Call Center job interview tips

Call Center job interview tips

The structure of the interview or the questions you face at every call centre interview might be different but their basic purpose will revolve around checking following 4 things:

- Level of interest in the position and the company
- Level of confidence
- Ability to communicate clearly
- Ability to grab new things quickly
- Flexibility

If you prepare yourself keeping these goals in mind, your chances of making through that call centre interview will increase substantially.

Here are some tips to help you prepare for the call centre interviews:

1. Read and understand the job notification thoroughly
2. Research the company - their website, press release, PR material can be a good source for you
3. Analyse your candidature
4. Anticipate questions and prepare for them
5. Rehearse for the extempore or the role plays
6. Improve your communication skills
7. Keep your confidence level high with a right body language

Some of the frequent and tricky questions you might face during the interview are listed below along with their possible answers.

1. Tell us about yourself.

As an opening question of any interview, this question gives you an opportunity to gain the momentum and rleax yourself. Answer this question with a focus on your education, work experience, learnings and information about any interesting project/quality/ challenge.

Why are you interested in this role/company?

Align your experience and personal qualities with the requirement of the position to answer this question. For e.g. you can say something like this: I have been working in an outbound call centre for last one year. I possess strong communication skills coupled with a high confidence and an ability to deal with customers effectively. These are the requirements of this position. So, I believe that I can perform well in this role and that is what makes me interested in this role.

Mention the biggest challenge you have faced at work during the last one year.

The purpose of this question is not to know about the challenges you have faced but to see your approach to manage them. Pick up an example of a challenge you faced at work and focus your answer on the steps to took to deal with it. Also, discuss about your learning in the process.

For e.g. "Recently I was asked to recommend and implement the changes in the way the calls are distributed among my team members at the call centre. My team members were quite used to the way they were working and there was a lot of resistance to the proposed changes. I knew that these changes will improve the performance of the whole team so I discussed them with my manager and team in detail. I tried to win the confidence of the team members and explain them that it will be in the interest of all of us and the call centre if we implemented these changes. As they started seeing my point, it became easier to gain their support and the desired outcome. The result is that the customers get a reply faster and the performance of each team member has improved by more than 50%.

Why do you want to leave your current job?

The reasons for leaving your current job could be numerous but offer the one that the interviewer is willing to buy. You can say something like "Better prospects in terms of responsibilities and growth" for example.

What is the importance of customer service to you? Have you ever walked an extra mile for a customer?

The business of call centre runs on customer service. Genuine interest in customer service is one of the most important qualities the interviewers look for in the potential candidates. Being in the field of call centres, customer satisfaction has to be your mantra. To answer this question, you can say something like: "Being in the field of call centres, customer is our king and customer service is our faith and religion. There have been times when I took an extra mile to ensure that my customer is satisfied." Focus your answer on the extra steps you took for customer and how this elated customer helped the business.

List the things which you think make a call centre successful.

Some of the key factors for the success of a call centre are:

- Clear communication
- Customer friendliness
- Dynamic environment
- Consistent service
- Excellent performance management
- Strong leadership
- Happy employees

What do you feel about change?

The business of call centres revolves around change. So, adaptability of the employees if one of the key things the interviewer looks for. To answer this question, you can say something like: "I understand that agility is way to grow. You need to constantly keep looking for improvements in the processes and people to improve the performances. This calls for a change for betterment and I am pretty open to it."

Can you perform a role play for us? How will you deal with an unhappy customer?

You need to rehearse some role plays as they are quite frequently asked for in the interview for call centres.

The focus of this particular role play should be on:

1. Listening carefully to the customer.
2. Apologising and empathising with them.
3. Re-iterating and confirming your understanding of their problem
4. Offering a solution and confirming if they are happy with this.
5. Thanking the customer for bringing the issue to knowledge
6. Taking the required steps as promised to the customer.

The key attributes of your personality that show off here are - problem solving, empathetic, good communication, calm under pressure, genuine interest in customer satisfaction, result oriented.

Are you flexible to work in night shifts?

Answer this question YES only if you really mean it. Don't say yes just to get the job.

Would you like to ask us something?

Given an opportunity to ask something to the employer - ask some intelligent questions like:

- Your growth prospects
- Growth of the company
- Some questions if the company has been in the news recently etc.