Best interview questions for a Customer Support Specialist

Customer Support Specialist Interview Questions

The Customer Support Specialist specialises in helping your customers understand and use your project. As an expert communicator with a customer-centric approach, the Customer Support Specialist bridges the gap between your clients and your product. They educate customers on how to use the product, give them tips and useful insights on how to use it better, and provide ongoing support for any questions or technical issues that might arise.

The Customer Support Specialist is the dedicated point of contact for your customers and, as such, strongly represents your company as a whole. That’s why you must hire the right person for the job. To do so, you need to ask the right Customer Support Specialist interview questions to separate the wheat from the chaff.

On this page, you will find a list of sample interview questions (and the type of answers you’re looking for) that will help you find the best candidate for the job. When bringing a Customer Support Specialist to the team, these are some of the skills you need to look for:

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Great at solving problems.
Analytical, data-driven mindset.
Tech-savvy with the ability to transfer this knowledge to less technical customers

Interviewing a Customer Support Specialist

Do you have a potential candidate that you want to invite for an interview? Great news! But before you go into that interview you need to ensure you come prepared.

That’s where these Customer Support Specialist interview questions come in. You can easily copy-paste the questions and use them in your interview process. Keep in mind, though, that these interview questions are best asked during the early stages of the interview process to filter out the right candidates as soon as possible.

How to open the Customer Support Specialist job interview

You should start the interview with some opening questions that help put your candidate at ease. There’s a good chance they are quite nervous, which can harm how they perform during the interview. Even if they might actually be the perfect candidate for the job, the nerves might make them give you the wrong impression.

That’s why you’re best of starting with an easy question that helps the interviewee settle in. You want to keep these questions as easy as possible.

Job Description available

Also see our Customer Support Specialist job description

For the interview

A positive opener to start

What has your career path been so far?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

What do you like best about working as a Customer Support Specialist?

Behavioral Questions

Describe a time when you went above and beyond for a customer.
This is a great opportunity for the candidate to brag about a time you did something really well while you gain insight into how they work.
Tell me about a time when you lost a customer account. How did you deal with this situation?
Contrary to the previous question, this one shows you how the candidate deals with failure. There’s nothing wrong with losing an account, but it’s important to learn how they deal with such a loss.
What would you do during your first month if we were to hire you for this position?
This helps you understand what the candidate thinks their role will be in your company and what kind of tasks they will do. This gives you insight into their expectations and aspirations for the job.
Tell me about a time when you had to de-escalate a conflict with a customer. How did you handle the situation?
Conflict is bound to happen in this position as a Customer Support Specialist. This question gives you insight into the candidate’s interpersonal skills and how they deal with tough clients.
Tell me about a time you improved an existing process.
Another question that allows your candidate to shine. This shows you what they’re proud of and gives you an idea of their level of experience.

Soft Skills

How do you manage your time?
Time management is essential for this role, as the Customer Support Specialist will manage multiple customers at once.
How do you deal with frustrated customers?
Unfortunately, frustrated and angry customers are a large part of the job. It is key that the candidate can properly handle this.
How do you engage with customers who are clearly not engaged themselves?
Sometimes customers are just not that interested in what you have to offer, but it is part of the Customer Support Specialist role to always stay upbeat and try to keep the customer engaged.
How well do you cope with stress?
In this role, the candidate will have times of heightened stress. Dealing with this is an essential part of the job.

Hard Skills

What does our product do?
The Customer Support Specialist needs to know your product inside out. This question gives you an idea of what they already know about it and tests if they came prepared for the interview.
If you could change one thing about our product, what would it be?
Again, see how well they know the product and if they already have some initial suggestions for improvements.
How would you define customer success?
This shows you what the candidate actually considers a “job well done”.
How much experience do you have working in our industry?
Although it’s probably not essential that the candidate has experience in your industry it might be helpful for you to get a sense of if they have any experience at all.

Operational / Situational Questions

A customer asks you to fix a technical issue but you can’t find a solution. What do you do?
This question tests the candidate’s problem-solving ability and what they do if they can’t find a way to solve a problem.
You have repeatedly tried to explain the same thing to a customer but they just don’t seem to understand. What do you do?
Sometimes the customer just doesn’t understand. Does the candidate get frustrated, do they ask someone else to step in, or do they just give up? See how the candidate deals with this situation.
A customer disagrees with your approach, even though you know 100% certain that your way is the best. What do you do?
Does the candidate follow the “customer is always right” approach or will they stick to their guns? This question gives you a good insight into their customer service skills.