Looking for advice on how to ace your call center interview?
Today I'll be explaining what call center recruiters are
looking for in a candidate, common call center questions
that you may be asked, how to prepare, and how to follow up.
Oh, and be sure to stick around to the end
where I'll explain what to do if you
don't have an answer prepared for a question
that they ask you.
You don't want to miss this one.
Step one is to really understand what call centers are looking
for, so I'm going to share some qualities that call center
recruiters often seek in candidates so you can keep
these in mind throughout your preparation and interview
process.
So the first quality is knowledge about a company's
products, services, and successes;
being an active listener, so that's
someone who listens to understand, clarify,
and repeat and confirm the message;
an empathetic, friendly and professional demeanor,
especially when you're dealing with an unhappy or frustrated
customer; an understanding that calls
need to be managed in a timely manner,
because other callers are waiting;
being a problem solver when customers have issues and need
help making choices; the emotional intelligence
to remain calm, especially in tense situations;
and the understanding of when it's
appropriate to escalate things to a manager or supervisor.
Step two-- research what you would be discussing
with call center customers.
Before you head into the interview,
be sure to read the company website and the job
posting in particular.
Try and look for ways that you can connect your own experience
and background to the preferred and required qualifications
that you see in that job posting.
For call center candidates in particular,
it's really recommendable, and actually I
would say, a strong advantage if you
can go in knowing a lot about the products and services.
You never know if an interviewer might give you
a test question about how you would discuss
the company with a customer.
And if you're familiar with the products and services,
you can already demonstrate that you can seamlessly transition
into that role.
Heads up, this next piece of advice
is really critical for call center interviewers
in particular.
As you can imagine, most call center interviews
do happen over the phone.
Sometimes they might happen over a video interview.
Regardless, you want to make sure that your technology
functions flawlessly.
And especially if it's going to be a phone interview,
you want to make sure that you replicate the environment
that you would be functioning in if you
were fielding customer calls.
Make sure that your phone's going to operate perfectly,
that you have strong signal, that your sound quality is
going to be good, and make sure that you're
in a quiet environment so that it's really clear that you'll
be able to offer customers a very seamless conversation
experience when they call in.
Step three, prepare to answer call center
interview questions.
Most interviewers open with the ice breaker,
tell me a little bit about yourself.
And your response to that prompt is
what's termed an elevator pitch or a 60
to 90-second rundown of your professional experience,
a few interesting points about it,
and what brings you to the job interview today.
Elevator pitches are always important,
but they're particularly so for call center candidates,
because your communication skills
are a key part of the job.
This is a first look at what your communication style
is and whether or not you're going
to be able to share things clearly with customers.
So it's really worth the upfront investment of spending time
refining and developing your elevator pitch.
If you need any help with this, we've
already made a great video for you, which
you can check out right here.
It's going to explain what an elevator pitch is
and the general structure that we'd recommend.
Once they get a sense of your professional experience,
your call center interviewer will probably
leap straight into asking questions
about your behavior with previous employers,
or otherwise called behavioral based interview questions.
Now, you can always spot these, because they often
start out with, tell me about a time when,
or can you give me an example of XYZ.
And the reason why call centers care about this is they really
want to get a sense of how you behave
in interpersonal exchanges.
The thinking here is that then, once they
have insight into your mindset on how you've
handled those past exchanges, they'll
be able to predict how you might behave when you're
a member of their company.
I'm going to read out some examples of behavioral based
interview questions that are specific to call
center interviews.
Tell me about a time when you had
to quickly learn the details of a company's product or service.
Describe a time when you had to resolve a complaint
from a customer or client.
Give me an example of a situation where
you had to gather feedback and clarify information
from a customer.
Give me an example of a situation in which you needed
to manage efficiently competing customer inquiries
in a short period of time.
Tell me about a time you offered your supervisor input
on how to improve customer support.
Of course, behavioral based interview questions
can be really nerve-racking for a lot of people,
because you can't really anticipate the scenarios
they're going to ask you about.
Now, I do recommend thinking a little bit
about a few relevant ones that you
may want to come into the interview with,
but in general, you're going to be answering
some things on the fly.
However, you can come in with these couple strategies
that I'm going to share that are going to allow you to structure
your thoughts and communicate clearly while having
to think pretty quickly.
You may have heard about the S-T-A-R, or STAR, technique.
