Student Question:
After graduating, I failed the graduate school entrance exam once. I currently work as an online customer service rep — I’ve been doing it for about a year. Now I want to switch jobs and move into operations, but the problem is I have no relevant experience. Customer service has been simple, mechanical work: answering messages using fixed script templates. It doesn’t feel like something that adds value to a job application.
During college I didn’t have any internships or campus activities worth mentioning either. I genuinely don’t know how to put together a decent resume. I’d appreciate any advice you can offer, Master Chi. Thank you.
Master Chi’s Response:
Customer service experience is actually a plus when applying for operations roles.
Operations done without understanding users simply won’t be done well.
Ask yourself: do you really understand the questions your customers raise?
What are the most common issues customers bring up? Why do those issues exist? Is your product falling short somewhere? In what ways?
Has the company made improvements to the product? How? If not — why hasn’t it?
Are the scripts you currently use the best possible answers? Could you improve them?
Are you the top performer among your customer service colleagues? Do you have any numbers to show for it?
In my community, I know someone who runs an e-commerce business where every single person on the operations team is required to rotate through customer service.
Doing customer service well is not as easy as it looks.
If you’re worried there’s nothing to put on your resume, write up a supplementary page about how you’ve thought through your work — your observations, your questions, your ideas.
Beyond that: interview widely. If the big companies pass on you, go for smaller ones. You’ll land an operations role eventually.