A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.
A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).
Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support.
A contact centre, also known as customer interaction center is a central point of any organization from which all customer contacts are managed. Through contact centers, valuable information about company are routed to appropriate people, contacts to be tracked and data to be gathered. It is generally a part of company’s customer relationship management (CRM). Today, customers contact companies by calling, emailing, chatting online, visiting websites, faxing and even instant messaging .
What employers really wanted to know from aspiring call center applicants
You may have checked a lot of reference materials in acing a call center job interview. At some point you may have memorized some of the answers just to make it up to the contract signing portion (of the application process). But do you really understand what they wanted to know from you as a prospective call center agent? Take time to check these common call center job interview questions and verify if you are really prepared to provide appropriate answers.
1. Tell me something about yourself
Common mistake: Saying your name, age and physical address to serve as an introduction
Call center applicant: Well, as I said a while ago, my name is [your name], [your age] and I live at [physical address].
If your name is printed on the resume that they are holding, it will be better not to say your name. Call center recruitment officers will be wise enough to glance on your resume once in a while to write their comments. Besides, they will remember your name as soon as they are convinced that you are ready to proceed to the next step (of your application process).
Same thing for the age and physical address, unless there will be issues that need to be checked immediately, better keep those details on paper.
Call center gal tip: Call center recruitment officers need to know more of your interests and how you can relate those in your future job in the call center. So concentrate your answers on those details instead.
2. What do your classmates/colleagues say about you
Common mistake: Giving details that might ruin you and your character in the process.
Call center applicant: “Well, my classmates say that I am pretty, easy to get along with, understanding etc…”
Call center applicant: “My colleagues say that I am talkative, friendly, a team player…”
Notice how we sometimes unconsciously tell our call center recruitment officers that they should consider other candidates instead. Even though they wanted you to feel comfortable and sound natural in your answers, they need more details that build your character up. They need more of your positive characteristics as a person well suited for a call center job.
3. Why do you want to work in this organization
Call center applicant: “I heard your organization pays call center agents well.”
Call center applicant: “Because my friend told me that it is easy to get a promotion here.”
Call center applicant: “This is one of the call centers that I know of which has sleeping quarters and it’s important because I live far from here.”
Common mistake: Not doing a company research prior to the interview
There are a lot of call center companies in the Philippines and I understand how tempting it is to send resumes to every call center companies that they see. Observe how applicants go crazy over submitting their resumés in job fairs, only to be clueless about those companies when called for an interview.
Call center gal tip: Do your homework. Make a list of the companies you want to apply for a call center post. Use the internet to gather information. Most reputable call center companies have a website to provide you information that you can mention in the job interview. It’s better to tell that you got those information using credible sources instead. I am not saying that you can’t rely on what your friends tell you. Call center employers will appreciate it better if you checked on the resources that they made available like company websites and marketing collaterals.
4. What is your philosophy towards work?
Call center applicant: “Time is gold.”
Call center applicant: “My work philosophy is that you need to work hard for you to get a reward.”
Common mistake: Using a cliché as an answer
Clichés are overly familiar phrases. It may be tempting to use clichés in answering questions like this because it can easily fill in someone’s thoughts. But if this is your only answer and you cannot expound on this cliché then you might not land that call center job.
Call center gal tip: Frame your answers based on how you really work on something. If you really value time as part of your work philosophy, better be prepared with instances wherein you used time to your advantage. You can form better answers than by just using clichés as canned response.
This is just the first of the three-part series about top ten call center job interview questions. Feel free to send me your comments and suggestions by leaving a message here. Thank you for reading.
5. Explain how you would be an asset to the organization
Call center applicant: “I can be the best call center agent in three months time.”
Common mistake: Overconfident answer
Unless you know how you can advance your career in the company, statements like the given example will blow your chance of getting the job.
Call center gal tip: Explain what you can honestly (and specifically) do to help the company achieve its goals.
6. Why should we hire you
Call center applicant: “Because I can be an asset to your organization.”
Call center applicant: “Because I can be the best agent in your company.”
Common mistake: Giving vague answers
Call center gal tip: Although you wanted to stress that you are the best candidate for this position, you still need to provide realistic answers in this question. Tell them how your specific positive work attitudes can help you to be a better call center employee, say, after three months. Remember that in my previous post I encouraged you to use the company’s public resources like websites, flyers, pamphlets and other marketing collaterals. Those materials usually carry public information about the company like the list of trainings and certifications they provide as well as opportunities to go up the corporate ladder. Use those information as a reference so you can provide realistic yet conservative answers in this question.
7. Tell me about a suggestion you have made
Call center applicant: “I was assigned to be the head of a marketing project in my previous company. I found out that my subordinates were not as hardworking as I. We hardly met deadlines because of that. I was so stressed that I gave them an ultimatum. Either they meet deadlines or leave my group instead.”
8. What is your greatest strength
Call center applicant: “Do I need to say just one?”
Call center applicant: “I am honest in all my dealings. That is my greatest strength.”
Common mistake: Failing to assess your personal strength
Call center gal tip: List all your personal strengths on paper and check which among those on the list can help you advance your career. For example, if you chose to tell them that you are honest in all your dealings then be prepared to relate this to your job in the call center. For example, since you are honest in all your dealings then you can assure them that (when you are taking calls) you will not mislead a customer in any way. If you tell them that your personal strength is your patience, tell them how you can apply this in your training (you will exercise utmost patience learning things that are new to you) and later on when you’re going to take calls (on how you will handle challenging customers).
9. Tell me about your dream job
Call center applicant: “I want to be the President of this company.”
Call center applicant: “I want to be a team leader in three months.”
Common mistake: Failing to be realistic in your answers.
Call center gal tip: Although the question is about your dream, remember that this is not just a casual conversation. You are in a call center job interview. The call center interviewer wanted to check on your dreams of advancing your career in their company. Again, I’m stressing the importance of doing a company background check. Is a promotion from a call center agent to being a team leader really feasible in three months? How about if you wanted to be a supervisor or a manager perhaps? How long will it take for you to be one? That is why it’s important for you to give conservative yet realistic answers even if this question seems to let you think of your “dream job”.
10. Do you have questions for me
Call center applicant: “None, thank you.”
Call center applicant: “Will you give me more than 25 thousand pesos? I am very much qualified.”
Till next post,
No comments:
Post a Comment