The document contains an interview preparation guide for an inexperienced applicant applying for an entry-level customer service representative position at a bank. It includes sample questions and recommended answers to common interview questions focusing on the applicant's education, work experience, customer service skills, and ability to handle difficult customer situations. The guide provides advice on highlighting relevant skills and experiences while addressing lack of direct work experience.

1. Nama : Triany Syafrilia
Kelas : 4EA21
NPM : 19210684
Tugas Softskill Bahasa Inggris Bisnis 2
Interview for Customer Service Representative
Inexperienced
You are scheduled for an interview for an entry level position as a Bank Customer Service
Representative for the City Bank. You have no prior work experience as a Customer Service
Representative. You will be asked questions about your relations with your superiors, your
learning abilities and aptitudes. See recommendations after you go over the questions and
answers below.
- Question: Tell us about yourself ?
Focus on the aspects of your experience that apply to this position.
Answer: I graduated from Gunadarma University in 2010 with a major in Business
Administration. I was a top student in my major study in college as I expected of myself to
be. I was involved in extra curricular activities: I was captain of the volleyball team; I led
competitions in English proficiency. These extra curriculum activities helped me develop
interpersonal skills. In school I learned how to interact with my teachers and get along with
classmates. I also learned how to manage stress, work effectively under stress. In college, I
took an internship with Goldman Sachs for six months where I was exposed to direct
customer contact face-to-face.
- Question: What is your work experience ?
Answer: I don't have professional work experience as yet, but as I mentioned I was a very
active student in college and gained first-hand experience in market research through
internship I took with Goldman Sachs for six months. In this position I was exposed to
customer contact where I practiced effective listening, patience, professional demeanor. The
direct customer contact along with interpersonal skills I developed at school helped me gain a
good understanding of customer needs. I learned how to answer customers questions.
- Question: What experiences have you had that demonstrate your skills in dealing
with different types of people ?
Answer: During my years in college I developed a sense of keeping my calm with difficult
class mates and instructors. My internship helped me focus on people skills in dealing with
customers face-to-face and over the phone. I learned how important it is to listen well, make
the customer feel I understand his/her point.

2. - Question: How did you handle angry customers ? Assume a customer is yelling
at you. How would you deal with this customer ?
Answer: I had heard so much about "angry customers" before I took the internship position. I
read about case studies that showed effective strategies in dealing with angry customers.
Most effective strategies always entailed patience, giving appropriate help to the customer,
being polite yet firm. If I did my best but still could not satisfy the customer, then I would
report it to my supervisor.
- Question: A customer calls and tells you he needs extra time to make his/her
payment. Assuming you have the authority to make a decision, what information
would you need before making the decision for this request?
Answer: I would consider first the company policy for delinquent customers: delinquent for
30-days, 60-days and 90-days. I would politely remind the customer of these three
delinquency terms. Then, I would tell the customer the policy that best fits his/her credit
history, and provide late payment interest rates for each delinquency terms.
- Question: Dealing with a high volume of customers is a requirement of this job.
Tell me about a time when you had to work under pressure. How were you able
to perform successfully in this stressful situation ?
Answer: In my internship position, I was expected to type when taking calls, Sometimes I
had to answer heavy volume calls while I was typing. I followed my supervisor's instructions
as well as common sense. I answered calls after three rings; I listened to the customer briefly
and then reminded the customers to hold on. Or, I would turn on the tape response to
customers' calls, and at the switch board I would pick the calls in the order they were
received. Then, I would give an appropriate answer to the customer. Because I was trained on
most frequently-asked questions, mostly I was effective in handling heavy volume calls.
After I was done with the customer, I would resume typing.
- Question: Is the customer always right ?
Answer: The customer may not be always right but I must put my best face to the customer's
demands. Because, first I understand customers are needed for business. Second, I am dealing
with human beings and I must cultivate a professional demeanor, patience, and necessary
skills serve best to the customer. As long as I serve the customer with a professional
demeanor, the customer will not be unmanageable generally speaking. If I confront a difficult
customer, I put the grand rules at work I have learned: don't argue with customers; do your
best, be calm and professional.
- Question: How many languages do you speak and/or write? Describe your
fluency level ?
For this question, most importantly you must speak fluent English if you are to work with
English speaking customers. Improve your English by working at it everyday, by utilizing the
Internet resources and companies who offer free help for certain customers (such as students).

