When you’re on the hunt for a top-notch team of customer service reps to professionally and expertly assist your customers, it can seem like a challenging task. Customer service representatives should have high interpersonal communication skills since they are essentially responsible for bridging the company with the customer. Despite the sheer number of people employed in this sector, the position itself isn’t easy. With one of the highest turnover rates in the employment area, retention and hiring initiatives can be a challenge.
Before interviewing candidates, simplify the process with these three tips on how to hire customer service reps for your company!
Three Tips On How to Hire Customer Service Reps
1. Clearly define standards and expectations
Ensure you have transparent guidelines in place for the position’s quality standards and responsibilities. Management and HR should be on the same page as to the company’s values, image, and goals. How do these high-level standards translate into skills and attributes you need in customer service reps? It’s the responsibility of hiring managers to transmit these consistent, well-defined expectations to candidates, current employers, and everyone within HR.
Disillusioned employees who may have had other expectations before being hired usually don’t stay long. Therefore, it’s important to outline exactly what to expect on the job to help combat turnover. There’s no benefit to a candidate or organization to forcing a candidate’s fit just to fill an empty position.
2. Employ the help of a staffing agency
If the task of hiring excellent customer service reps for your company seems daunting, hire a staffing agency to help with the search. Recruiters at staffing agencies are professionals in their field and across several diverse industries. With highly valuable connections and an extensive network, recruiters handle the entire process while you focus on growing your business.
Moreover, recruiters can find pools of experienced candidates that have the uniquely tailored skills your company needs. Due to their experience in this field, many staffing agencies have several contacts that can help in the search. With an understanding of hiring trends across the industry, staffing agencies will also know how to best help you plan for the future.
3. Outline an action plan
Throwing someone into customer service rep positions without any prior training can create an unnecessary burden for the team and customers. It can be hard to adjust to a shift into a service-centered position.
Create an action plan with the team lead who’s in need of talent to ensure a smooth transition. Even if your candidates already have rep experience, there is still a transition to learn your brand’s culture and values. An action plan helps your new reps settle into their new positions without letting customer service quality suffer.
After outlining the interview process, you should decide how the new reps should be introduced into their position. Is there time for them to learn the ropes, or do you need an immediate immersion into the workplace? Creating an action plan while deciding how to hire customer service reps can be beneficial for both the candidate and the employees of your company.
Hire Your Customer Service Rep Today!
Now that you know all the steps to hire your next customer service rep, you need to find qualified candidates to fill those open positions. Corporate Job Bank is one of the leading staffing agencies in Arizona, working hard to place the best candidates with companies. Contact them today for more information!
