Get Out of Customer Service

How to Leverage Your Skills

Photo by DDP on Unsplash

Working sucks. That’s not up for debate, it’s facts. But what sucks even more, is working a thankless job. If you’ve ever worked in customer service, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. You have angry, asshole customers, poor management, and sometimes long hours. Don’t even get me started about the holiday season. Those twelve-hour shifts ain’t nothing nice. I’ve worked customer service and somehow, using the skills I’ve gained, I’ve managed to work my way into a supervisor position at a nonprofit and as an accounting assistant at a financial firm.

How did I do it, I have no fucking clue. Just kidding. I finessed my way into these places by crushing the interviews and making my resume look damn good. I’ve worked in damn near every type of customer service environment, hospitality, events, food service, retail and it’s all the same. Most people hate their jobs, not because some of them suck but because they suck and they don’t pay enough. Those jobs are usually only fun when you have a cool crew that you work with. But soon, they all start leaving and so do you. On to the next low-paying job.

So how can you upgrade your life and leave customer service behind? It’s not easy but it’s doable. Start by being real. You don’t have to lie or exaggerate what you do. Just enhance it. For example, if you are a cashier, not only do you handle cash, but you interact with people. On a resume, you can say something like, handles transactions on a point of sales system and emphasize your interpersonal skills. You’re enhancing your job responsibilities. No job is just that job, there’s always more to it. As a houseman at an event venue, when I used to work events I’d have to interact with clients and vendors. I also had to manage my time in order to ensure rooms were as requested and the setup matched the floorplans created by the client. I could just say, we helped at events and cleaned up. But that would be selling myself and the job short.

In order to move out of customer service, you have to be willing to accept rejection. Society is so fixated on titles and bullshit like that. You have to know that not everyone will see your experiences as valuable. They may even be condescending if you make it to the interview. That’s okay, it has nothing to do with you. Your…