Top 30 Customer Service Interview Questions Answered!

Customer Service Interview questions can be tricky! We look at the top 30 questions recruiters ask and how to answer them convincingly.
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List of Customer Service Interview Questions

Customer service representatives are the consumer-facing element of every organization. They resolve conflicts, provide assistance, and grow the business –– they are essentially the lifework of a company because how people are treated by customer service representatives determines whether or not those people will ever patronize that company again. 

When sourcing a customer service representative, hiring managers want to know that potential candidates have what it takes to help their companies grow. And that’s where candidates can truly stand out: in the job interview. 

Here’s our list of the top 30 customer service interview questions –– including answers, plus 10 additional tips for acing your customer service job interview. 

What are the Top 30 Customer Service Interview Questions?

1. What is Customer Service?

This one might seem like a trick question. Of course, you’re going to have an answer to this, but it’s an example of one of those questions that are so simplistic, it might throw you off. Don’t worry! An interviewer who asks this question typically just wants to see how your definition of customer service aligns with the company or brand’s definition. The thinking here is to discover whether or not you meet the standards for optimal customer service as defined by the employer.

2. What Does Good Customer Service Mean To You?

It’s not enough to be able to provide a clear-cut definition of customer service. You must be able to demonstrate that you recognize good customer service when you see it. Be prepared to give specific examples of good customer service, either from your work experience or from your personal experiences as a consumer.  

3. What Would You Do To Achieve Customer Service Excellence?

Referencing your work experience, be sure to give as detailed an account as possible of how you go above and beyond when delivering service to a customer. Reassure your hiring manager that the number one priority is to leave customers feeling satisfied and fulfilled by the service you provide. It’s important to prove that you know the function of your role: making sure that the customer is happy with the company, and not just you as an individual.  

4. Why Do You Think You’d Be A Good Fit For Our Company?

A hiring manager wants to get a sense of how you are likely going to fit in with the existing company culture. This question can come in many different forms, perhaps most commonly as “Why should we hire you for this position?”. Don’t be caught off-guard: always have an honest, thought-provoking answer at the ready.  

5. Why Do You Want To Work In Customer Service?

What motivates you as a job-seeker with great customer service experience? Do you enjoy interacting with co-workers and the public? Do you feel satisfied by being able to resolve other people’s problems? These types of questions are what hiring managers are looking to answer after having interviewed you.  

6. What Motivates You? What Things Keep You Going In Your Career?

Motivation is a key trait of customer service representatives. And hiring managers want to know what it is about the work that keeps you interested in the role (other than a paycheck –– don’t say “money” as your answer), and how you plan to continually grow within the company.  

Share with them reasons for your interest in customer service, specifically where you see yourself in 2 years, in the customer service field and with the company. 

7. Can You Tell Me An Example Of A Time When You Had A Bad Day At Work? What Happened? And How Did You Deal With It?

As a customer service representative, you are bound to have a few tough days at the office. Hiring managers want to know if and how you can handle stress so that you don’t become a liability to the company. Demonstrate your professionalism from the very beginning of your interview and try to communicate your calmness during moments of conflict. 

8. How Do You Handle Miscommunication With Your Customers?

This question measures your ability to respond and react to situations and if you can do service recovery when things don’t go as expected. Share with them how you fix a problem if your customer doesn’t quite understand you. They want to see if you can maintain your cool during scenarios where a customer misunderstands your motives. 

9. Can You Tell Me About A Time You Had To Deal With A Difficult Customer, And How You Handled It?

The dreaded question customer service hiring managers love to ask. Don’t be put off by this: interviewers are looking to see how you might respond to and diffuse negative feedback and emotional outbursts from challenging customers. This behavioral interview question should not make you feel bad for admitting failure but instead should highlight your conflict resolution skills. 

10. Can You Tell Me About A Time Where You Had To Improvise Or Think About Something On-the-spot To Solve A Problem?

Another part of being a successful customer service representative is knowing how to address and resolve unexpected issues on the spot. 

  • Select and explain a situation you faced in your past 
  • Describe the challenge and task 
  • Provide details as to how you responded (what did you do?) 
  • Share the results  

11. What Would You Do If You Did Not Know How To Help A Customer?

It happens! Sometimes, customers just cannot or will not accept that a customer service representative has exhausted all avenues for satisfaction and cannot make the customer happy. In cases like this, talk about the efforts you made and why they were good options –– by the end of the example, the hiring manager will work out that the customer was likely unhelpable and not that you were at fault. 

