How Do You Hire the Best Talent for Your Customer Service Jobs?

7 Tactics to Boost Your Hiring ROI

Don’t underestimate the importance of your customer service jobs. In its 2018 Global Customer Service Report, Microsoft found that 95% of respondents said customer service is a key factor in their loyalty to a brand. If your customer service is below par, your customers will look elsewhere.

To provide the great customer service that keeps your customers coming back for more, you must hire the best talent — people who are committed to solving problems and retaining your customers.

The question is, how do you hire the best talent for your customer service jobs?

These seven hiring tactics will help take your customer service hiring strategy to a new level.

1.    Compose a Realistic Job Description

In a study conducted by BambooHR, it was found that a significant number of people who quit within six months of being hired do so because they:

  • Have changed their mind on desired work type
  • Are doing different work than what they expected
  • Don’t find the work to be fun or satisfying

It is critical that your job description is true and complete. This will enable potential candidates to make a fully informed decision whether to apply, and lead to higher staff retention numbers. In turn, your customer service scores will rise, leading to improved customer loyalty.

2.    Be Transparent with Job Details

As well as understanding what the role entails, make sure that you also describe all other relevant details associated with your customer service jobs. Let candidates know key information such as salary, benefits, hours and shifts as early as possible. This will help to reduce wasted time and effort for both you and the candidate.

3.    Define Your KPIs Before You Hire

Your new employee will want to be successful, but how do they know if they are? Before hiring, define what success looks like and lay out the KPIs you expect the new hire to hit. Discuss how you will measure and monitor performance, and ensure that managers have regular one-to-ones with employees to review performance.

5.    Hire on Personality and Attitude

Customer service representatives with the right attitude will be great advocates for your organization and its products and services. They will approach their job with enthusiasm and enjoy making sure that your customers are satisfied with solutions they create.

You also need to hire people that will fit in with your culture. Will they get along with other team members? Do they have the personality to enhance a high-performing team?

If your customer service jobs are phone-based, conduct a telephone interview to see if you can hear the candidate smiling. Tone of voice is crucial in these roles – and tells you much about personality and attitude.

6.    Use Situational Questions during the Interview

Situational questions are a great way to learn about a candidate’s ability to be effective in your customer service role. They are also a good way to help the candidate learn more about the role.

By putting the candidate in a situation that is likely to occur when they are working in your customer service department, they will gain a better appreciation of what their job will be and the problems they may face. And you will discover how they will face those challenges.

Additionally, if the candidate has arrived to you from outside your industry sector, you’ll learn if their skills are transferable to your environment.

7.    Ask the Candidate to Describe Good Customer Service

There is no single right answer to this question, but how a candidate answers will tell you much. Your definition of customer service may not match exactly what the candidate says, but that isn’t the point of this question.

Of course, the candidate’s definition should be broadly aligned with your organization’s expectations, but their answer should indicate much more about their personality and attitude. Keywords here include passion, enthusiasm, commitment, a willingness to learn, empathy, and assertiveness.

Are You Ready to Hire the Best Customer Service Representatives?

These seven hiring tactics will help to provide a solid foundation on which to build a high-performing customer service team. For help to do so in Chicago and Denver, contact Lakeshore Talent today.