It can be tough to hire call center managers. You need someone with great people skills, the ability to handle customer complaints, and the ability to stay calm under pressure. But that’s just the beginning. A good call center manager must also be able to manage a team of employees and be familiar with computer systems and software programs.
So where do you find such a person, and not just one, but dozens or hundreds of suitable candidates at a time? We’re diving into the most critical components of hiring call center managers en masse below.
Hiring Call Center Managers: What To Do
The most important part of hiring call center managers is attracting the best candidates in the first place. Be clear about what you need, and what skills and qualities are most important to you. Place your job postings in the right place to be seen by the right people at the right time.
Sound like a lot? There are plenty of tools that can help you along the way.
Use Programmatic Job Advertising
If you’re looking to hire many people at once, posting individual job ads across multiple sites can be an overwhelming and inefficient task. You’re better off letting technology lend a hand to manage the task through programmatic job advertising.
Programmatic job advertising is a form of online advertising that allows you to target specific candidates with your job postings. It utilized recruitment technology like Talroo to help create suitable job ads and place them in the proper places.
You can use programmatic job ads to target candidates already employed in the call center industry, or with the specific skills and qualifications you’re looking for. You can also use them to target candidates in specific geographical areas.
Host a Hiring Event
Hiring events are a great way to meet potential candidates face-to-face and get a better sense of who they are and what they can do. These events can also be a valuable opportunity to sell your company to potential employees.
A hiring event for call center managers is hosted in-person or online through tools like Talroo’s events software. More than 90% of employers attended a virtual hiring event in 2020, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that number has risen even more, as Zoom continues to take over meetings and events that were formerly in-person.
At these events, even when done virtually, you can get to know potential candidates in a more informal manner than through interviews, but more personally than through online resume submissions, in some ways.
Manage Job Posts
Once you’ve created your job postings, it’s important to keep them up-to-date and relevant. Job post management entails ensuring the job descriptions are accurate, the salary is competitive, and the benefits are attractive. If it sounds like a lot of work, it doesn’t have to be.
There are tons of programs today that can make managing your job ads easier than ever. Talroo’s TAP (talent ad platform) is just one of them.
You should also be proactive about managing your online presence and reputation, which consists of monitoring reviews and social media posts about your company.
What To Look For in Call Center Managers
Now that you have a better idea of the systems you can put in place to attract the right kind of talent, let’s review what you’re looking for in a top call center manager recruit:
Call Center Manager Skills
A call center manager is someone that manages the daily activity in call centers and the employees that take the calls. They help troubleshoot problems that arise and keep the center on task and focused on the goal of serving customers.
To do the job well, they should have the following skills:
- Great people skills
- Ability to handle customer complaints
- Telemarketing experience
- Calm under pressure
- Organization
- Typing skills
- Familiar with computer systems and software programs
- Ability to manage a team of employees
It’s smart to list these skills directly in your job posting, along with a compelling overview of the job and a detailed list of what their duties will be.
Qualities of a Good Call Center Manager
All good call center managers share certain qualities. These include:
Leadership
A good call center manager is a leader who can motivate and inspire their team to do their best work.
Communication
A good call center manager is an excellent communicator, both in written and verbal form. They should be able to effectively communicate with their team, customers, and upper management.
Patience
A good call center manager is patient, especially when dealing with difficult customer service issues.
Problem-solving
A good call center manager can quickly and efficiently solve problems that arise, both with customers and within the call center itself.
What To Look For in Interviews
When you’re conducting interviews to hire call center managers, there are a few key things you’ll want to look for.
First, you’ll want to ensure the candidate has the technical skills necessary to do the job. Required skills include things like typing speed, computer literacy, and telemarketing experience.
You’ll also want to assess the candidate’s people skills and their ability to communicate effectively, as they’ll work closely with a large team every day.
You’ll want to see if the candidate has the qualities that make a good call center manager, including leadership, problem-solving, and patience.
Ask them questions about their experience managing a team in the past. Have them share a story about their previous call center experience when they learned an important lesson. Quiz them on their philosophies around customer service to get a better idea of how they’d do in the role.
These are all great ways to learn more about your candidate and determine if they’re a good fit.
Final Thoughts
It can be difficult to hire call center managers, but with the right tools and process, you can make it happen with ease.
Make sure to include the skills, qualities, and experience needed for the role in your job ad, and then use the tools available to you to get your ads seen by the right people, at the right time, in the right place. Then, filter out the candidates until you find the ones you feel confident will be the right fit.
