Client Services Managers

While in school, join a school club or organization that handles student affairs. This will give you valuable experience dealing with various issues. Any part-time job in customer service will be helpful in honing your skills. Learn as much as you can about every company you work with. Consider visiting the human resources department of a number of companies you might be interested in working at and ask to job shadow their client services manager to gain insight into the job. Participate in information interviews with CSMs. Suggested interview questions include: What made you want to enter this career? What do you like most and least about your job? How did you train for this field? What advice would you give to young people about preparing for the field and being successful on the job? How will advances in technology change the field?

Participate in competitions that are offered by SkillsUSA (https://www.skillsusa.org) and other organizations to build your skills, compete for scholarships and cash prizes, meet people with shared interests, and have fun. SkillsUSA offers a Customer Service competition that involves live role-playing situations. The organization says that "competitors demonstrate their ability to perform customer service in both written and oral forms including telephone and computer skills, communications, problem solving, conflict resolution, and business etiquette." Visit https://www.skillsusa.org for more information.