What kind of education do companies look for when hiring in Customer Service?

Do people get type casted in the kind of jobs that they can get?

• Remember back in the 70's and 80's when a lot of child actors would get type casted as only child actors that when they grew up, their careers in Hollywood were pretty much over. What about people who have been doing one kind of work for 10 even 20 years? I finally got another glorified data entry job after a year of sending out resume after resume, playing the online job lottery. I've applied for everything from retail, sales, entry level manufacturing, housekeeping, etc. But since my previous experience has been customer service/data entry, I only ever heard from 4 companies that were interested in me based on my previous work experience. Only one of them hired me, but not even for the job I interviewed for. Many of you will say that I should be grateful for another dead end, living paycheck to paycheck, no extra money for emergencies job that keeps me just barely off of food stamps. But why can I not make a lateral move. My friend Nancy got tied up in the auto industry for three years while sending out resume after resume because she want to do something, anything different then what she'd been doing. Finally, they hired her to teach swim classes at the local mega gym. Three years is a long time to look for a job when you already have a job. Anyone in human resources want to field this one?

• Answer:

  Yes, that it the catch 22 to the job market. I advise my clients to do a "skill based" resume' which lists your skills and abilities first. Make these bullet points and cover a broad spectrum of things that apply to many occupations. Then when a perspective employer reads them he/she can first be thinking if you have the skills/abilities that they are looking for before they look are your previous work history. I would also suggest that you look into higher level positions such as assistant manager or management trainee. That would give you a higher level of income and be more expected for you to be looking to move up rather than across.