Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com. To brush up on how to answer these and to see an impressive list of example questions and tips and tricks on how to answer them, check out our post on the Top Ten Interview Questions and Answers. For any situational question you’ll want to focus on qualities you possess and how those align with the needs of the company in relation to the job you’re applying to. Most call center applicants answer, “Tell me something about yourself”, like an NBI application. The hiring manager uses this question to determine exactly how far you’ll go to ensure good customer service and how that aligns with the company policy and mission. Tell me about your previous customer service experience. Start with your solution, and then work your answer around to include a specific instance from your past that relates directly to the qualities you’re highlighting in your answer. How did you handle it? It’s also an opportunity for you to demonstrate your flexibility and adaptability (also great qualities) and your ability to think on your feet and work in a team (all equally valuable customer service qualities!) Many organizations provide this information right up front, as part of their branding strategy. What Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software are you familiar with? How to Answer: Tell me about your customer service experience. A hiring manager doesn’t want someone who is going to punt the customer to someone else as soon as things get tough. Click the link below to get your copy now! While the basic tenets of good customer service are the same from organization to organization, the details can vary widely. Now let’s look at the types of questions you might be asked and why, and what you should consider when answering them! Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. While it might seem like an obvious answer to just focus on doing your job and doing it well, good customer service is deeper than just checking boxes off on the HR description for your position. How you respond to the “Tell me about yourself” question can set the tone for the rest of the interview. Use strong keywords and phrases that are attractive to the employer who is interviewing you. Describe your comfort level with basic software such as Microsoft Office, Excel, Powerpoint or similar programs. We’ve covered a ton of ground in this post! I called four other branches of our company, and finally called company headquarters, to find the item. Show up to your interview well dressed and early, make sure you have multiple clean and professional copies of your resume and business card on hand, and start the conversation off with a friendly and firm handshake. You’re going to be expected to work with a wide variety of personalities and levels of understanding when dealing with customers. Wrong answer to tell me about yourself 1. This question is why. This allows them to accurately assess how you’ll act on the job and how you’ll behave when similar situations arise in the future. How do you keep yourself motivated in a role that can often seem repetitive? The hiring manager is curious about what you think good customer service is. While it might seem like the hiring manager wants you to list the benefits of the job (free access to the company gym, unlimited smoothies on Fridays) what they’re really asking is, “Why do you believe you’ll be a good fit for this company?”. Appeasing an irate customer is no easy task, but delighting them can be even more challenging. I have always felt good customer service is a critical part of any successful sales/marketing strategies and the reputation that a company has for maintaining long satisfaction is something that has always fascinated me. Focus on a skill or talent that does not fit into your work experience but that indicates a strength that would add value to the job. With this specific question, the hiring manager is really asking you to demonstrate how well you communicate with customers and how you interpret and address their needs. Finally, customer service is about clearly explaining solutions to clients. You’ll also find examples of strong answers to the question. This is another problem-solving question wrapped in layers being asked by a hiring manager who is trying to determine exactly how you’ll handle a similar situation should it arise again. Would you agree/disagree with them and why? Overall, when you practise your answer, you want to tell a great story about yourself that you can share in no more than two minutes. - My years of experience have prepared me well for this position. Of course, the opposite is also true. Would your past customers or supervisors describe you as a “people person”? When you're interviewing for a job, you need to be prepared for all kinds of interview questions, from the standard ("Where do you see yourself in five years?") Consider the role and company culture Knowing a bit about the job, the company, and even the people you are meeting can go a long way when crafting your response to the "Tell me about yourself" interview question. To Introduce Yourself in a Job Interview: Mind the context. Customer service is more than waiting on customers. These are the questions you can expect to hear in any customer service interview… whether it’s a … This will help enable you to better answer the hiring manager’s situational questions with specific, targeted, laser focused answers. Have you ever dealt with a customer that was clearly “wrong”? How to Answer “Tell Me About Yourself” – Relate your answer to the job at hand “Tell me about yourself” is probably better phrased as, “Tell me what brought you to apply for this job, and some of the main qualifications that make you stand out. While this might seem like a no-brainer tip, this is a critical step you should take even before applying for a customer service position, much less accepting an opportunity to interview. While you’re doing all your interview prep homework, take some time and investigate what the company’s customer service policy is. Be sure to tailor your own answer to fit your experience, and the company you are interviewing with: There are many components to customer service, and you need all of them to truly satisfy customers. Tailor your answer to fit the job. Customer service or customer care teams not only provide assistance but also ensure customer satisfaction and customer retention for the company. We’ve gone over traditional interview questions before, so to quickly recap, traditional interview questions are the ones that basically get the interview machine rolling, the “starter” questions. Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com. Don’t tell a story about the time your cousin’s best friend comped your entire group a free meal or how a technician looked the other way and installed an upgraded stereo in your car and only charged you for the base model. It’s one of the most frequently asked questions in an interview: Tell me about yourself. Taking time to practice your answer to the question, “What is customer service?” will ensure that during your actual interview you demonstrate the confidence, presence of mind, knowledge, and poise that employers seek in their customer service representatives. Download our "Job Interview Questions & Answers PDF Cheat Sheet" that gives you word-for-word sample answers to the some of the most common interview questions including: Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. The hiring manager wants to know how you will react to specific situations you’ll very likely encounter should you be hired and how well the qualities you possess mesh with the requirements for the position you’ve applied for. Firstly, he or she wants to know that you are familiar with the retail/customer service lingo. 