Customer Service Representative Job Analysis

Job description and job posting are parts of the specific components associated with job analysis. According to Mader-Clark (2013), a job description is one of the key responsibilities and duties of the job position for communicating responsibilities and performance expectancies to employees. A typical job description should have the following parts: identification information, a job summary on the main purpose of the position and its importance to the firm, duties, and responsibilities. A job posting, on the other hand, is a job advertisement intended to attract qualified job applicants (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2010). In most instances, a job posting should be a jazzed-up and a trimmed-down version of the job description. The job posting should make both the organization and the job stand out by alluring to the interest and predilections of the particular people to whom the organization wants to appeal. A job description provides all the materials needed to market the job. The greatest challenge will probably be cutting down the job description document to fit the available space. This paper creates a detailed job description to attract qualified candidates for the position of customer service representative and further answers four questions relating to the job description of a customer service representative.

Detailed Job Description to Attract Qualified Candidates for Customer Service Representatives

Position: Customer Service Representative

Reports to: Head of Operations

Job Summary and Key Objectives: Act as a liaison; serving customers by providing information on the products and services the company offers; resolving problems and addressing concerns relating to the company’s products and services. The key objective is to ensure excellent standards of services and uphold high customer contentment.

Main Responsibilities and Tasks:

· Attracting potential clients by answering questions relating to the company’s products and services and suggesting more information about it.

· Dealing directly with the company’s customers either face-to-face, electronically or by phone.

· Listening and promptly responding to customer concerns and needs, and referring them to managers, supervisors or others within the company if it is not possible to resolve them on your own.

· Responding promptly to customers’ inquiries.

· Handling and resolving customers’ complaints.

· Obtaining and evaluating relevant and useful information in handling service and product inquiries.

· Providing customers with pricing and delivery information.

· Performing verifications of customers.

· Setting up new accounts for new customers.

· Processing applications, orders, forms, and requests by customers.

· Organizing workflows to suit client timeframes.

· Directing unresolved issues and requests to the designated personnel and resources.

· Managing clients’ accounts.

· Keeping records of interactions with customers and customer transactions.

· Recording details of customer inquiries, transactions, and interactions.

· Recording details of actions resolved or taken.

· Maintaining databases of customers.

· Managing the administration of customers.

· Communicating and coordinating with the company’s internal departments on customer issues.

· Following up on client interactions.

· Providing feedback on the effectiveness of the process of customer service.

Preferred Qualifications and Educations:

· Bachelor’s degree in any business-related field or a High School diploma with four years of customer service experience or direct sale/marketing experience in a high-traffic working environment.

· Minimum of 0 to 2 years of customer service experience or any other related customer dealings experience.

· Knowledge of practices and principles applicable to customer service.

· Computer literacy, including knowledge of typing and use of databases, spreadsheets, and email applications.

· Knowledge of organizational procedures.

· Excellent presentation and communication skills

· Ability to manage time effectively, multi-task, and prioritize the company’s interests above self-interests.

Details to be found in a Customer Service Representative Job Description

DuBrin (2012) argues that job descriptions should at times be modified to fit the basic principles of the job design. For example, the job description for a manager requires heavy knowledge characteristics as compared to others. In DuBrin (2012), a customer service representative’s job description calls upon him/her to do everything within reason to make the customers happy. If an order is late or a product has an issue, it is up to the customer service representative to rectify the situations. If a product is defective, the customer service representative is supposed to arrange for a replacement, repairs or a refund. In this respect, a customer service representative’s job description should contain the following details:

· Conferring with a customer in person or via telephone in order to give them information relating to products or services, take their orders or cancel their accounts, and to obtain details of complaints

· Keeping records of their interactions with customers; records of transactions; detailed inquiries, comments, complaints, and actions taken.

· Resolving complaints by customers on customer service by exchanging products, refunding money, or adjusting bills.

· Following up on customer complaints to ensure that appropriate changes were enforced to resolve their grievances.

· Referring unresolved customer concerns to designated departments for further inquiries.

· Assuming responsibility of liaison with the company and customers.

