FurstPerson Blog

Many contact centers have implemented a comprehensive, multi-hurdle hiring process to ensure that they attract and acquire the best agents possible. Few centers, however, have done the same to ensure that they have the best supervisors leading those agents. 

Interviews have become synonymous with the pre-hire screening process, but very few companies use them effectively. One explanation for this stems from a lack of interviewer training and preparation. Most of us have experienced at least one terrible interview in our lives. Perhaps the interview went poorly because the interviewer appeared apathetic or unorganized? Or maybe the interviewer spent the entire time talking about herself? Some of us may have even been stood up for an interview or two (this blogger included). Effective interviewing is important not only because it leads to better hiring decisions and higher quality new hires, but also because interviewees are potential customers and creating a negative impression during an interview could impact a company’s reputation. Even worse, poor interviews can also have legal implications for organizations if the interviewer creates an impression that decisions are being made based on information that is not job relevant. The following represents a summary of common mistakes interviewers make and strategies for avoiding them.

Structured interviews that tap into a candidate’s job-relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities using a consistent, evidence-based process are far and away better predictors of future job performance, when compared with unstructured interviews that rely on information gathered by “intuition”, personal preferences, and stylistic differences among individual interviewers.

There are several qualities that make up an effective interviewer.  To identify those qualities it is important to understand the purpose of a job interview is to help determine if an individual is the right fit for the position, company, and culture they are interviewing for.  The ultimate goal is to select an individual who will meet the expectations of the position, and in most cases be able to retain them long term.  Here, we’ll focus on the most essential qualities I’ve found effective interviewers possess.

As we all know, hiring can be frustrating especially when dealing with high applicant volume or resume shortcomings and vague requirements. But, if done properly, talent selection can help you overcome some of these challenges. In last week’s post I discussed how talent selection can help you hire the right home agents. Today I wanted to dig a little deeper and delve into the specific results that talent selection can help you achieve. Specifically I want to show you how talent selection can help reduce attrition in work at home programs, as well as improve call metrics, customer engagement metrics and sales production.

In my previous post, I provided information on behavioral interviews and psychometric testing. In it I also touched on talent selection.  Having a strong talent selection process (one based on defining and measuring the necessary abilities, skills, and behaviors for a given role) is important because hiring the right people helps reduce turnover and increase revenue. Conversely, hiring the wrong people can cost the business money and harm its reputation with customers, employees and the business community. This week I wanted to focus on talent selection, specifically how it can help you find and hire the right home agents.

At the 2013 Remote Agent Summit, Michele Rowan provided data from surveys compiled from companies with work-at-home models. In her data Michele predicted that the percentage of remote contact center agents would continue to grow over the next year. This is good news since remote agents represent high-value opportunities for improving the quality of staff and customer satisfaction.

For many, contact center work becomes a whole lot more enticing when it doesn’t involve working in a contact center.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), people with disabilities represent the single largest and most diverse minority in the U.S. – and are a major untapped source of qualified job candidates. Only about one-third of Americans with disabilities are employed; however, more than two-thirds of unemployed individuals with disabilities say they would like to work, according to a study by research firm Harris Interactive.

Yahoo! appears to have chosen a radical short-term plan that addresses a surface-level issue, rather than the underlying cause.