12. What Are Two Or Three Qualities A Person Needs To Deliver Strong Customer Service?

A perfect way to handle this question is by aligning your chosen two or three qualities with the values shared by the company to which you are applying. Hiring managers can recognize which candidates have done their homework, so try and include personal examples within your qualities.  

13. Are You Able To Work Efficiently In Fast-paced, High-pressure Scenarios?

Customer service is not an industry for the faint of heart. Representatives face new and stressful challenges every day –– it’s how you handle the stress that sets you apart. Be honest and transparent with the hiring manager: give examples of past work that demonstrates your cool-headedness  

14. Tell Me About A Time When A Customer Was Satisfied With Your Service?

It’s not often that customer service representatives receive positive feedback directly from customers. But when you do, you should provide examples to the hiring manager conducting the interview. Better still, if a previous customer emailed you or your previous boss with a glowing commendation, bring it with you to the interview.  

15. How Would You Describe Your Skills In Customer Service?

You don’t need to answer every question with lengthy answers –– sometimes, a short and succinct response goes a long way toward demonstrating that you are confident about what you say and what you know. A great example of a response to this question could be, “Whenever I’m connecting with people, I’ll always make sure they feel important by listening to them and offering advice and help whenever needed.” 

16. What Would You Do If A Customer Said That You Were Taking Too Much Time To Resolve Their Problem?

This kind of questioning is meant to give hiring managers an idea of how you process negative feedback from the people you, as a customer service representative, are meant to help. Don’t think of this question as a trap designed to have you admit past failures –– every rep has had one example of an unfixable customer. The point is how you came out of it. 

17. What Do You Know About What We Do Here At This Company?

This is a no-brainer. If you are interviewing with a company, you’re going to have done your research as to what the company does and how you could see yourself as an employee. But it’s often easy to forget to retain information about the company in an interview when asked. So always make a short list beforehand of everything you like about the company, and maybe one or two areas in which the company could improve.  

18. Can You Tell Me About Your Previous Customer Service Work Experience?

Hiring managers are probing to see if you have experience in similar customer service roles. Don’t feel like you have to describe every role you’ve ever had. Instead, highlight your most relevant customer-oriented jobs. If you are applying for your very first customer service job, talk about the relevant skills you can bring to the table.  

19. What Interests You About This Particular Customer Service Role?

Other than the potential for earning a consistent paycheck, you need to have a few reasons for wanting to work for this particular company. This is an opportunity for you to flatter the hiring manager by talking about all the great things that appeal to you about your potential new employer.   

20. Have You Ever Skirted Company Rules Or Policies To Give A Customer What They Wanted? If So, Can You Tell Me About The Outcome?

Customer service representatives tend to want to resolve issues at any cost –– but you don’t want to do that at the expense of violating a company policy. Tread carefully with this answer and tailor your response to something relevant to your potential company’s industry.  

21. Can You Tell Me About A Time When You Were Proud Of The Level Of Service You Gave To A Customer?

This is fundamentally why you are interviewing for the job: to talk about all your previous successes from your resume. Highlight your favorite example of the great customer service you provided, share the circumstances, and, if possible, how it made the customer feel.   

22. When Working With A Customer, How Do You Determine What Information To Share And What To Omit?

Have you ever given a customer too much information? Customer service is a delicate balance of following rules and policies to satisfy those who often feel that they have been wronged. You don’t want to lose them as a customer, but you also don’t want to seem like you (or your company) is a pushover when you know that you’re right, and they are wrong. Don’t let yourself give away too much. When giving this answer in an interview, telling the interviewer that you would defer to the manager in a situation like this is likely the best outcome.   

23. What Is Your Most Recently Learned Skill? And How Has It Helped You?

This is more of an abstract question that hiring managers like to pose, but it is useful for getting a better, more honest impression of you as a candidate. Your most recently learned skill doesn’t even have to be about business or customer service –– anything you have recently discovered that betters your work performance or personal life is relevant and worth sharing.  

