The Call Center industry is one of the largest industries to give employment and hire new candidates. Hiring is a constant process in the call centers, so many youngsters and experienced candidates apply for the job, but the question is why call center hiring is a constant exercise in this industry.
Usually call centers hire candidates throughout the year, even those who have a reputation in the market, which makes the space for the question “why people in call centers change jobs frequently?” and “why a call center have to hire candidates regularly?” and “why they do not work for a longer period of time?”.
Here in this article, we are trying to find the answer to all these questions and how to implement best practices in call center staffing.
Why Call Centers Have To Hire Regularly:
Businesses around the world set up several call centers booming with steady growth over the past few years, which in return generates so many job opportunities for the youngsters.
Coming years look promising for the call center business which predicts more jobs and recruitment, but the fact is usually called centers hires throughout the year because a number of permanent employees are below the average in call center jobs.
It is a topic of concern that a number of employees who change their job in the call center are high and causes serious problems for recruitment agents and the company itself.
Now the question is why it is happening and how can we change that. Most importantly, can we do something to stop that? The answer is YES. There can be a thousand reasons why it is happening, but we need to find the best practices in call center hiring.
There are people out there who work long terms with the call centers and we just have to make sure the number of such people increases and there will be more permanent employees in the call center.
Things You Should Do Before Call Center Hiring:
You cannot just go up and change the hiring procedure or make big adjustments to the already existing system.
In reality, you have to take the step very cautiously because there are so many things which need to be considered before you do anything to improve the number of permanent employees in the call centers.
There are a few things you should do before hiring because you must know, what you are doing before making any dramatic changes.
Hiring in call center always focus on finding the employee who can do the job, but never paid attention to the fact that the candidate is suitable for the job or not.
There are many call centers out there in which workload on a few employees is in bulk and others hardly have any pressure.
So there is always space for some improvement within the organization and you can make these changes even before you implement best practices for hiring. Below is the list of the things you should do before making any change in the hiring practice.
1. Understand your need:
Just like a production company cannot be compared with the real estate company, similarly, different call centers have different needs, whether it is of manpower or the system following within the call center.
You have to understand the need of the call center before you make any change in the organization because it may happen that you are hiring candidates for the wrong reasons or your system needs someone with a different set of skills.
The job in call center needs a specific set of necessary qualities. You can only train employees for certain things but the other qualities should come naturally in the employee.
To understand the need of your organization and what you exactly need within your call center.
2. Study the candidates who had worked for long years with you:
There are candidates out there who have worked with you, at least for a few years or longer than that. Study those candidates because there must be something that makes these employee sticks for a long time.
When you study, the candidates who had worked for long years with you, you get to know the reason why they worked for longer periods and what are the reasons they are still working with you.
The result of the study can tell you the reason why employees should work with you longer and what kind of employee you want for the call center.
3. Create a demo profile for the candidate:
Every call center has its own need and demand from their employee which can only be fulfilled if the candidate you hire for the job is the right one. You can only hire someone suitable if you know what you are looking for in the candidates in the interview.
Create a demo profile for the candidate from your study of the employee who had worked for a longer time with you and state all the necessary requirement you need with the demo profile.
By creating a demo profile you will know what are you looking for and what kind of candidate is suitable for the job within your call center.
Hiring a candidate without doing the homework lead towards the chances of recruiting the wrong candidate, which result in frequent recruitment process again and again.
4. Go through your system for any improvement:
Every organization, no matter the size of the popularity need changes and improvement over the years because the time need and requirement change lead to the changes within the organization, especially in the call center business.
You cannot even think of involving best practices in call center hiring without going through some major changes first.
The changes can vary with the size and structure of the organizations, but there is always space for improvements no matter how small the changes are.
So, go through your existing system and try to find out the places where you can make improvements and create a place where employees want to stay and work for years.
