Technical Support Resume: Examples, Template, and Resume Tips

In a world where everyone, including consumers and businesses routinely rely on technology to do almost everything, technical support professionals are very important.

These are the people who keep everything running smoothly and step in to resolve any issues we might encounter when using technology.

Technical support professionals are also referred to as IT specialists, help desk technicians, application support specialists, network technicians, maintenance engineers, or computer support technicians.

As testament to the importance of technical support specialists, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that technical support jobs will grow by 10% in the period between 2018 and 2028, which is faster than the national average for all jobs in the United States. This growth will result in an additional 83,100 technical support jobs.

According to the BLS, the median salary for technical support specialists is $53,470 per year, or $25.70 per hour.

While the roles and responsibilities of technical support specialists will vary depending on the employer, some of the general responsibilities of technical support include installing and configuring computer hardware, software, and applications, monitoring and maintaining networks and computer systems, diagnosing and resolving hardware and software problems, either in person or over the phone, troubleshooting system and network problems, talking to clients or staff and taking them through steps to either resolve issues or set up their systems, replacing faulty parts when necessary, supporting the roll-out of new systems or applications, setting up new user account and profiles, testing and evaluating new technology, and so on.

Despite the growing demand of technical support jobs, there is a lot of competition for these jobs, and if you want to be the technical support professional who gets invited to job interviews and hopefully gets hired from the multitude of other job seekers, you need to have a proper technical support resume that can quickly convince recruiters and hiring managers that you are the best person for the job.

Your resume needs to demonstrate your communication skills, your knowledge of various systems and platforms, and your ability to diagnose and resolve problems. Most recruiters will also be looking for someone who has strong teamwork, collaboration, and customer service skills.

So, how do you create such a technical support resume?

This is what this guide is all about. By the end of this guide, you will have a good idea about which format you need to use on your technical support resume, how to write an excellent technical support resume summary or objective, how to showcase your skills, as well as how to describe your education and your professional experience.

I will also show you some examples of well written technical support resumes, both for highly experienced candidates and for entry level candidates.

Before we dive in, I want to mention that if you do not want to go through the hassle of designing your technical support resume from scratch, you can use our resume builder, which automates the resume building process and allows you to choose from several professionally designed resume templates.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT RESUME EXAMPLES

Learning is always easier and faster when one has a clear idea of what they are trying to achieve, so let’s start by looking at some amazing examples of well-written technical support resumes.

Highly Experienced Technical Support Resume Example

Entry Level Technical Support Resume Example

WHICH IS THE BEST FORMAT FOR YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT RESUME?

Before you start writing your technical support resume, you need to make sure that you are using the proper resume format. If you use the wrong format, it becomes harder for recruiters to find the information they are looking for in your resume, which means that your resume will probably get discarded without being read.

There are several resume formats, but the best one to use on your technical support resume is the reverse chronological resume format, which lists dated entries (the experience and the education section) in reverse chronological order. With this, a recruiter can tell right from the get go whether your level of experience is what they are looking for.

For easy readability and aesthetic appeal, use professional resume fonts like Calibri, Cambria, or Georgia. Use bold headings to distinguish different sections of your resume from one another, and use lots of white space to make the contents of your resume pop out.

It is advisable to limit the length of your technical support resume to one page. However, if you have more than 10 years’ experience, you can have a two page resume. However, don’t exceed that. The longer your resume, the less likely that it will get read.

Finally, save your resume as a PDF, rather than a Word file. Word Documents will render differently depending on the device they are being viewed from, and this could present problems with viewing or understanding your resume. To avoid this, always save your resume in PDF format.

NAILING THE PERSONAL INFORMATION SECTION OF YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT RESUME

The personal information section should be the first thing on your resume. It lets the recruiter know who you are, your profession, and how they can get in touch with you.

When writing the personal information section, start by writing your official name. Your name should be the first thing a recruiter sees when they look at your resume.

For better visibility, use a font size of 16 – 20 points for your name. If you have a middle name, the middle name should be initialized. For instance, if your name is Ellen Francesca Becker, you should write Ellen F. Becker.

Your official name should be followed by your professional job title. Your professional title should also have a larger font compared to the rest of your resume content, but smaller than the font on your name, about 14 – 16 points.

After your professional title, you should write down your contact information. This includes your telephone number and your email address. Your physical address is optional. If you decide to include it, simply mention your city and state.

Considering that majority of recruiters and hiring managers today check out job candidates on social media before inviting them to job interviews or hiring them, it is advisable to include a link to your LinkedIn profile here as well. However, only do so if your LinkedIn profile is set up professionally.

Below is an example of a well-written personal information section:

SELL YOURSELF WITH AN ENGAGING CAREER SUMMARY OR RESUME OBJECTIVE

In the world of tech support, there are those days when the phone can’t seem to stop ringing. It seems like the world is falling apart, and everyone needs you to help them with one thing or the other. On such days, you can’t afford to waste any time.

The same thing happens to recruiters when they are reviewing resumes for an open position. They have hundreds of resumes to go through, and they want to quickly sort between resumes that deserve a second look, and those that should make a beeline for the trash can.