· Processing customer orders in line with established company procedures and policies.

· Providing timely feedback on customers’ concerns or service failures to the company.

· Providing accurate and timely information to customers on the products

· Attracting new and potential customers to increase the company’s customer base.

Level of Education and Experience Necessary for a Customer Service Representative

According to Putzier and Baker (2011), most customer service representative jobs require only a high school diploma. However, given that employers are nowadays demanding a higher-skilled workforce, many customer service representative jobs require an associate or bachelor’s degree. In addition to this, high school and college-level computer courses, English, and business courses are often required as they are important in preparing one for a job in customer service. In terms of previous industry experience, customer service representative jobs require between up to 2 years of job experience as it is an entry-level position. According to Mader-Clark (2013), customer service representative jobs are good introductory positions into a company or an industry where experienced workers can move up within the firm into managerial or supervisory positions. Alternatively, experienced workers in this area can move into areas like product development, where they will use their knowledge to improve services and products. However, the aspect of customer service representatives being entry positions varies from one industry to another. For instance, in the insurance industry, customer service representative jobs are not entry-level positions. Workers are required to have previous insurance experience and must be licensed just like insurance sales agents (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2010)

Level of Knowledge of the Industry a Customer Service Representative Should Have

Customer service representatives have the main responsibility of ensuring product delivery in line with customer requirements and producer capabilities and for responding to client product inquiries and satisfaction concerns. In addition, they answer telephones, take customer product orders, and manage input sales order data into an existing consumer data system. Furthermore, they also provide information to customers about the products that their company offers. This will require them to have extensive and in-depth knowledge of these products and those of their competitors for them to provide customers with the best advice. Consequently, they will be required to have good knowledge of the industry in which their company is operating, possibly a level II knowledge. According to Putzier and Baker (2011), there are three levels of work in the customer service representative job family which are distinguished by the intricacy of the tasks, the needed level of expertise, and the extent of duties and responsibilities assigned. These levels are level I, up to level III. Level I requires 0 to 1-year experience, level II requires two years of customer service experience and good knowledge of the industry and products, and level III requires a minimum of three years of work experience.

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Importance of Job Descriptions Functions Education, Experience, and Knowledge in Attracting Qualified Candidates for Possible Interviews

Job descriptions are essentially a part of an organization’s recruitment materials that inform the potential candidates of the responsibilities and requirements for the job. Most effective job descriptions capture the reader’s attention and get potential recruits excited about their fit with the job and the company. The how and why the job description functions, education, experience, and knowledge is important in attracting qualified candidates in the sense that they address the priorities and needs of the company and communicates the responsibilities, work schedule, and performance standards of the position (DuBrin 2012). They also ensure that potential recruits know their expected areas of responsibility and for what they will be compensated and evaluated. Additionally, a candidate will be able to determine from the information contained in the job description whether he/she is qualified, overqualified, or underqualified for the position and whether he is interested in the job responsibilities. It also reveals the performance standards associated with the position, work schedule; and whether he/she would like to work for the person to whom he/she will be reporting. In this respect, the job description attracts qualified and interested applicants while at the same time discourage those who are not qualified or interested.

Conclusion

In conclusion, job descriptions have three main purposes of the recruitment and selection process. They include; (1) providing information required in determining the selection criteria, (2) informing applicants about the nature of the job, and (3) ensuring that newly appointed staff members understand the primary purpose and principal functions of the job and its place in the organization’s structure. The job description acts as the starting point by providing a clear understanding of what the job involves. In this respect, the job description allows HR staff to screen candidates for a position. As much as the potential candidates are looking at the company and its position, the company needs to look at the individual. It is the job description that helps the company in this process. It further assists the company in identifying those who are worthy candidates and those who are not qualified for the advertised position. The job description plays an additional role in the evaluation of employees by laying out the responsibilities of the advertised position. The employee’s execution level of these responsibilities forms the foundation of an annual evaluation. This requires, job descriptions to be concise, well-researched, precise, clear, and maintained as living documents. They will limit the organization’s legal liability and make life easier in hiring situations, performance evaluations and compensation decisions.