5 Transferable Customer Service Skills and Related Jobs

If you work in customer service, you’ve probably developed the essential customer service skillset many employers look for in new hires. Jobs in most industries require employees to work in fast-paced and interpersonal settings, which means your customer service skills are transferable across plenty of possible career paths. Follow along as we break down the top five transferable skills for customer service agents and the possible careers that use them the most.

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Top Transferable Customer Service Skills

Any career has a set of practical qualities considered essential. However, not all careers hone these abilities quite like customer service. Many skills customer service hiring managers look for in candidates are often sought after in other fields as well.

Let’s take a look at some of the top customer service transferable skills that could open the door to a future career.

1. Effective Interpersonal Communication

Any position requires effective communication. Customer service uniquely trains you to actively listen and respond, making this skill invaluable.

Potential career opportunity: Account management. Account managers ensure client satisfaction through clear communication and time management.

Gladly pro tip: Knowing what to say is only half of effective communication. Knowing when to listen, and how to respond in kind, is an even more valuable skill in many situations.

Develop these skills and more with the free courses and trainings offered in the Gladly Connect Community.

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2. Emotional Intelligence

Understanding and empathizing with others drives solutions. Customer service lets you practice empathy, a valuable skill in any career.

Potential career opportunity: Human resources. Empathy is crucial for building relationships and diffusing situations.

Gladly pro tip: Enhance emotional intelligence with dedicated exercises and courses, like:

3. Multitasking

CX teams must juggle daily duties, ranging from managing multiple conversations simultaneously across varying channels to interpersonal relationships with clients, team members, and managers.

Potential career opportunity: Project management. Juggling tasks and timelines is essential.

Gladly pro tip: Skill alone isn’t enough to be a good multitasker. With Gladly features like single-conversation timelines and data-rich customer profiles, agents don’t waste time tabbing and compiling tickets.

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4. Teamwork

Whether it be working with other departments to find a solution or alongside a manager to address concerns, customer service team members rely on one another every day. Teamwork is one of the most essential transferable customer service skills that will make you an asset to any team, especially if you are interested in pursuing management positions.

Potential career opportunity: Office manager. This role must be capable of working with every department to keep an office running smoothly.

Gladly pro tip: Encourage collaboration across remote teams with actionable strategies:

5. Subject Matter Expertise

Customers rely on agents for their expertise in times of crisis or deliberation. By becoming a subject matter expert, agents will help customers solve their issues or decide to make a purchase, which bolsters long-term loyalty (and CX-generated revenue).

Potential career opportunity: Sales. Trust-building and product knowledge are crucial for sales success.

Gladly pro tip: Train agents to be experts for trust and personalized service:

Customer Service Can be a Path to New Opportunities

Customer service is just one possible beginning to many career paths. A career in customer service offers the chance to gain qualifications that create future opportunities in other fields like sales, marketing, human resources, and management. The transferable customer service skills you learn every day on the job are invaluable. All it takes is finding the right fit.

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