Customer Service Representative job description: duties, skills and qualifications.

Core duties

7

O*NET task statements

Preparation

Job Zone 1-2 of 5

very little to some preparation

Typical entry education

High school diploma or equivalent

BLS 2025–35

Median pay

$44,770

BLS May 2025

1. Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints. importance 4.7 of 5
2. Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken. importance 4.5 of 5
3. Check to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems. importance 4.4 of 5
4. Contact customers to respond to inquiries or to notify them of claim investigation results or any planned adjustments. importance 4.2 of 5
5. Determine charges for services requested, collect deposits or payments, or arrange for billing. importance 4.2 of 5
6. Complete contract forms, prepare change of address records, or issue service discontinuance orders, using computers. importance 4.1 of 5
7. Refer unresolved customer grievances to designated departments for further investigation. importance 4.1 of 5

Work activities O*NET rates most important here: Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates, Working with Computers, Communicating with People Outside the Organization, Performing for or Working Directly with the Public and Processing Information.

Also part of the job

Supplemental tasks O*NET lists for this occupation: less central than the core duties above, and not done in every job.

• Resolve customers' service or billing complaints by performing activities such as exchanging merchandise, refunding money, or adjusting bills.
• Review insurance policy terms to determine whether a particular loss is covered by insurance.
• Solicit sales of new or additional services or products.
• Compare disputed merchandise with original requisitions and information from invoices and prepare invoices for returned goods.
• Obtain and examine all relevant information to assess validity of complaints and to determine possible causes, such as extreme weather conditions that could increase utility bills.
• Recommend improvements in products, packaging, shipping, service, or billing methods and procedures to prevent future problems.

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Administration and Management, Sales and Marketing and Mathematics.

Software O*NET lists for this occupation: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop. These are examples O*NET records for the job, not a list of tools every employer uses or a checklist of what you must know.

• Education: BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education.
• Experience: BLS lists no work experience in a related occupation as typical to enter.
• Training on the job: BLS lists short-term on-the-job training as typical once hired.
• Preparation: O*NET places the job in Job Zone 1-2 of 5 (very little to some preparation). Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
• Licenses and certifications: not listed here. A license is a legal requirement set by a state; a certification is a credential from a private or professional body. Rules vary by state and employer, and a missing entry on this page does not mean none is required: check with your state's licensing board and see how to become a customer service representative.

Most customer service representatives surveyed by O*NET (55%) name a high school diploma or equivalent as the education the job requires.

Job title: Customer Service Representative
[Company] · [City, State] · [Full-time or part-time] · [Pay range, where your state requires one]

About the role
[Company] is hiring a Customer Service Representative to interact with customers to provide basic or scripted information in response to routine inquiries about products and services.
[One sentence on your team and why this role matters.]

What you will do
- Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints.
- Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken.
- Check to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems.
- Contact customers to respond to inquiries or to notify them of claim investigation results or any planned adjustments.
- Determine charges for services requested, collect deposits or payments, or arrange for billing.
- Complete contract forms, prepare change of address records, or issue service discontinuance orders, using computers.
- Refer unresolved customer grievances to designated departments for further investigation.

What we are looking for
- [Education: BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as typical for this occupation; set the level this role truly needs]
- [Experience: BLS lists no related work experience as typical to enter; set what this role needs]
- Strength in service orientation, active listening and speaking
- Working knowledge of Customer and Personal Service and English Language
- [Software your team uses, e.g. Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Office software]
- [Any license or certification your state or company requires]

[Schedule, benefits and how to apply]

Illustrative: every name, employer, school, date and number in these samples is fictional or a bracketed placeholder. Replace each bracket with your own true details; never copy a result you did not achieve.

Not a real job posting. This template is TryHired's illustration built from government occupational data. It is not an opening at any employer, and no employer wrote it.

The median annual wage was $44,770 in May 2025. The median hourly wage was $21.53. BLS estimates about 2,595,750 jobs in this occupation in the U.S.

BLS projects employment of customer service representatives to decline 5.3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 289,500 openings a year over that period, including openings to replace workers who leave.

See the full customer service representative salary breakdown by percentile, state and metro.

• Read a real customer service representative posting next to the core duties above. Duties it repeats, such as “Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide…”, tell you what that employer weighs most; anything it adds is specific to that team.
• Tailor your resume to the posting, not to this page: describe only customer service representative work you have actually done, with your own results.
• Prepare a story for each of the top-rated skills (service orientation and active listening); customer service representative interview questions turns them into practice questions.