Call Center Employment: How do I find the right talent?

We are constantly hiring for our call center and like most other call centers struggle with turnover. Are there any specific characteristics that I should look for in candidates or is turnover just something we are going to have to deal with?

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Human Resources

Sales

Contact Centers

Employment

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David Bridges

asked on Jan. 6, 2010

David Filwood

Principal Consultant, TeleSoft Systems

Posted on Oct. 28, 2010

Recommended by:
Roberta Powers

Employers have more media options to publicize their Call Center jobs with than ever before: Online Job Boards/Craigslist/Social Media/Video Recruiting, etc. These new media tend to generate a near instant ‘tsunami’ of resumes & Job Candidates - and the majority of Candidate responses occur within the 1st 48 Hours after a Job is posted.

Employers need a fast & highly-predictive process in order to weed out the Job Candidates who will burn out fast because they aren't qualified – or suited for the work - and to identify the people with the Skills, Personality/Job-Fit, Motivation, and Work Ethic to be Top Call Center Agents.

While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Call Center environment. While someone may have “The Right Stuff” to deliver great Customer Service & Support – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back – let alone Inside Sales or TeleSales.

Top Performing Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through Superior Hiring Tactics. Hiring the wrong Customer Service Representative (CSR) to begin with is the Root Cause of most Call Center Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line, on Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and on Up-Sell/Cross-Sell & Customer Retention Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with a Poor Job Fit.

Typically there are 3 grades of CSRs found in a Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

(Above Average) CSRs seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.

(Average) CSRs perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit standpoint.

(Below Average) CSRs are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) CSRs have the Highest Levels of Absenteeism, Lowest Levels of Productivity & Sales, Poorest Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale. They represent the real problems in a Call Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) CSRs may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to an organization.

SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software is easy-to-deploy, very cost-effective & highly-predictive of an individual's suitability for a particular Call Center job. SPAS Screening Software is a Proven Technology that meets and exceeds all Government Employment Standards Requirements as a Hiring Tool in the USA/Canada/UK/Australia/New Zealand/South Africa and everywhere else in the world where the ‘Language of Work’ is English.

With SPAS Screening Software as part of your Hiring Process you will be able to select new Call Center Agents who will fit your specific employment needs better and stay on the job longer - leading to a CSR Workgroup that has more experience & is more productive.

SPAS Software is sold on an Unlimited Usage License basis - there are No "per Test" Fees - "Annual Renewal" Fees or any other User Fees. Technical Support for the SPAS Software is free & unlimited as well.

You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at: http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html

Nik Kellingley

HR, Training and Development Consultant, Self-Employed

Posted on Jan. 6, 2010

A lot depends on your level of turnover. It is natural for call centres to have a greater rate of staff churn, than say in a legal practice. But I have come across call centres with turnover of more than 10% of the workforce every month and that is not natural.

It is probably not the hiring process which is at fault, but more the management within the contact centre when you have high employee turnover.

I worked for one organisation where the day to day "leadership" of their sales team, was a group of young men and women who walked around constantly asking if anyone had sold anything. There was no coaching, no training, no support, and abuses of power (such as deducting 50% of a month's bonus for being a minute late) were common.

And at that point their turnover was 95% of new starts in any given month, with a reasonable number of existing staff heading for the hills too.

In their customer service centre where new hires were being forced into experienced teams and then being made to wear dunces hats for poor performance, (I really wish I was joking) the turnover rate was higher still.

None of the churn was due to the hiring process there, but all in the management.

In my experience low churn comes from, good initial training, excellent ongoing coaching and support, fair and consistent performance management, and opportunities to progress based on merit rather than seniority or being part of the "in crowd" and as importantly some fun in the day to day environment.