ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 - (Page 17)

PEOPLE Rebuilding a Struggling Hiring Process Around an Innovative Assessment Tool For years, Embarq had been fighting high agent churn — particularly among new-hires — in its 13 contact centers. Part of the problem was that there was no consistent, standard method for selecting agents across the various centers; each center had a different hiring process, and none was truly focused on accurately predicting job fit and performance. That has all changed, thanks to the strategic use of a psychologybased assessment tool as an integral part of its new-agent hiring process organizationwide at Embarq, which provides high-speed Internet service, wireless phone services, data and entertainment. The screening and assessment tool, designed by PreVisor, helps to see beyond the typical hard skills needed for the agent position: It identifies the personality characteristics and motivations necessary for long-term success in the job. The tool can give accurate, validated, quantitative measurements of traits such as customer focus and persistence. The results have been overwhelmingly positive: > After the first few months of implementing the selection system, turnover declined from an average of 33.5 percent for all locations to a mere 12.5 percent (measured as rolling 90-day averages) — an outstanding level compared to industry norms. > Among candidates who passed through the selection system, those with higher scores on the initial assessment achieved: • Higher sales rates: 103 percent of quota vs. 83 percent for lowerscoring candidates • Shorter hold times: 42 seconds less than the lower-scoring group “Since incorporating our call center agent selection process, we’ve seen a marked reduction in early turnover and a notable lift in sales from our new agents, says Bob Sloboda, vice president of consumer ” care. “I’m convinced our system is improving the quality of our hiring, and promises to make a bottomline difference. ” nologies Corporation, makers of the popular Call Center Simulation product used by U.S. Cellular and many other centers. “One of the greatest advantages of simulation is it gives the applicant the opportunity to experience what the position is like, so it builds more realistic expectations about what it’s like to do that job. And it gives them a chance to self-select out if they don’t feel that that type of work is suited for them. ” Other vendors offering potent hiring product suites that effectively combine simulated customer interactions with valid, survey-based agent skills and attitude assessments include LIMRA International, DeGarmo Group and Knowlagent. (See the Vendor Directory box.) AGENT E-SESSMENTS M software be installed on the contact center’s testing computers. Within minutes after a simulation session — which lasts about 35 minutes — managers can peruse a detailed report that rates the candidate in various areas, including customer service and sales orientation, listen- ing, keyboarding, problem solving, rapport building, determining customer needs and multitasking. Incorporating call simulations into the agent hiring process benefits not only the contact center, but the applicant, as well, says Joe LaTorre of Employment Tech- While most agent assessment and simulation tools focus primarily on pinpointing people who will succeed in a traditional phone-based customer contact environment, a handful of vendors have created products aimed at identifying promising e-support agents — an often overlooked hiring practice in today’s increasingly competitive multichannel contact center world. Employment Technologies has led the way with its innovative e.Skills Simulation offering. This is a PC-based, multimedia simulation tool that tests candidates’ ability to effectively respond to customers via email or chat. The simulation features an email composition test in which candidates receive email messages from “customers” with various questions or issues. For each contact, the candidate must look up customer and product information — using information screens provided — and respond in writing. Hiring managers receive a icmi’s insight www.icmi.com | APRIL 2008 17 http://www.icmi.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 Operations: Small Call Centers, Big Potential Ad Index Contents Editor's Page Contact Center Spotlight People: Assessment Tools Recommended Reading Technology: Speech Recognition Special Feature: Best of Show Strategy: Service-to-Sales Success Expert's Angle - High Volume, High Stakes: A Better Strategy for Hiring Experts Angle - Secrets of Recruiting Success/Job Brands: Changing Applicant Reactions to Your Openings Experts Angle - Speech Analytics: Uncovering the Voice of the Customer

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.