Call Center Hiring Practices to Follow:
1. Know the qualities you want in your employee:
How can you hire a potential candidate if you do not know the need for your call center? It is exceptionally hard to introduce call center best practices in hiring if you have no understanding of the need for your call center.
You must understand the environment of your company and what kind of employee is suitable for working here.
You need to know that what you are hiring for otherwise how you will hire the candidate suitable for the job.
Every organization has their work culture and system which is not perfect for all employees.
So you must know the qualities you want in your employees and the need for your organization which must be similar.
If you hire the right person for the right job, then the chances are you will have a quality workforce for a longer time as well as it will satisfy the customer.
2. Find the problems and fix them on time:
Are there some minor issues in your call center like late working without extra pay? Poor organization? Whatever the problem, fix them on time.
For example, your call center has a few employees who are fluent in French and the majority of employees in English, but the number of calls is higher in French than how can you maintain equilibrium within your workforce?
The person fluent in French will exhaust and have more work pressure than any other employee which ultimately makes him leave the job.
A problem lies within the organization so don’t try and find them outside. Find the problem and fix them on time so that you can ensure long term employees.
3. Built a recruitment process:
There is always a process no matter what you do, then how can you not think that you need to build a proper recruitment process to implement best practice in call center hiring.
Call center hiring has been equally important just like any other part of the organization and without a process, it is hard to hire a suitable candidate for the job.
A proper hiring process makes the chances of mistakes negligible because a proper process has various steps to test the suitability of the candidate as well as process defines your organization and need properly, which ultimately helps in hiring a right candidate.
It is also efficient to use a standardized process rather than using a new approach every time.
4. Use training approaches:
The training approach is effective as well as helping strategy to implement best practices in call center hiring. You can prepare a list of the skills which you needed in the potential candidate and the skills you can train the employee for.
This way you can make sure you have a minimum set of skills in the candidate you are about to hire, which makes training minimum skills an easier job and you have a suitably perfect employee for the job.
So make a set of minimum skills which you require in your employees and divide them in self-skills and training skills. Use this approach in hiring a suitable candidate for your call center job.
5. Test candidates rigorously before hiring:
If you are one of that employer who goes soft on the candidates they are about to hire, especially in the business of call center then you have fewer chances of getting the right candidate for the job.
Testing rigorously before the hiring makes sure the candidate is perfect for the job and suitable for the work environment you have within your organization.
So never hesitate to put through your potential candidate in the rigorous testing process because a diamond has to endure hardship to shine otherwise it is a waste just like any other ordinary stone.
6. Always ask for feedback from customers and employees:
A feedback process for employees and clients may look like a boring task which is just wasting time, but in the light of reality, it is pretty important for your business.
A call center is a business where you interact with all sorts of clients throughout the day, their feedback can help you in understanding the place which needs improvement and what are the good things about your existing system.
Feedback from employees helps in creating a system where employees can work easily and give their best. You can create a better system for your employee with the help of their feedback. So always ask for feedback from customers and employees.
7. Introduce programs for learning and training:
In this time of globalization, things are changing at a really fast pace, which means you too have to change otherwise you will be left behind.
Introduce programs for learning and training so that your employees stay up to date with all the latest technologies and the changes as well as they will have more chances to learn and grow.
You can also introduce various programs for learning which enhance the skills of employees and give them the confidence to work continuously.
8. Never push or strain your employees:
Making your employees work hard is one thing and pushing their limits is another.
If you have a habit to push your employees till the last breath and that too without any reward, then you should really reconsider your work ethics because chances are your employees will leave your call center at the first available opportunity.
So, to implement best practices in call center hiring, never push or strain your employee too far.
Conclusion:
Call center business is growing at a steady pace and looks promising enough, that most companies are opening their own call centers around the world which ultimately leads to recruitment and more jobs for youngsters.
These companies really need to implement best practices in call center hiring to improve their overall system and reduce the constant process of recruitment.
We hope this article helps you and you can implement best practices within your call center to hire and retain good employees.
