10 criteria for selecting a call center employee before hiring

With the rapid development of technology, many customers expect immediate responses through any communication channel they choose, and call center managers need employees who are able to meet these expectations.

Ta3heed newsletter presents the top 10 job skills that a customer service employee must have before being hired within the organization.

1- Communication skills with others:

A customer service representative must have the flexibility to work with people they don’t know, understand their problems – and whether the agent can handle them – and help resolve the issue.

2- Excellent communication skills:

Call center agents now communicate with customers via a variety of communication channels, including phone, chat, and video.

Each of these channels requires different types of communication skills in terms of listening and speaking skills.

It is not necessary for a customer service representative to excel at communicating in all of these channels, but it is important for the agent to develop the skills necessary for the channels he will support.

3- Polite professional behavior:

Customers who call a call center can be frustrated and angry, depending on the problem they are trying to solve.

Customer service representatives should be understanding of the customer’s feelings, always have a polite demeanor and show empathy and patience during a conversation with customers, regardless of the means of communication.

4- Excellence in problem-solving skills:

Customers often call the call center with complex issues that are difficult to explain.

Call center agents should listen to the customer, identify the core issue, and determine solutions that serve both the customer and the organization.

.5- The ability to learn and retain large amounts of information during training:

During training, agents must learn a tremendous amount of information regarding products, services, policies, and procedures.

Customers also need the ability to retain a good portion of this information, in cases where they don’t have an answer, and understand how to navigate through a number of systems to find an answer to the customer’s problem.

6- The ability to accept and achieve quantitative goals (targets):

The contact center environment is highly constrained, and therefore, several metrics are central to the performance management process. Agents often have quantitative goals, and are measured and rewarded on a number of key items, such as quality control scores, average handling time, attendance, occupancy, etc.

Employees must be willing to work in an environment where most of their activities are monitored, tracked and reported.

7-Ability to work in a highly organized environment:

The call center environment is highly structured so agents must adhere to strict schedules, be constantly monitored, handle a high volume of transactions, and must follow detailed attendance and punctuality policies.

8-Flexibility:

Organizations are constantly changing, introducing new products, services, and features to attract new customers and retain existing ones. In most cases, agents are notified of changes in a timely manner, but there are many times when a customer learns about a change before a customer service representative does.

Customer service employees must be flexible to accept this ever-changing environment and not be overwhelmed when unexpected changes occur.

9- The ability to work independently and find answers:

Although agents work in teams in a call center, their interactions with customers are one-on-one. Agents need to be comfortable working independently—that is, on their own—and have the confidence that if they can’t solve a customer’s problem right away, they know how to find a solution.

10-Change in customer service employee responsibilities:

Customer service employees can be employed in two main career paths: either moving into a supervisory role or moving into a support role in areas such as training, quality or workforce management.

In addition to these paths, agents with the right qualifications can move into specialized roles where they can continue to work with customers across a variety of channels.

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