It’s a simple fact that no service company can succeed without competent, dedicated customer service representatives. No matter how good the rest of your team is, your business can’t function without customers, and earning their business requires the right kind of person for the job.
But what characteristics should you look for when hiring a new CSR, and where do you find the best candidates who will stick around for the long haul?
Tips for Hiring Customer Service Representatives
Finding and hiring first-class CSRs can be a stressful and time-consuming task. Thankfully, these best hiring practices will help you streamline the process and weed out less qualified candidates.
What to Look for in a CSR
Great customer service is made up of a number of different factors. Your goal should be to find job seekers who possess all of the characteristics needed to provide excellent service and keep your customers happy. The traits you want to look for in a potential CSR include:
- Strong communication skills
- Friendly, helpful attitude
- Ability to understand technical information
- Patience, empathy, and ethics
- Punctuality and professional appearance
That all sounds great, but what if you’ve had trouble finding CSRs who possess all of these attributes? Don’t get discouraged! The right candidates are out there, and all you need to find them is the right strategy.
How to Find the Best Candidates
There’s a reason why we say “the best” candidates, rather than the most qualified. Experience in the industry is always extremely valuable, but when it comes to service company CSRs, it’s not everything. In many cases, personality is even more valuable than past experience in the same position.
Attitude and communication are everything in this job, and training a former barista or salesperson may yield better results than hiring a less-than-friendly candidate from within the industry.
Employee Referrals
As it turns out, the help you need may have been right under your nose this whole time! Try talking to your top-performing employees to see if they can recommend anyone that they believe would be perfect for the position.
Chances are that those within their circle are similar to them, and it’s highly unlikely that your best CSRs would send you someone they know to be unreliable or unfit for the job.
Avoid Hiring the Wrong Person
It’s just as tricky to avoid the duds as it is to find the gems when interviewing CSRs. That’s why you need to be prepared with an effective series of questions that will help to reveal each candidate’s best qualities or their potential weaknesses.
Ask each interviewee to go over their last five years of work experience. This will not only help to fill in any gaps for you but will allow you to assess their ability to communicate clearly and confidently under pressure.
Personality Assessment
Since personality goes so far as a customer service representative, it’s a good idea to include a personality test as part of your interview process. There are several free assessments available online that will help you to narrow the field when hiring.
Beware of Overqualified Candidates
If you come across an interviewee who seems to be overqualified for the position, be cautious in making the decision to hire them. Chances are that they will make a great employee, but it also means that they’re less likely to stick around for long.
Don’t invest your time and money into training a CSR who may get a better offer and leave you hanging. Do your best to find the ideal CSR candidates who will be as invested in your company as you are in them.
One of the best solutions to all of these headaches though is to hire a virtual assistant for your service company. Contact New Vision today to learn more about how we can help to improve the performance of your customer service team.