How to write a resume for customer service and retail jobs

Shifts, cash handling, opening and closing, training new staff and handling returns all count. If your employer tracked measures like customer survey scores or call handling times and you know your own results, they can go in, but only numbers you could explain in an interview.

What people hiring in customer service and retail usually look for

In general terms. Every employer is different, so read each posting closely.

• The setting and volume: store type, call center or online support, and how many customers or contacts you handled.
• Problem solving: returns, complaints, escalations and how you resolved them.
• Trusted responsibilities: cash handling, opening and closing, inventory counts, keyholder duties.
• Systems: point-of-sale, ticketing or customer database software, named as [system] until you fill in the real name.
• Availability and reliability, if the posting asks (shifts, weekends, holidays).
• Growth: training new hires, covering for a lead, or moving into a shift lead role.

How to structure a customer service resume

• Summary that names the setting. Say whether you work in-store, by phone, by chat or a mix, and what you are best at.
• Experience with scope. Open each job with the setting and volume, then problem-solving and responsibilities.
• Skills with system names. POS, ticketing and inventory systems are often searched for by name.
• Availability line (optional). If a posting stresses shifts or weekends, one line near the end can help.

Three layouts cover most situations, each in one column with standard headings:

• Customer Service Professional: Associates and agents with a steady customer-facing history. Order: Summary, Experience, Skills, Education.
• Shift Lead and Supervisor: Shift leads and supervisors whose trusted responsibilities and training lead. Order: Summary, Highlights, Experience, Skills, Education.
• First Job and Returning: First jobs, students and people returning to work, where skills and availability lead. Order: Summary, Skills, Highlights, Experience, Availability.

Example bullet structures

These are structures, not real results. Replace every [placeholder] with your own facts, and leave out any number you can't back up.

• Assisted [number] customers per [shift or day] in a [store type or contact channel], answering questions about [products or services].
• Resolved [returns, complaints or account issues] using [system], escalating [type of issue] to [team] when needed.
• Processed sales and returns on [POS system] and balanced the cash drawer at the end of each shift.
• Opened and closed the store as a keyholder, following [security or cash procedures].
• Trained [number] new associates on [register, products or procedures].

Action verbs for this field

Summary structures

• Customer service professional with [number] years in [retail, call center or online support], skilled at [strength] and [strength]. Experienced with [system].
• Retail [associate or shift lead] with [number] years in [store type], trusted with [keyholder, cash or inventory] duties and training new staff.

More structures by situation (career change, returning after a layoff, new graduate) are on our resume summary examples page.

Common mistakes

• Writing "excellent customer service skills" without any example of a customer problem you solved.
• Leaving out trusted responsibilities like cash handling, keyholding and training.
• Quoting survey scores or targets you don't actually know; leave them out rather than estimate.
• Listing every short job separately; group similar seasonal jobs if it keeps the page clear.
• Forgetting to match the posting's words (for example "client" versus "customer" or "guest").

Do it yourself, or have it done

Questions

Other resume guides: sales, it and tech support, accounting and bookkeeping, and the career services page. Got laid off? See what to do after being laid off.

General information, not career, legal or employment advice. We are not career counselors, and nothing here promises interviews, offers or a particular result.