3. Answer: I speak Urdu, Russian, Hindu or Spanish as my first language, and English as a
second language. Please note whatever language you speak you will be told the level of
English proficiency required for the position.
- Question: Why should we hire you ?
They usually ask this question at the end: "Tell us why should we hire you if we have other
applicants as good as you are?" This means: in order to choose you over other applicants, you
should come up with a skill or trait that is rare. Think about your good traits and talk about
them. For example:
Answer: You are a problem solver, you can handle stress, you listen well, you work well
under stress. You are a leader to inspire others to do their best; you are a team worker, you
know how to work with others. You must have one or two of these qualities that may
distinguish you from other applicants, because many applicants will probably have the same
type of skills, such as they may all meet requirements for education and experience. What
makes you an outstanding applicant is a unique quality you can offer. So, for example,
not every body will have leadership qualities; not everybody has an interesting personality.
Many of us may be good workers but not leaders, have good personalities but just average
people. An applicant who can offer the most will be hired. If you have a unique quality, talk
about it.
- Question: What is Good Customer Service ?
Answer : Customer Service is a constant attempt to make sure that the customer is
satisfied with the product or service purchased by him.
It is being friendly and helpful to customers, developing a bond with customers and
hopefully leading to long term relationships, creating advantages for both customers and
the business.
Customers benefit because the business is providing a service that meets their needs and
business benefits because satisfied customers are likely to be repeat customers.
- Question: Why did you choose Customer Service Function as a Career ?
Answer: Customer Service is an key function of an organization because a Customer
Service Representative is often the only contact a customer has with the company.
Customers are important for business as they spend a lot of money every year with a
company, and when they have a question or product issue, they expect a company’s
customer service department to resolve their issues. It gives me satisfaction to resolve
customer issues and help them with questions and concerns. And a happy, satisfied
customers is likely to return and/or tell others about the good experiences that they had
when dealing with the company.

4. - Question: What have you done to promote great customer service in current of
previous job ?
Answer: This depends from person to person and organisation, but I would mention an
example of a friend working with bus ticketing company.
For all cancellation refunds, the company would reply mentioning that the refund will be
done in a few days, one of the executives changed the “few days” to the approximate
number of days.
The company started replying customers with the approximate number of days (12 – 15
days) for the refund process to be completed. This gave more clarity to the customers and
avoided repeated calls for the same issue.
- Question: Give an example of a particularly irate customer, you had to deal with
and how you used your skills to successfully resolve the issue they faced ?
Make sure you are prepared with the answer and it is one where you resolved the issue. The
interviewer is looking for skills you possess in handling difficult customers, not the complex
details of the particular issue
Your answer may include the following points:
• I listened carefully to the customer and empathised with their situation.
• I clearly understood his concern and took responsibility to resolve the issue.
• I offered a solution and confirmed that the customer was happy.
• I thanked the customer for his patience and co-operation during the call.
By explaining the situation and the way you handled it, you can impress your prospective
employer by proving that you already have the required skills to manage the most difficult
calls.
- Question: The customer feels you are taking too long to resolve the issue, what
do you do in such a situation ?
Answer: If there is an issue which is too much time to solve and the customer is getting
frustrated, then you can politely explain him that it is a major issue and it will take time to
resolve it permanently. You can try and convince the customer to call back again or you can
offer him a call back after resolving the problem, in case the customer is not ready to wait
any longer.
Referensi :
http://www.bankjobsindia.net/top-5-customer-service-interview-questions-and-answers-
banking-jobs-related/

5. http://onlinetutorforenglish.com/conversation-lessons/interview-customer-service-rep-
experienced.php