In their hurry, you can bet they won’t read entirely through each resume, and your resume could probably land in the trash can simply because the recruiter couldn’t the information they were looking for with the first glance.

To avoid this, you need a resume summary or career objective, which gives an overview of what the rest of your resume contains. With this overview, you immediately let the recruiter know that you have what they want, without forcing them to read through your whole resume the first time.

So, which of the two should you use? A career summary or a resume objective?

If you have lots of experience, go for the career summary. Here, you should highlight the notable things about your career so far: your years of experience, your key skills, and the most notable achievements in your career.

Below is an example of an engaging resume summary that quickly lets the recruiter know what this candidate is all about.

If you do not have lots of experience, you should use a resume objective. Instead of focusing on your experience, the resume objective focuses on your skills and other key strengths. You should use a resume objective if you have less than three years of experience.

It is advisable to write the career summary or resume objective last, so that you’ll have a solid idea of what the rest of your resume contains. Remember, the resume summary or objective is basically a synopsis of your resume.

DESCRIBING YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT WORK EXPERIENCE

When making hiring decisions, hiring managers want someone who will walk into a role and immediately get about their work, rather than someone who will need months of training before they can start delivering.

What better way to demonstrate your ability to get the job done than by showing that you have done something similar before?

When writing the work experience section of your technical support resume, there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind. These include:

• Since we are using the reverse-chronological resume format, start with your most recent work history going backwards.
• Mention where you used to work, your job title, and the time period you worked there.
• List down 4 – 6 bullet points highlighting your achievements in each of these positions. Where possible, use numbers to quantify your performance or achievements.

Below is a good example of a well-written experience section:

If you are an entry level technical support professional without lots of professional experience, mention any other experience that demonstrates skills that are relevant to a technical support position.

If all your previous experience is not relevant to the technical support role, just ignore this section. It is far much better to not have a work experience section than to list experience that does not add any value.

BACK UP YOUR EXPERIENCE BY SHOWING YOU HAVE THE RIGHT EDUCATION

You have shown that you do have the experience, but the position you are applying for could be reserved for people with a bachelor’s degree.

Some employers also believe that technical support professionals with a relevant educational background are more likely to perform better.

To avoid being locked out because of this, you need to mention your education background in your technical support resume.

When listing your information, simply mention the school name, the degree you attained, and the time period you spent in school.

Below is a good example of how to list your education in your technical support resume:

SHOW YOU ARE THE BEST FIT BY HIGHLIGHTING YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT SKILLS

Having a skills section in your technical support resume allows the recruiter to tell at a glance whether you have the skills they are looking for. For easy readability, the skills should be written as a bulleted list.

In this section, don’t just list each and every technical support skill that comes to mind. Instead, go through the job posting, determine what skills the employer is looking for, and then list these skills in your resume.

You also need to make sure that your work experience section demonstrates these skills. This will act as proof that you indeed possess these skills.

It is also advisable to include both hard and soft skills. In as much as it requires technical skills to diagnose and resolve problems, you also need interpersonal skills to handle customers or colleagues while helping them resolve issues.

Remember, working in a technical support role will sometimes require that you interact with irate customers, and you have to demonstrate that you can do this while maintaining your composure.

Some of the skills that you might include in a technical support resume include:

• Knowledge of various IT Service Management (ITSM) software
• Troubleshooting and diagnostics skills
• Knowledge of the platforms, products or services offered by your employer
• Hardware and software support
• Software upgrades
• Escalation management
• Network security and configuration
• Customer service skills
• Good communication skills
• Compassion and empathy
• Attention to detail
• Critical thinking skills
• Friendliness
• Problem solving skills
• Time management skills
• Decision making skills
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Project management skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Various technical
• Exceptional telephone and email etiquette

GO THE EXTRA MILE BY INCLUDING YOUR CERTIFICATIONS IN YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT RESUME

When it comes to technical support resumes, certifications are gold.

They show the recruiter that you have taken the time to learn specialized skills and act as proof that you possess these skills.

Listing relevant certifications could be just what you need to get ahead of your competition and clinch the job.

Some of the certifications that are relevant to technical support professionals include:

• CompTIA A+ Certification
• CompTIA Network+ Certification
• HDI Customer Service Representative (HDI-CSR) Certification
• HDI Desktop Support Technician (HDI-DST) Certification
• HDI Technical Support Professional (HDI-TSP) Certification
• Information Technology Infrastructure Libraries (ITIL) Certification
• Microsoft IT Certification

WRAPPING UP

While there is a lot of competition for technical support jobs, you can increase your chances of getting invited to job interviews and getting your dream job by following the tips shared in this guide when creating your technical support resume.

As a general rule, always read through your resume a couple of times before submitting to make sure that there are no grammatical errors in your resume.

Even better, you can have a friend proofread your resume for you before submitting. A fresh pair of eyes is likely to catch any mistakes you might have missed.

That’s it! Use these tips to create your technical support resume and start preparing for job interviews, because I guarantee you that with such a technical support resume, you will definitely start getting calls from recruiters and hiring managers.

And remember, you can always use our resume builder to automate the process of building your technical support resume.