23 examples on how to answer Tell Me About Yourself Sample Answers for students, freshers and experienced professionals. They give out their addresses, birthdates and birthplaces. Go back over our list of desirable traits for a customer representative and ask yourself honestly if these all apply to you. Do you have any prior customer service experience? Start out by giving them an overview about your current position or activities, then provide the most important and relevant highlights from your background that make you most qualified for the role. While this question is about customer service, generally speaking, the interviewer is also trying to see if you have the customer service skills that are right for the job. That means participating in the interview as though you already have the job…by showing your interviewer outstanding customer service. Again, researching the company you’re applying to ahead of time will only help you as you will want to use an example that closely aligns with the policies of the company you’re now applying to. Your interviewers will likely start out with a question about yourself and your background to get to know you. The hiring manager wants to know how well you can handle placing a customer’s needs over your own situation. Answered by professional interviewers and hiring managers. Not only will you be able to go into the interview with a good idea of what you could possibly be doing in the future, it will help you tailor your situational questions in such a way that they align with the policies and guarantees the company already has in place. Tell me about a time you experienced exceptional customer service and why it was so good. Focus instead on answers where both the representative and the company treated you with respect and went above and beyond without bending rules or doing anything underhanded or shady. ), Of course, what good is it if we just pointed you in the direction of all these past blogs we’ve posted and left it at that? For example, I recently had a customer who was disappointed that we did not have an item in our store. Make sure you draw from an experience that include specifics…and be honest. Take detailed notes. Alison Doyle is the job search expert for The Balance Careers, and one of the industry's most highly-regarded job search and career experts. Ok, so before we get started we wanted to let you know that there are over 100 other difficult traditional interview questions you could be asked in your job interview. All Will Be Revealed: How to Answer the “Tell Me About Yourself” Interview Question “Tell me about yourself” When you are asked this common question in an interview, the best answer is one that outlines your main selling points for the role and explains why you are interested in the job now. When you answer “Tell me about yourself,” etch a positive depiction of yourself in the hiring manager's mind. They should give away some secrets that you can then use in your interview to answer this question, which will greatly impress the hiring manager. The hiring manager wants to know if you know what you’re getting into and how much you want this position. Here is a selection of sample answers you can use to respond to questions about customer service. Look on their “About Us” page on their website to get a sense of how they think of their customers, and how they serve those customers. Sure, you can read what we’ve already covered (and we strongly suggest you do as they’re stuffed full of valuable information and a wealth of example questions you can practice your own tailored answers with) but that wouldn’t be good customer service on our part…now would it? Although this answers the question, this isn’t what the Asking clarifying questions, repeating their concerns, and simply quietly listening are helpful ways to demonstratethat you are listening and that you care about their problems. What is your strategy for managing your call volume, follow-ups, internal responsibilities and other time-sensitive duties. Make eye contact, offer genuine smiles, remain engaged in the conversation and answer the questions your hiring manager asks you with confidence and honesty. Therefore, if you have time, you might add an example to the end of your answer. A hiring manager probably won’t offer you a job if they think you’ll do whatever it takes to keep people happy, especially at the expense of the company. His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan, Penn State, Northeastern and others. Customer service jobs stretch across all sectors, and involve all types of jobs, from retail to food, industrial to scientific, educational, medical, service…basically, if an organization has anything to do with providing a product or service to the public, you can bet there’s a customer service representative somewhere in that mix. These questions usually begin with “Tell me about a time you…” and require you to give an in-depth answer, tailored specifically to the question. What They Want to Know: Potential employers want to know if you have experience in a similar role. What are the major types for outsourcing? Look for any keywords that you might want to use in your interview answer. Well don’t worry, because we created a free PDF that outlines the most common questions and gives you word for word sample answers that you can use at your next interview. Meanwhile, customer support is a narrower term which refers to the personnel who help customers with technical issues such as the use, maintenance, troubleshooting, and upgrading of the company’s products. Make sure you also include how your personality aligns with the desired traits of the ideal customer service representative. Regardless of what the company is producing, be it a physical product, a less tangible service or a combination of both, knowing exactly what the company produces and how the public interacts with them is critical when it comes to providing customer service. This list also means that, as a job seeker who is interested in interviewing for a customer service representative position, you should be prepared for an incredibly wide array of potential interview questions. I know customer satisfaction is extremely important to your company, and it is always something I strive for in my retail experience. Describe to me a time that an inferior product/service created a customer service issue for you and how you solved the situation. MIKE'S TIP: Call the customer service line of the company you are applying to and pick the representatives brain about all of the products they offer. Why did you get into customer service, and where do you see your career advancing in the next 5 years? This might mean keeping your makeup or jewelry more (or less!) Remember, we’re thinking like ninjas, and like a ninja, you’ll need to tuck and roll when confronted with a situation like this. Why do you want to join BPO? Get to know what the job is like and what the employees are expected to know. Overall, when you practise your answer, you want to tell a great story about yourself that you can share in no more than two minutes. In this technique, you describe a Situation, the Task or challenge involved, the Action you took, and the Result of this action. A General Answer to “Tell Me About Yourself” Possible Answer 1: “I am a self-starter with strong interpersonal skills. Not only will you be better prepared to answer any question the interviewer might throw at you, but you’ll also be able to truly target those answers. “So, tell me about yourself.” By now, you know the wrong answer. 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