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Call Center Hiring Featured ArticleTrotter, Furst Discuss Call Center Hiring and Improving the Customer ExperienceJune 04, 2010
By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Frost & Sullivan's (News - Alert) recent eBroadcast, "The First Step Toward Improving the Customer Experience: Recruiting and Hiring the Right Agents," showcased Mike Trotter, VP Customer Experience at VoIP provider Vonage, and Jeff Furst, President and CEO at call center hiring solutions provider FurstPerson.
The two discussed the methodologies used in effective pre-hire assessments and how Vonage (News - Alert) has used these technologies "to improve the hiring process and link it back to Vonage's drive to improve the customer experience."
'If I keep turning my people over, I keep exposing my customers to new agents as opposed to experienced agents," Trotter said. "Our agents have a huge impact on our customers' experience. In many cases, it's the only experience the customer will have with your company aside from using your product or service."
And if you think today's contact centers face new and unique challenges and problems, well, think again. Trotter's been in this industry a long time, and he sees the same old problems: "Finding good quality people and then keeping them in your seats long enough to become experienced, high-quality employees."
Furst talks about how to effectively staff a contact center, discussing company culture, details of the job, and specific competencies also need to be evaluated and understood in order to construct an effective hiring model. "Organizations are hiring to specific call types or job roles instead of the 'one size fits all' model," he says. "In order to hire the right agents for their needs, hiring managers must first define what their agents need to do to deliver the right customer experience."
His presentation recounts Vonage's steps in doing this, such as conducting a job analysis with subject matter experts and linking the hiring profile based on the job analysis to predictive assessment tools like personality tests, abilities screening tests, and a pre-hire simulation test.
To access the archived version of this informative eBroadcast, click here.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David's articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here. Edited by Patrick Barnard  
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  Business Transformation RadioPopular ArticlesCall Center Hiring Customer TestimonialsWith InterviewIQ, the quality of prospective employees has risen dramatically. Our recruiters can focus their attention on detailed candidate evaluation instead of trying to schedule the initial interview. Dick Eychner Our customers have come to expect exceptional service and our crewmembers continue to deliver on each and every flight. HireIQ has demonstrated its ability to not only help us hire the best possible candidates, but to do so at a reduced cost of recruitment. Megan White |