I recommend scratching out that T
and just having it be S-A-R. I'll break down
what each of those letters mean in just one moment,
but I'll preface it all by saying
that behavioral based interviewing is truly
about storytelling.
You want to make sure that you're explaining your behavior
in a way that's clear and easily transferable for that employer.
So let's break it down letter by letter.
S stands for situation.
So what were those circumstances that you were presented with?
An example of this might be a customer called me.
She was very frustrated by the fact
that she had paid for overnight shipping,
but she still hadn't received her package days later.
Next up is A, which stands for assessment and action.
What did you analyze about the situation,
and what action did you take to resolve it?
An example of this might be, after reviewing the order
information, I saw that the customer had
inputted her address slightly incorrectly.
I explained this to her, and then
I compensated her for the trouble and the time.
Finally, R stands for result. What did your action achieve?
This is probably the most important part
of your response to an employer, so be sure and show impact.
An example might be the customer thanked me for my help
and expressed her intention to be a return customer
for a large upcoming order.
Not only did she do that, but she actually referred us
to three new customers as well.
My second strategy that I'd recommend
for answering these questions is to really prioritize
which story you tell based on your employer's needs.
For example, I might, if I were interviewing,
be asked by an employer, tell me about a time
where you achieved something you're really proud of at work.
well, it's really normal to have a number of situations
pop up in your head at that moment,
and I might not be sure which one is most relevant.
What do I share?
When this happens, think not about yourself or even the best
story, and instead think about what your employer needs
from you in this moment.
It might be a really high volume call center,
or it might be a call center where they're really
needing someone who has deep knowledge on how to handle
difficult interpersonal issues.
Whatever it is, try and pick the story that's
most relevant to those key things
the employer is looking for.
One way to figure that out if you're
unclear about what it is just go back to that job description
and really review those preferred and required
qualities to see what do they care most about.
So step four, follow up with a thank you
and demonstrate your strong interpersonal skills.
Send a thank you note within one to two
days after the interview.
Sooner is always better in this case.
And use this as an opportunity to express gratitude
for their consideration and their time
and to recap up to two or three things,
whether it's skills or experience, that you
feel really well equipped you to succeed in this role.
Close out with another note of gratitude
and with optimism for the future possibility.
And if you've had someone refer you to the role,
make sure that you just thank them as well.
Now, most people here will send an email,
which is perfectly appropriate.
If you have the ability to quickly get a letter out
and you think it can arrive within that one to two
day period, great.
Three days in my opinion is pushing it
a little bit, so don't send a letter unless you're
really confident that you can get it there in time.
Then, one to two weeks after you've
sent that initial thank you note for the interview,
go ahead if you haven't heard back from the employer
and follow up with them.
This can be a shorter note than your initial thank you letter.
It can just be a quick reiteration
of your skills and qualifications, one or two,
and then a note of thanks.
And if you don't hear back after that point,
it's advisable to go ahead and shift your interest elsewhere.
You may still hear back from them, but at that point,
it's probably better to go ahead and conserve your time.
For more information on how and when
to communicate with possible employers,
I recommend checking out this video right here.
We have an ultimate guide of sorts that can basically
walk you through every possible written interaction
that you might have with an employer
and how best to follow up.
Now for our quick bonus tip--
what do you do if you are asked in an interview question
that you don't have a great answer for, whether it's
about experience that you don't have,
a certification you don't have?
A lot of people think that they can only
talk about things that have really happened to them
or experience that they already have.
That's great if you have it, but if you don't, don't panic.
Don't worry.
It's perfectly acceptable and highly encouraged
to talk about what you would do in any hypothetical situation.
So to recap, my top tips for performing your best in a call
center interview are--
one, understand what a call center is
looking for in a representative; two, research
the company, its products, and the job description;
three, prepare for common interview questions
and responding using the S-A-R technique
and focusing on your employer's needs; four,
send a professional and prompt follow-up
and thank you; and five, don't be
afraid to talk about what you would do.
If you found this video helpful, please go ahead and hit
the Like button down below.
Make sure to subscribe to our channel right here.
And if you're interested in more interviewing tips,
we've got a great playlist up here,
or you can go ahead and watch this video right here
on very common interview questions you can anticipate.
Thank you so much again for watching.
Best of luck, and I hope to see you next time.