If you’re on a quest for passionate and talented employees, you’ll realize how time taking the hiring process can be. This is the initial point to finding your next great worker, someone who will take part in impelling the company culture and success – that’s no easy feat. Unluckily, the contact center space is one that experiences great agitation, making the interview method even more analytical. Take a moment to consider the cost related to employee turnover, including interviewing, onboarding, and reduced productivity, just to name a few. This is a huge expenditure for call centers, and one that can be easily minimized. Call center interview questions carry a ton of importance, however not everyone understands which questions to ask, and more importantly, what answers to look for. As candidates prepare and practice their responses, interviewers too should be compiling critical questions and thinking about the best responses. It’s also important to have a mix of ‘canned’ questions that are significant to the success of the role, while leaving room for some conversational questions. If you can develop a dialogue in the interview you’re more likely to build rapport, which can lead to faster decisions and a better outcome.

These call center interview questions work for any level of the hiring hierarchy – contact center managers, supervisors, even call center agents.

• Tell me about yourself.

Let the candidate tell their story before jumping into all the specific call center interview questions. This helps to get the candidate comfortable, and it also give you a high level overview of who they are. A good answer will explain why they left one organization to go to the next, and what they learned from each venture.

• What about the job description enticed you to apply?

Now that you know a bit about them and their background, it’s good to get a sense of why they’re interested in this particular role. Look out for specific keywords in their answer. Assuming this is a role for a contact center agent, responses like “customer facing” or “problem solving” might be great keywords for you. It also shows you how well they understand the role.

• Tell me about a time when you had to handle a difficult customer.

Surely they have a story to tell, presuming they came into this role with some customer service experience. It’s important to see what kind of story they choose to share. Ideally they’ll explain how they were ultimately the hero in an otherwise terrible customer interaction. That they went over and above to make the customer happy, and that their manager was thrilled with the outcome.

• Why are you leaving your current role?

If the candidate is currently employed, it’s important to understand why they are moving on. Call center interview answers like, “I’d like to learn more” or “it’s time to spread my wings”, are great, but not if they’ve only been at the job for a few months. Watch how often the candidate jumps from job to job, since this can be a bad sign. Also, if they quickly go into shaming the company, this shows a lack of loyalty and professionalism.

• Do you have questions for me?

This is a good opportunity to see how much they know about your business. Maybe they’re asking about your client base, or what the work environment is like – these are all great questions! Bad questions would be jumping right in to compensation or, worse, not having any questions prepared at all. The first shows you that they’re mainly interested in money and not the opportunity; the later shows you they aren’t serious about the role.

This is a solid start to getting you to the right candidate! It’s also important to remember that employees need continuous nurturing. After the candidate is hired, make sure you devote time to ongoing relationship building. Have regular meetings to make sure they’re happy, and their goals are being met.