24. Can You Tell Me About A Time Where You Contributed Positively To Your Team?

If you’ve experienced a bunch of wins as a customer service representative while working for your previous employer, brag about them! That’s what a job interview is for. Limit your response to this question to one or two examples of positive contributions as you don’t want to come across as showboating.  

25. Can You Tell Me About A Time You Had A Customer Who You Found Difficult To Understand? How Did You Ultimately Solve Their Issue?

This type of questioning can be delicate to approach. But the fact remains: customer service representatives spend a lot of time resolving issues (especially over the phone), and sometimes a customer might have a heavy accent or a speech impediment that hinders their ability to communicate clearly with you. Always treat these scenarios with tact.   

26. What Do You Believe Makes A Good Co-worker Or Teammate?

This type of question can lead to countless positive answers –– so try to make your answers stand out above the rest. Use honest, truthful wording that hiring managers likely haven’t heard before.  

27. Can You Tell Me About A Time When You Disagreed With Or Clashed With A Co-worker? What Was The Outcome?

We’ve all got that one co-worker who we’d rather not sit next to at the office holiday party. However, a fundamental part of any job is working well with other employees, and hiring managers want to know about your collaboration and/or in-office style. Best to be honest with this one, especially since hiring managers will likely call your business references and ask them.  

28. Can You Tell Me About The Best Customer Service You’ve Ever Received? What Made It Special?

Be open to the idea of sharing your most valued experience on the receiving end of great customer service. Hiring managers want to know that you can recall good customer service examples –– and that you continually think about good examples in the hopes that you apply them to their customers. 

29. Can You Tell Me About The Worst Customer Service You’ve Ever Received? What Happened?

Transparency is key. Don’t be coy: everybody has experienced poor customer service at some point in their life. Share a work-appropriate example of your worst experience and try to provide an alternative ending –– a follow-up question is likely to be something like, “How would you have handled this situation differently?” 

30. Can You Tell Me If You Think There Is A Difference Between Customer Service And Customer Support?

This might be a tough one –– but there is no right or wrong answer. This is typically a test question for hiring managers to gauge how you value your work and if there are any parts of the job that you might not think fall under your list of responsibilities.   

10 Customer Service Interview Tips

Now that you know the types of questions to expect, nail that job with these final tips to ace your customer service interview: 

  • When walking into a job interview, be prepared to discuss your relevant work experience. Have a resume in hand and include pertinent supporting documents to support your work history. 
  • Be prepared –– in general. Presentation, including hygiene, dress, and overall appearance, not to mention promptness and professionalism are all qualities that will be scrutinized by your interviewer (and potential co-workers). 
  • Brush up on the basics of the company to which you are applying. Review the website, dig into their social media channels, and check out business review sites. This not only prepares you for left-field questions but can also give you a sense of the workplace culture. 
  • When fielding questions, always try to provide meaningful, honest answers. This type of frank communication can endear you to your interviewer.  
  • Maintain a positive, upbeat attitude throughout the interview, as these are qualities that most companies will look for in candidates when hiring for customer service positions.  
  • Always be on the lookout for your chance to demonstrate that you understand more than just the basics of customer service; come with an advanced degree of knowledge as it relates to the needs of the company. 
  • Take time to review and research popular sites that offer advice on the best way to answer interview customer service interview questions –– like this one! 
  • Arrive at your interview prepared to ask your questions, when prompted. Questions like: What is the environment like here? Do your customer service reps work independently or as a team? What is your favorite part of working at this company? 
  • As well as sharing your technical skills, demonstrate personal skills during your interview, including empathy, problem-solving, patience, and good communication.  
  • Don’t be afraid to make small talk before, during, and after your interview takes place. Let your interviewer know that you can carry on a seamless conversation with ease.  

There you have it! Thirty of the most popular questions you can expect to be asked during a customer service job interview. Now that you’ve got answers –– plus some additional tips for impressing your interviewer –– you should be able to effectively secure a customer service position with the company of your choice. Check out some of the jobs available in your country on Grabjob. 

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Brian Tessier

Director of Business Development and Marketing at GrabJobs. Brian can usually be found reading a book, and that book will more likely be about startups and personal development. When not absorbed in the latest best-selling page-turner, Brian loves writing and biking. Read more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-tessier/