A help desk is an IT system and the main point of contact between a company and its users. It provides support for both its personnel and customers. Additionally, these systems include self-service resources such as articles and a community channel. They have a contact channel where users can request a help desk analyst to help them solve their issues with products. Employees can also talk to technicians if they need help with setup or networking issues.
Help desk technicians must be proficient at troubleshooting and networking. These are two main things you should mention in your resume. You should also have excellent communication skills and logical thinking to resolve issues efficiently.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the majority of entry-level computer support specialists have an associate degree in a computer science-related field. However, some employers will hire candidates with only a high-school diploma and relevant IT experience. You can also include relevant certifications in your resume to stand out.
Most help desks work with support tickets to keep track of the volume of requests and prioritize those with higher urgency. As a help desk specialist, you can work on multiple bulks of tickets with a prioritization approach.
In this guide, we’ll discuss some of the different help desk roles and give you tips on how to optimize your resume. Take a look below to get more insights about each career.
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Help desk analysts assist customers and employees with technical support via email or phone calls. They have a customer service role as well as an IT technician. That’s why it is vital to demonstrate outstanding interpersonal skills in your resume. Sometimes you will be talking to people who don’t have a technical background, so you must be patient and explicative.
Most help desk analysts work with specialized software like Jira to optimize operations. This type of software helps technicians with ticket prioritization and automation. Therefore, it is crucial to mention in your resume that you are familiar with these systems.
Some employers might overlook your educational background if you have the right skills and experience. That’s why it is important to put some effort into this section. Include skills like troubleshooting, networking, customer service, etc. It is vital to focus on your technical competencies.
A help desk technician’s primary goal is to improve customer satisfaction by helping them resolve technical issues with the organization’s product. That’s why your resume should be tailored to the IT industry. They will also assist employees with technical queries. Another relevant help desk technician's responsibility is to educate employees on how to use machinery and software.
As we mentioned earlier, help desk technicians often assist employees with technical support, but they must also help them understand how to use software and hardware responsibly. Therefore, collaboration and team work skills are competencies that you must highlight in your resume.
Help desk centers usually work in tiers, meaning that technicians have a designated level of complexity with technical support. Some of them handle advanced issues while others focus on basic setup tasks and lower-level troubleshooting. That is precisely the work of an entry-level IT help desk specialist since they don’t have extensive experience on their resume.
Having a lack of professional experience in help desk centers doesn’t have to prevent you from applying to this position. You can also include relevant experience in volunteering and internships. These days, this type of on-the-job training has a lot of value in the IT industry.
If you have worked in personal or extracurricular projects where you used your technical support skills, you can mention that in your resume. This is a good idea to demonstrate your value. You can highlight skills from this experience, such as problem-solving and troubleshooting.
We consulted with hiring managers from companies like IBM, Dell, and Accenture to gather their best tips for creating a winning help desk resume. The following tips will help you showcase your technical skills, customer service abilities, and problem-solving expertise to land your next help desk job.
Employers want to see the specific technical skills you possess that are relevant to the help desk role. Include a 'Technical Skills' section on your resume and list the software, hardware, and systems you are proficient in.
A resume summary is an optional section that highlights your most relevant qualifications for the job you're applying to. While it's not required, it can be a strategic way to provide additional context about your career goals and the value you'd bring to the role, especially if you're changing careers or industries. Avoid using an objective statement, which focuses on your own goals rather than how you can contribute to the company.
When writing a summary for a help desk position, focus on your technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and customer service experience. Keep it concise and avoid repeating information that's already included in other sections of your resume.
Your work experience section is the most important part of your resume as a help desk professional. It's where you show hiring managers how you've applied your technical skills and knowledge to solve problems, support customers, and contribute to your team's success. In this section, we'll break down the key steps to writing a compelling work experience section that will catch the attention of hiring managers.
The education section of your help desk resume should be concise and highlight your most relevant qualifications. It's important to format this section correctly and include the right information to showcase your skills and knowledge. Here are some tips to help you write an effective education section on your help desk resume.
Help desk analysts must possess excellent communication skills and be extremely reliable. To demonstrate this in your resume, it is important to use the right language. You can streamline your resume by adding bullet points to your work history and describing your experience and achievements.
These bullet points should start with strong action verbs that accurately describe your experience. Action verbs provide trustworthiness and improve readability, so this is an excellent way to impress your potential employer.
For more related action verbs, visit Customer Service Action Verbs.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
As a help desk analyst, you must have a combination of technical support and customer service skills, since you’ll be working with people. You must have analytic thinking, attention to detail, patience, and team working skills. These are traits that you should highlight in your resume.
The skills section is very important for a help desk specialist's resume, so you should spend some research in advance. Try to find related job posts and find opportunities for skills that you can add. This way, your resume has better chances of getting past applicant tracking systems and it’s more relevant for your potential employer.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Help Desk job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
