In every company, sooner or later, the question arises about how to better organize communications with customers and improve service/customer support. And often the involvement of the contact center is the optimal solution.
However, the success of a company and the quality of its services depending on the people who work there. And to effectively implement such projects, first of all, you need to be able to find qualified employees who will implement them.
With 15 years of experience and work with more than 600 projects, the A.R.C.E. team. I learned a lot of valuable lessons about how to form a team for a project and, first of all, how to choose qualified employees. Spoiler: if the goals, roles, and norms of the agents and the team are defined in advance, then the work will be coordinated and efficient. So, learn more about how to do it.
Reporting
The management team of A.R.C.E. carries out reporting on each stage of the selection of project specialists.
- We generate a daily summary report detailing the selection process, including the challenges faced by the recruiter.
- Final report: after a certain period, a document is formed with all the problems of each stage of selection and proposals for changes.
- Monthly reporting, which indicates the number of people who started working, was fired (by whom and at what stage of training), were allowed to work, or remained working, etc.
Stages of personnel selection
- Identification of needs
The first stage of recruitment begins with a dialogue between the recruiter and the project manager (PM). The Republic of Moldova announces all requirements for future candidates for various positions. If you do not immediately draw up a detailed portrait of the future employee, you may face many problems in the future.
- Formation of the candidate’s profile: list of requirements
Mandatory and desirable requirements related to professional knowledge and skills are defined, and also serve as an addition to the recruitment process, for example:
- Opportunities: education, knowledge, experience, psychological qualities.
- Desire: interest in this work, willingness to learn and improve in a new place, motivation.
- Manageability: diligence, independent and self-critical thinking, analysis, self-control.
- Compatibility: communication in the team, compliance with company norms, subordination.
- Security: loyalty to the company, agreement to observe commercial secrets, honesty.
The requirements for contact center agents can vary greatly from company to company, depending on their tasks and the personnel policy of a specific organization. For example, accepting people without work experience, students, only experienced agents, etc. However, several general requirements can be identified:
- good diction;
- culture and language literacy (knowledge of language and communication etiquette);
- good communication skills (clarity, logic of statements, attentiveness to the interlocutor);
- partner behavior of a person in conflict situations;
- management of emotions;
- stress resistance.
- Compiling the job description and placing it on various communication channels
We create the clearest and at the same time concise description of the vacancy, where it is worth specifying: the title of the position, the amount of salary, the address of the organization, requirements for the candidate, work schedule, job duties, and additional information.
- Collection and sorting of reviews
Even with an ideal description of the vacancy and its publication on effective communication platforms, not entirely relevant reviews may come in the process of personnel selection. Therefore, in A.R.C.E. we set filters according to the key job requirements: experience, education, and skills, and choose those who meet them as much as possible. Next, we first study these summaries and include them in the report, which is reviewed by the Republic of Moldova.
- Phone call, interview
Looking for a job is an important stage in everyone’s life, so the candidate may need time to study the offer and the company. Here we recommend sending the job presentation electronically to the candidate by mail or messenger. Separately, we also indicate the site, which contains basic information about the company: how many years it has been on the market, what it does, what projects it works on, etc.
It does not matter whether the candidate responded to the vacancy himself or the recruiter took the initiative – it is communication via mail/messenger, followed by a phone call, that is the first contact with a potential candidate.
Therefore, before agreeing on an interview, it is worth clarifying at the beginning of the conversation whether the job offer is still relevant for the candidate. It is also a good idea to learn about the work schedule and important specific requirements, which will help save everyone time and weed out people who are not suitable for the job. If the candidate is suitable, the recruiter arranges an interview. In addition, additional test tasks are possible to understand certain skills of the candidate.
In the meantime, we continue to enter information into the generated and agreed report. The results of the interview are formed and provided to the RM and the team. Therefore, we inform interested persons about potential interviews.
- Interview of candidates
The interview is conducted by the recruiter and the team leader, to whom the agent will be assigned to the team after training. Worth the mind it is better to use a combination of different methods during recruitment to get a more objective assessment of the candidate.
In the contact center of A.R.C.E. we use several methods for the multifaceted evaluation of candidates:
- Biographical interview
The recruiter and team leader learn from the candidate about his past work experience and style. This helps to predict the candidate’s behavior in the future, and also allows him to prove himself.
- Case interview
During the interview, the candidate describes his actions and behavior to solve this or that situation. All such cases can be divided into three groups: for testing specific skills, for values and attitudes, as well as for behavioral models and personal qualities.
- Projective interview
During the interview, the recruiter and team leader may ask the candidate to rate other people. For what? The methodology is based on the fact that people project their attitudes and experiences onto other people and situations.
What questions can there be?
-Questions are asked at a fast pace, and the candidate answers the first thing that comes to mind. A person can name several options, but it is worth paying attention to the first answer.
-Questions are aimed at evaluating other people or their actions. This makes the candidate more relaxed, and you reduce the risk of receiving socially desirable answers.
-Questions are asked in such a way that the candidate gives a detailed answer, not just “yes” or “no”.
- Business game
You are describing a real-life situation that the prospective employee might be dealing with. You give him a description of the external environment, the environment in the company, and the sequence of events. As a result, a problem and its conditions are formed, which the candidate must solve. The business game takes the form of negotiations. For example, the client-employee or subordinate-employee relationship. So you can evaluate negotiation skills and position in negotiations, analytical abilities, and many other skills, up to professional knowledge.
How to conduct an interview: what is important to consider – the experience of A.R.C.E.
Preparation for the meeting. While reviewing the resume, the recruiter singles out information that needs clarification or additional research. For example, if the candidate has been working in the same position for a long time, the recruiter finds out why and what exactly prevented the person from asking for a promotion. In the case of recruiting important personnel, you can even call past and current places of work and ask about the characteristics of the employee.
During the personal interview, various assessment tools can be used, for example, professional tests, case studies, etc., but this procedure mustn’t take a lot of time. This stage also includes gathering references.
The recruiter and the team leader carefully listen to the candidate’s presentation, his story and ask additional questions to understand his view of work, abilities, experience and motivation, achievements, as well as expectations from this job.
Among the mandatory factors — the recruiter always informs the candidate about the next steps — when the person can receive feedback, etc. If the recruiter and the team leader are sure that the person is not suitable for the position, this is also reported without fail. It will make a good impression on the company and in the future, if this person is suitable for this vacancy and has the opportunity and desire to work, he can, of course, return.
Importantly! We work to make every candidate feel comfortable. And even if after the interview the communication does not develop into further cooperation, mutual respect and honesty are our main values for us.
- Closing the vacancy
The candidate receives an offer. Next, the recruiter helps with the necessary documents for employment, meets the employee on the first working day, and familiarizes him with job instructions and basic information according to the adaptation process.
If you need to form a team and select qualified agents (employees), or if you have questions or wish to receive advice, contact us. Our manager will reply to discuss the details and help you.
