for the phone to be shipped back. Jane waits patiently and receives the repaired phone and within a few days discovers the phone broken again. This time she returns to the store and demands a refund. The CSR informs Jane that the store has a 30 day refund policy that has expired. Jane complains that due to the phone breaking down all the time she has not been able to cancel her long distance plan and has had to pay for two phone bills. She then asks for another repair but the CSR informs her that the 3 month warranty has expired. Jane escalates this and you as Senior CSR are asked to resolve this.

List as many of Jane’s feelings as you can and explain why. How would you resolve this matter?

More About These CSR Job Interview Questions

The customer service interview questions in this post assess the essential soft skills for this particular job through its core functions. We focus on the soft skills because we have found that most candidates handle the questions designed to assess their technical proficiency very well only to stumble with the questions designed to assess their soft skills. For example, when we ask a programmer to explain what a certain set of code means or how best to handle a coding issue, most often their answer is a good one. Now when we ask the same candidate to “describe a time when you did not get along well with a co-worker and how you handled it” to assess their interpersonal skills, 9 times out of 10 they stumble. We see the same thing over and over again whether we are hiring for an accountant, teacher, and so on. Most candidates can handle questions designed to assess their technical competencies much much better than questions designed to assess their soft skills

Why does soft skills matter? Because 9 times out of 10 applicants are bypassed due to their soft skills. We hear this all the time when we debrief with the hiring manager to get their feedback on the applicant. Sometimes, the hiring managers will directly state that the applicant lacked the soft skills but more often it will be phrased as “no connection with the applicant”, or “didn’t get a good feel about the applicant” or “don’t think the applicant would fit in well” and so on.

In addition to focusing on the soft skills we have incorporated behavioral based interview questions. We focus on behavioral based interview questions because they are very prevalent in the HR industry. Behavioral questions focus on assessing past behavior by asking you to provide an example or describe a situation that has happened in the past and what you did. So because of the reasons stated and others beyond the scope of this post, you will likely be asked these questions in your next job interview.

How to Answer

Your response really depends on exactly the type of interview question asked. While interviewing skills as a hiring manager or job applicant can be quite an in depth topic and beyond the scope of this post, we have provided a quick lesson on how you can improve your interview skills. We have chosen to briefly cover the behavioral question because this is where we see most people struggle.

To use the STAR technique, simply describe each element in your interview answer. So with the star technique, begin by describing the situation. Here you want to quickly give context to the interviewer (where, when, etc). Next clearly describe your task, that is what were you tasked to do in this situation. Now it is time to describe the steps or action you took to complete your task. Lastly, describe the results that you achieved. Sounds simple right? Well it is simple, but the secret is to practice responding following this structure. By following structure, you will ensure that you provide complete answers and do not omit vital pieces of information. For more information see our articles and courses on interviewing skills.

The Questions Are In Your Resume

Remember that another good source of job interview questions is your resume. Hiring managers will ask you questions based on your resume. For some people it’s hard to recall what you did last week, let alone what you did at work a few years ago. So it pays to review your resume before you go to your job interview.

For more see our online job interview and resume writing courses. So until our next post, we wish you much luck and success in your career search.

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