Call center hiring solutions provider FurstPerson has produced a list of the seven best hiring practices:

1. Defining the Job. Carefully define the job by understanding the competencies that drive successful job performance. Typically, this is accomplished through a job analysis. For an organization seeking to improve new hire retention, the critical starting point is a job analysis for each major call type. The job analysis should define the abilities and behaviors that drive job success.

2. Recruiting and Sourcing Strategy. Unfortunately, many contact center organizations get caught in the turnover spiral. This means that high attrition forces constant hiring. Each week requires another new training class. Because the organization cannot recruit enough candidates into the top of the funnel, they reduce standards in the hiring process so they can deliver enough new hires into production.

3-4. Assessments are used for candidate evaluation and are validated against performance and retention. Using pre-employment assessments is another best practice, demonstrated by organizations with lower new hire attrition. Assessments allow the hiring organization to best measure the competencies outlined in the job analysis. For example, measuring multi-tasking is difficult in an interview but straightforward in a simulation.

5. Team leader hiring. Successful organizations understand that the supervisor or team leader position is potentially the most critical position on a contact center production floor. Contact center agent attrition in the first two to twelve months is significantly influenced by the ability and behavior of the team leader.

6. Alignment between HR, training, and operations. Improving the alignment between HR, training, and operations can help enhance the environment and ensure better leadership within the center. In many organizations, HR, training, and operations all have separate goals and incentives regarding attrition reduction.

7. Rinse and repeat and ROI. Continue to rinse and repeat the processes outlined in this paper. Use an Employment Lifecycle approach that revisits the hiring process via systematic data analysis on a regularly scheduled basis.

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