ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 - (Page 45)

EXPERT’S ANGLE one strategy: Have interested individuals go onto the employment opportunities section of your Web site. Individuals then complete an employment application form. In this method you are able to: 1. Ask for the information you need to know. 2. This information is uniformly and consistently collected from every applicant. 3. Ask in a way that eliminates subjectivity and ambiguity. 4. Control the level of detail needed. For example, if you want names of IT systems, ask for them. Here are benefits of controlling your early screen: 1. All information is relevant. You ask for only what you want. The recruiter does not have to wade through unnecessary or tangential information. 2. Since you control how information is asked, there is less oppor- tunity for fluff, ambiguity and other acts of quasi-fiction. 3. Because all applicants answer the same questions and same level of detail, you can compare applicants at this early stage. 4. Because the information is objective and entered online, software can “score” the application form almost instantly. This allows you to rank the respondents from most to least qualified quickly and objectively. 5. All in all, this method reduces time requirements by recruiters or hiring managers in early screening, leaving more time for in-depth evaluation of individuals who deserve to be evaluated. Evaluation can start with the applicant ranked as the “most qualified” in this online assessment system. FINAL THOUGHTS Using sound recruiting practices builds a pool of quality applicants that you can evaluate to hire talented individuals who will stay with you. Unfortunately, many call centers feel an overwhelming urgency to fill empty seats. Too often, this urgency trumps quality and recruiting becomes a numbers game — quickly getting as many people as possible to apply. The urgency to hire is so great that good hiring practices are skipped. A manager once told me, “I’d rather have a bad hire than an empty seat. He was a ” very frustrated manager. No wonder. He also lamented about his revolving door of agents coming and going. He was recruiting any warm body to fill seats, keep the center going and hope for the best. This “any warm body” recruiting philosophy may solve a short-term problem, but it is not a sustainable solution. The long-term pain overwhelms any short-term benefit of a reward, agents will be slow to act and back off when the going gets tough. A good monetary reward is a win-win amount that rewards the referrer and delivers a quality hire. ENCOURAGE YOUR TOP REPS TO PARTICIPATE. The program should be open to all agents. But nudge your top agents to participate. Good workers typically know other good workers. INSTITUTIONALIZE THE PROGRAM. Make it SOP (standard operating procedure). • New-hire orientation. Discuss the program with new employees starting in your center. New-hires will get the message that this program is a priority. Also, new-hires may know other quality individuals who are looking for work. You can collect these contacts while the job search is still going. • Include program status in department meetings. This shows the program is important enough to be a regular agenda item. It also provides an opportunity to gather feedback on how things are going. Is there frustration in getting referrals? You can intervene and help — this might include instilling realistic expectations on the long time required to find a good referral. • Itemize in your budget! This is the acid test regarding buy-in from upper management. If senior management doesn’t support it with money in your budget, it will be very difficult to keep the program operating. • Reward supervisors for good agent referrals. People focus on work activities that are rewarded and expend less energy on those that are not rewarded. Recognizing supervisors with successful programs will energize them. MAINTAIN METRICS ON THE PROGRAM • Track new-hire success rates by recruiting source. • Measure program participation rates and individual successes. • Measure manager and agent satisfaction with the referral program. icmi’s insight www.icmi.com | APRIL 2008 45 http://www.icmi.com

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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

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