Tailor your CV to IT support and service desk jobs
A service desk CV is read for three things: the problems you solve, how you treat the people who have them, and the systems you support. Name the tools from the advert, and show the volume and kinds of tickets you handle and how you keep users informed.
What IT support and service desk adverts ask for
What these adverts usually ask for, from experience. RoleScaler's job index doesn't have enough of these adverts yet to count them honestly.
- A ticketing system: ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, Zendesk or Freshservice
- Microsoft 365 and Active Directory or Entra ID: accounts, licences, groups
- Windows, and often macOS, desktop support
- Device management: Intune or similar
- ITIL ways of working: incidents, requests, changes
- Networking basics: Wi-Fi, VPN, DNS, printers
- Clear writing: ticket notes and how-to guides
- Remote support tools
What your CV has to make obvious
- The volume and kind of tickets you handle, and for how many users
- How you communicate: users updated, problems explained plainly
- Anything you fixed for good rather than once: a guide, a script, a change
- The systems you look after: devices, accounts, software, networks
One bullet, before and after
Before
Handled IT support tickets for staff.
After
Resolved around 25 tickets a day for 400 staff in ServiceNow, and wrote the password-reset guide that cut those calls by half.
Use your own numbers. If you never counted, describe the range of problems and who you supported: '400 staff across three offices' is a fact you'll know.
Common mistakes
Only listing duties
Every service desk CV says 'resolved tickets'. Say how many, for whom, and one thing you fixed for good.
Leaving out the people side
Service desk roles are hired as much on how you handle a frustrated user as on technical skill. Show it.
Undervaluing small automations
A PowerShell script or a knowledge-base article that saved the team time is exactly the evidence that gets a second-line role.
Interview questions to prepare for
- A user can't log in and is about to present to a client. What do you do?
- How do you prioritise when the queue is full and everything is urgent?
- Tell me about a problem you fixed so it stopped coming back.
- How do you explain a technical problem to someone who isn't technical?
- What's the difference between an incident and a service request?
RoleScaler's interview prep builds questions like these from your own CV and the job you're applying for.
Try it on a real job description
Paste a job description and your CV. RoleScaler suggests changes from your real experience, and you approve every edit. Free.
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