Contact Center Management: Hire the Right People

Hir­ing the right peo­ple can make or break a suc­cess­ful con­tact cen­ter team. Find­ing the right mix of skill set and dis­po­si­tion enables faster onboard­ing, and reduces employee turnover. Undoubt­edly one of the most impor­tant tasks for any­one in a con­tact cen­ter man­age­ment role, recruit­ing the right peo­ple for the job can be a tire­some process. The right per­son is not only qual­i­fied for the spe­cific job duties, but is also a good per­son­al­ity fit for your team. Keep read­ing to learn tips for quickly iden­ti­fy­ing and secur­ing qual­i­fied con­tact cen­ter employ­ees. Before you post a job adver­tise­ment, take time to put together a list of desired skill sets, per­son­al­ity traits, and job duties. Refer to this detailed list when review­ing resumes and inter­view­ing can­di­dates. If you don’t take the time to decide on and pri­or­i­tize the qual­i­ties you need most in a con­tact cen­ter employee, you are begin­ning the hir­ing process ill-prepared.

“If a per­son is not per­form­ing, it is prob­a­bly because he or she has been mis­cast for the job.”
– W. Edwards Deming

7 Ques­tions to Ask Your­self Before Hir­ing a Con­tact Cen­ter Employee

1. Why am I hir­ing?
2. What posi­tions needs to be filled, and what are the skills and char­ac­ter­is­tics of the ideal can­di­date?
3. How will I mar­ket and net­work to iden­tify qual­i­fied can­di­dates?
4. How will I eval­u­ate appli­cants to iden­tify poten­tial high per­form­ers?
5. What assess­ments will I use to deter­mine suit­able can­di­dates?
6. How will I extend offers to the top appli­cants, and what will I say to the can­di­dates not suit­able?
7. How will I wel­come new employ­ees to the com­pany, and how will I set them up for success?

Cre­ate an Attrac­tive Con­tact Cen­ter Work Experience

Find­ing the right appli­cants is about not only attract­ing top tal­ent, but also pro­vid­ing a great job for those peo­ple. Pro­vid­ing a great work expe­ri­ence requires cre­at­ing a dynamic work cul­ture that encour­ages col­lab­o­ra­tion, and pro­vides oppor­tu­nity for growth and con­tin­ual improve­ment. Effec­tive employee coach­ing from con­tact cen­ter man­age­ment ensures that agents are engaged and feel included in all cor­po­rate activ­i­ties. Stud­ies have shown that con­tact cen­ter employ­ees who have reg­u­lar, pos­i­tive inter­ac­tions with upper man­age­ment are hap­pier and more pro­duc­tive than those who do not inter­act reg­u­larly with management.

Pro­mote the Ben­e­fits of Your Con­tact Center

As care­fully as you are review­ing appli­cants’ cre­den­tials, chances are they are review­ing yours and the company’s even more closely. Be sure to high­light what makes your con­tact cen­ter unique and why peo­ple like work­ing for you. Put your­self in the can­di­dates shoes and focus on the things they would like to know about the organization.

Hir­ing can be a lengthy process, but do not fall into the trap of hir­ing some­one out of neces­sity to fill a spot. Hir­ing the wrong per­son sig­nif­i­cantly increases oper­a­tional costs.

Expenses asso­ci­ated with hir­ing include inter­view expenses such as travel, hotel and meals, train­ing and ori­en­ta­tion, employ­ment test­ing, ter­mi­na­tion costs such as Cobra, unem­ploy­ment and poten­tial lit­i­ga­tion expenses should the can­di­date decide to sue you for wrong­ful dis­missal, plus relo­ca­tion costs, and out­place­ment or career tran­si­tion costs. But mostly it’s because you need to repeat the entire hir­ing process to replace the wrong hire, which includes time and expenses. Costs of Hir­ing the Wrong Per­son, Har­ri­son, Stone & Associates

Take time to hire the right peo­ple. Mak­ing a poor deci­sion will cost more than you realize.