Customer service representatives are the consumer-facing element of every organization. They resolve conflicts, provide assistance, and grow the business. Customer service interview questions are designed to evaluate how well a candidate will represent the company.
Hiring managers are looking for specific traits, experiences, and responses for this important role. After all, customer service reps are essentially the lifeblood of a company. The way customers are treated by customer service representatives determines whether or not they will ever patronize that company again.
What Are the Top 30 Customer Service Interview Questions?
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.
Not sure what to expect from your customer service interview?
Here’s our list of the top 30 customer service interview questions (and answers), plus 10 additional tips for acing your customer service job interview.
List of Customer Service Interview Questions
1. What is Customer Service?
This one might seem like a trick question. Of course, you know the answer, but it’s one of those questions that are so simplistic that it might throw you off.
But 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, as well as their newsletter programs which you will be handling. The goal 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 your 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?
Most hiring managers want to get a sense of how well you’ll 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, since this is an interview question you can almost guarantee you’ll be asked. Always have an honest, thought-provoking answer at the ready.
5. Why Do You Want To Work In Customer Service?
What motivates you to provide great customer service experiences? Do you enjoy interacting with coworkers and the public? Do you feel satisfied by being able to resolve other people’s problems? This is the type of information hiring managers are looking for with this question.
6. What Motivates You? What Things Keep You Going In Your Career?
Motivation is a key trait of customer service representatives. 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 reasons for your interest in customer service, specifically where you see yourself in the next year or two 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. Tell the interviewer how you would fix a problem caused by miscommunication with a customer. They want to see if you can keep 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 it—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; instead, you should use it as an opportunity to 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. To provide a detailed answer to this question, follow this format:
- First, select and explain a situation you faced in your past.
- Describe the challenge and task.
- Provide details as to how you responded (what steps did you take?).
- Share the results to highlight the impact of your actions.
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 them 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 to include personal examples that showcase how you embody these 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—and it’s how you handle the stress that sets you apart. Be honest and transparent with the hiring manager. When possible, give examples of past work experiences that demonstrate 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, it’s worth bragging about. If an interviewer asks this question, provide examples of happy customers you’ve helped or specific praise you’ve received from patrons. Better yet, if a previous customer emailed you or your previous boss with a glowing commendation, bring a copy of 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 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 You Were Taking Too Long To Resolve Their Problem?
This kind of questioning is meant to give hiring managers an idea of how you process negative feedback from the customers you are meant to help. Don’t think of this question as a trap designed to have you admit past mistakes—every rep has had a run-in with an impossible-to-please customer. The important part of your response is how you handled 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 contributing as an employee.
That said, it can be easy to forget details about the company under the pressure of an interview. 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 so 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 and highlights from your resume. Share your favorite example of great customer service you provided, including details about 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) are a pushover when you know you’re right and they are wrong.
But don’t let yourself give away too much information. When answering this question in an interview, the safest bet is often to tell the interviewer you would defer to the manager in a situation like this to ensure the best outcome for everyone involved.
23. What Is Your Most Recently Learned Skill? And How Has It Helped You?
This is an abstract question that hiring managers use to get a better, more honest impression of you as a candidate. Your most recently learned skill doesn’t even have to be related to the business or service crew experience. It could be anything you have recently discovered that improves your work performance or personal life that you feel 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, now’s your chance to 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 Coworker 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 Coworker? What Was The Outcome?
We’ve all got that one coworker 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, so hiring managers will want to learn about your communication style. It’s best to be honest with this question, 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 based on what you think should have happened instead. This pre-emptively answers the likely follow-up question, which will be something like, “How would you have handled the 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.
Bonus: 10 Customer Service Interview Tips
Now that you know the types of questions to expect, use these final interview 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 coworkers).
- Brush up on the basics of the company you’re applying to. 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 answering difficult questions, always try to provide meaningful, honest responses. 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 chances to demonstrate that your understanding of customer service goes beyond the basics. Come ready to show off 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 customer service interview questions—like this one!
- Arrive at your interview prepared to ask your questions when prompted. Questions you should consider asking include: What’s the work 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. Let your interviewer know that you can carry on a seamless conversation with ease.
Now You're Ready to Answer the Most Common Customer Service Job Interview Questions
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. If you’re ready to apply for more roles, check out the service crew jobs available in your country on GrabJobs.
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