RECRUITING AND SELECTING | New Employees

In face-to-face operations, such as retailing, an organization is able to embody its image through a variety of elements including décor, packaging, signage, staff uniform and store layout. A contact centre does not possess these options and the only way to transmit a brand is through the quality of the communication with the customer. The manner in which employees appear, sound and behave ‘are themselves part of the product’.

The adviser is such an important part of the whole offering to the customer that special attention needs to be taken in recruitment, selection and training. In fact, there is more investment in these areas for call centres than many other highly structured industries.

Essentially, a recruitment and selection procedure would normally consist of the following stages:

1. compile job and person specifications;
2. choose advertising channels;
3. receive completed application forms;
4. scrutinize application forms;
5. conduct telephone interview;
6. conduct group interview and individual interview;
7. assessment centre – listening in to a call simulation, personality testing, sales role play;
8. deliver numeracy and literacy tests;
9. conduct references and credit checks;
10. job offer made (normally contingent on satisfactory completion of induction training and probationary period).

If the call centre is newly starting, the process normally begins with an assessment of the total workload it is anticipated to handle. Next a skills and competency framework is developed and from these job and person specifications can be drawn.

Advertisement channels are then chosen such as local press, employment centres, word of mouth through existing employees, etc. Many of the advertisements do not specify training or qualification requirements but o en emphasize personal characteristics such as ‘bubbly personality’ and ‘customer focus’.

Next the application forms are scrutinized and potential candidates are chosen and interviewed over the telephone. Suitable candidates are short-listed and invited to a face-to-face interview. With larger organizations interviews are o en batched for increased efficiency and this also allows for groups to be jointly processed through induction training.

Most organizations use a behavioural or competence interview and the selection of agents is based upon behavioural skills, personality characteristics, team skills, telephone manner, literacy and numeracy, etc. The ability to carry out repetitive work is also one of the attributes considered in the selection process. Also, it is important to select bubbly personalities who are able to handle monotony and have the stamina to be energetic throughout the duration of the shit.

The ability to communicate is the overriding factor looked for during selection. One manager at a banking call centre said, ‘I think the communication skills are the most important, very important. It is the overriding skill that they’ve got to have’.

Another necessary skill for advisers is the ability to manage stressful situations and remain unruffled. Candidates may be put under some pressure in order to assess their capability to respond calmly and be assertive. The deliberately intensive nature of the recruitment and selection procedure may mean that relatively few people are successful; however, it is better for the candidates to find out they are not suited to the job and deselect themselves rather than being disappointed later. Likewise, it is more economic for the employer to avoid unnecessary expenditure such as induction training by screening potential employees through this challenging method.

In some call centres employee development is carefully structured to minimize costs and to carefully select employees. One strategy for doing this is to recruit staff on short-term contracts through employment agencies thereby enabling performance to be assessed. Where suitable advisers are identified they are then encouraged to apply directly to the organization following appropriate liaison with the agency.

Interviewing groups of applicants provides the opportunity for a number of assessment exercises. In particular, it enables recruitment staff to observe and assess the interpersonal skills of candidates working together.

Of course, not all call centres adopt the same procedures for recruiting and selecting employees: the degree of attention given to the process is dependent on the nature of the job and the skills required. To some degree there is a link between the complexity of the knowledge and skills required and the attention given to recruitment