Call Center Hiring 101

Answer 1

Call Center's are one industry that is nearly always hiring. The wide variety of telephone customer service positions that need to be filled all over the country to meet the need for 24/7 top quality customer service is tremendous. As a result, even with many companies using outsources to provide these services, the need for telephone representatives to fill these jobs is almost never ending. Even with this huge need there are a few things that even Call Centers need to see in an applicant before they will hire them.

The first question is does the applicant have a High School Diploma, or GED. This is a requirement in any Call Center that does outsourcing and for any of the Fortune 500 companies when hiring their own in-house representatives.

The next item is punctuality, if an applicant is late for their scheduled appointment it's typically the first thing listed in the interview notes. Call Centers run teams of employees on various schedules based on their knowledge of call volumes and customer needs. If employees can't be at work on time regularly then they're not available when most needed.

Interviewers always notice personal appearance and grooming, and first impressions do make a big impact. Being clean, neat, and well dressed says a lot to the interviewer about how an applicant will be able to handle the details of their job. Most call centers do not require shirts and ties for men, and dresses for women, but some do have formal dress codes. Even the ones that allow jeans and t-shirts have restrictions against clothing with rips, tears, and shirts with beer company type logos. A good approach if unsure what the dress code may be at a prospective employer is to dress a bit better than you think they require. If you think they want shirt and tie, wear a suit or dress, if you think they allow jeans and t-shirts, wear dress slacks and a blouse or polo shirt to your interview.

Finally most companies have applicants complete an aptitude test of some type, with the Wonderlic Test being one that is commonly used. The test consists of 50 questions and is administered with a 12 minute time limit. A score of 20 is considered average intelligence and typically Call Centers only rule out applicants who score less than 10 or so.