How to Answer: How many years of customer experience do you have?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for an ADP job interview.
23. How many years of customer experience do you have?
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
This question aims to evaluate your customer service skills and the level of your experience. This will help them assess how well you'll fit into the culture of their brand.
Written by Kevin Downey on May 16th, 2022
How to Answer
Go deeper than giving a cut and dry answer to this question. After you offer the length of experience, detail what those years have taught you. Define what customer service means to you. Focus on the customer experience delivered through your interactions with your clientele and your team. Focus on culture, branding, and creating human connections. Exhibit positivity and an enthusiasm for working in a customer-centric environment.
Written by Kevin Downey on May 16th, 2022
1st Entry Level Example
"I don't have any formal work experience with customer service. However, I volunteered for two years at a local homeless shelter and led a committee at my school. In those roles, I utilized customer service skills like communication, empathy, negotiation, and patience when working with the public in these roles. I always treat others how I would want my family members to be treated and have found that taking the time to see things from another person's perspective has greatly impacted my success working with others."
Written by Jaymie Payne on November 13th, 2022
1st Answer Example
"Over ten years ago, the job that helped put me through college was working in a call center. From there, I got my rocky start in customer service. But that wasn't the quintessential experience, just the toughest. But customer service is tough if you don't understand its core. Experience is everything. If your customer had a positive, rewarding and repeatable experience, they'll return. So the customer service they came for, the experience, and the quality of the product, exceeded their expectations. Once you have those elements down, you've delivered great customer service."
Written by Kevin Downey on May 16th, 2022
2nd Answer Example
"I have fourteen years of customer service experience. What I've learned is that people want to be a part of something. We live in a tribal world, and brands focus on identifiers to make customers feel as if they are a part of something bigger, delivering meaning. So it's crucial to remain true to the brand. As I see it, great customer service means customer loyalty. So the customer must feel welcome as opposed to alienated."
Written by Jaymie Payne on November 13th, 2022
About the Author
When I started my career in business management, branding, and marketing, I mistakenly assumed hard work and integrity alone would get me noticed. Back then, I assumed the harder I worked, the faster I’d rise through the ranks. Yet, even in a meritocracy, this is rarely the case.
The goals of my peers competed with mine, and too often, they were better at getting noticed for their accomplishments. And, some of them were all too happy to watch me working harder, as they worked smarter, rising through the ranks faster than me. At one point, a boss of mine labeled me a stealth worker. They said they had no idea I was the one performing all that great work. If only I’d drawn more attention to what I was doing, maybe I would have gotten rewarded for it. So I learned most of my leadership skills the hard way, and the journey was long.
As a leader, my favorite part of the job came to be coaching others. I took pride in sharing the secrets to my eventual success, and offering my outside-of-the-box view of the role. Where other leaders were only in it for themselves, I was genuinely in it for the company and the team. So I taught those I mentored not only what they needed to do, and how to do the job right, but why each step was important. I spelled out how everything fit into the big picture and shared every trick of the trade that no one shared with me. Every single individual I mentored advanced far ahead of their peers, surpassing those who were only in it for themselves.
Another favorite part of the job was recruiting and building the perfect teams. For me, conducting an interview was an art form. I later volunteered my services at career fairs and trade schools, offering advice, from crafting the perfect CV and resume, to delivering a perfect interview, to negotiating a decent raise. Now I am a full-time writer, and left my management career behind me. Yet, I still love coaching others to succeed, and I love writing for mockquestions.com for this very reason.
Here’s what I said to a friend of mine whom I mentored a long time ago: “Every single thing you do, at every stage, can alter the perception others have of your professional worth. My goal is to make you look like an asset worth fighting for.”
Learn more about Kevin Downey