Call Center Management Featured Article
Important Factors for Call Center Recruiting
Customers are becoming increasingly fed up with poor customer service and are using their purchasing power, along with the strength of reviews and social media, to voice their disdain. Companies simply cannot afford to provide poor customer service in the age of omnichannel communications, and need to up their game when it comes to hiring successful call center talent.
The call center recruitment game is unique, especially considering call centers have one of the highest rates of turnover in the global employment sector. Understanding your organization’s needs and finding the right talent is critical to maintaining a productive, efficient and cost-effective call center.
One of the most important steps companies can take when recruiting for the call center is to create a permanent position with incentives and the potential for upward mobility. Call center workers are often viewed as transient or seasonal, but to attract solid talent, companies must create a desirable and enticing position with the appropriate pay and benefits. Research shows that agents who are properly motivated, challenged and rewarded will achieve higher productivity levels and better overall customer interactions.
Hiring priorities should include candidates with proven problem-solving skills, a history of empathy and consistent focus on customers, dependability and of course a desire to learn and excel in the position. Pre-hire assessments are another important tool for pinpointing these qualities, providing insights on candidates’ skill levels, ability to troubleshoot and how well they work with other people. These types of assessments have been proven to identify the candidates most likely to succeed in a position, as well as the ones most likely to leave.
A recent Global Contact Center Survey from Deloitte (News - Alert) indicates nearly half of all contact center leaders are making customer experience and satisfaction their most important priority. They certainly need to, consider a whopping 69 percent of consumers indicate they will spend more money with a company that provides them with a good customer service experience. By learning good call center recruitment practices and finding the right types of agents, call centers can deliver on that goal and ensure they are reaching peak productivity as well as delivering the best customer interactions possible.
Edited by Ken Briodagh