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Do you Provide an Inviting Candidate Experience?

It is conventional wisdom that a recruiter's impression of an applicant is formed very early in the hiring process. If an applicant's resume doesn't stand out, he or she won't stand out and will figuratively wait by the phone for the employment call that will never come. As a recruiter or hiring manager, have you ever thought about the impression your organization leaves with a prospective employee? Do you respond to an applicant's resume with the perfunctory (but standard) thank you letter containing the statement that someone will be in touch if there's any interest?

Consider this: many of those looking for work today, especially college students who have found the employment picture to be particularly bleak, are... Read more »

What’s your Candidate Evaluation Style? American Idol or The Voice?

The regular and frequent promotion of The Voice during Sunday’s Super Bowl made me think about the process of candidate interviewing and evaluation in the hiring world. And, without too great a reach, I think several parallels can drawn between these talent competitions and employee hiring.

In the event you have been living in some remote corner of the globe without television, internet and/or smartphone and have not heard of The Voice or its biggest competitor American Idol, here’s the casual viewer's take on what they are about. They are basically amateur singing talent competitions where relative unknowns are offered their shot at stardom from a panel of fairly well-known, successful-in-their-own-right, stars from the... Read more »

Collaboration Between the Call Center and HR

Webster defines collaboration thusly, "to cooperate with an agency or instrumentality with which one is not immediately connected." Call center operations and the human resources department tasked with keeping operations staffed with well-qualified agents are not "immediately connected" where close collaboration could benefit both parties tremendously. For many companies, interaction between the two groups is limited to an arm's-length exchange: operations sends staffing requisitions to HR and HR sends candidates to operations that are intended to satisfy those requirements. But, how closely do some of these departments really work together for each other's mutual benefit? Given the persistent high rate of early-stage... Read more »

Does what a CSR says really matter?

A couple of weeks ago we posited that the most important word in the CSR's vocabulary is the word "can." It is a positive, action-oriented word that leaves many customers feeling like they are dealing with someone who not only knows what to do and how to do it, but also feels that it's right to get it done. In other words, the CSR feels some level of empathy for the customer and feels some obligation to ensure the customer is satisfied in the result. But does what a CSR says really matter?

I would emphatically say "yes!" Not only does it matter, the WAY it's said sometimes matter more. Generally, CSRs can be taught technical skills, product selling skills and application skills, but teaching a CSR empathy skills... Read more »

Top Recruiting Trends

Over the last several years, technology has assumed a greater role in employment recruiting. Sherry Fox, an analyst with the leading analyst firm Technology Evaluation Centers, recently offered her take on 4 of the most popular and impactful trends in the HR recruiting market today. Virtual interviewing was identified as one of the key technologies that can be easily deployed and greatly streamlines the hiring process. Other benefits include expanding the candidate pool (perhaps especially relevant given that the national unemployment rate remains near 9%), ensuring a consistent interview experience for all applicants, and the positive environmental impact of using virtual technologies.

Virtual interviewing normally... Read more »

CSR’s Most Powerful Word

Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) have the ability to mold the opinions of literally millions of customers every day, for better or worse. Whether the CSR works in an in-person customer service environment such as retail, hospitality or food services, or in a call center where face-to-face interaction with a customer is rare, a customer's lasting impression of a company is often formed by the language of the CSR. In the case of call center CSRs, it is through language and intonation alone as customers do not receive the benefit of non-verbal cues such as body language and facial expressions. Therefore, the language and communication style used by the CSR is exceedingly important in forming the customer's... Read more »