No matter the product or service being offered, having the ability to deliver amazing customer service is something that all companies need if they want to thrive in today’s highly competitive landscape. Dishing out bad customer service will make your customers run away and never look back.
It’s true that some customer service functions are now handled with a little assistance from technology. Chatbots and artificial intelligence tools are helping answer customer service inquiries for some companies, but experts say that regardless of how sophisticated these virtual support tools become, there will always be the need for a human element in customer service.
So when hiring employees for your customer service team, what type of job candidates do you look for?
Here are 3 steps to hiring customer service rock stars for your organization.
Hire individuals with these skills
The right combination of employee skills – many of them soft skills – is critical when hiring for customer service roles. A strong customer service representative is a good listener, a problem solver, friendly, patient, positive, persuasive and empathetic – just to name a few traits.
Conduct role-playing exercises during candidate interviews to gauge how they react to certain customer service scenarios. And once they’re hired, make sure to supplement their natural talent with good customer service training.
Consider remote working opportunities
An increasingly larger number of customer service reps work remotely. Actually, it’s not just customer service reps that are part of the remote work trend. As technology becomes more sophisticated and employers look for new ways to attract top talent, there more remote work opportunities available across a wide range of positions – not just customer service.
Customer service can be an easy job to do from any location. Offering remote opportunities also expands an employer’s qualified candidate pool, as they can now recruit from outside their geographic area. It’s also a more affordable option than having onsite call centers.
Work with a staffing agency
Many staffing agencies are experts at hiring customer service rock stars for a variety of industries and in different capacities – full-time, part-time, temp/contract work, temp-to-hire, onsite or remote.
What are their tricks of the trade? They have a vast network of qualified candidates – both active and passive – that they can tap into when recruiting for employers. Many also use highly-targeted job boards that draw a smaller but much more qualified talent pool. Some agencies also use skill assessment tools to help evaluate a candidate’s skill level in different categories. This is a great way to qualify or disqualify a potential candidate and ensure you’re making a successful hire for your customer service position.
Ready to bring some customer service rock stars to your organization? A.R. Mazzotta can help! Connect with one of our recruiting specialists and we’ll help you get the ball rolling.