Telecommunication representatives need to have a specific set of skills. It’s not just about dialing numbers or answering phones. Telecomm jobs require great interpersonal skills, patience, communication skills, problem resolution skills, effective listening talents, computer skills, and more.
If you’ve ever called a customer service number to get help or make an inquiry and were met with a seemingly disgruntled and rude representative, you know how important people skills are to the job. If you’ve ever spent hours on the phone with a CSR, you know that efficiency and quick problem solving skills are critical, too.
Your telecommunication representatives are interacting with your prospects and customers on a daily basis. They need to know how to deal effectively with a wide variety of inquiries, problems, and people. They need to be polite and professional at all times. They need to be effective and efficient. If not, you risk damaging your reputation and losing loyal customers. Hiring the right candidates is vital.
But how can you find and hire the right new telecommunication representatives for your company? Engage a staffing agency.
Recruiting High-Quality Candidates
Attempting to find great candidates for your business on your own might just lead to wasted time. Posting a vague job description on online job boards asking for candidates with a high school diploma and excellent communication skills to apply will ensure that you get inundated with resumes from a lot of unqualified people with minimal experience or skills. Because this job doesn’t require specialized skills, just about all job seekers will think they have what it takes to apply. You’ll be spending hours a day going through hundreds of applications, just to find out that none are actually qualified for the job.
A staffing agency’s recruiters, though, will be able to ensure that your job description attracts the right candidates. They’ll also have wider networks, so they’ll be able to search for candidates in the right places, instead of just relying on job boards. Plus, these recruiters already have deep relationships with pre-vetted and pre-approved candidates, so you might not even have to go on a search at all. You can choose from the recruiter’s list of applicants right away.
Interviewing Effectively
Interviewing seems relatively simple—you bring in candidates, review their resumes, and ask them questions about their skills and previous work experience. However, it actually takes great experience and expertise to be able to weed out the bad apples and identify the gems who will actually become successful telecommunication representatives. Without much hiring experience, you could end up hiring the wrong candidates.
A staffing agency can handle the interview process to ensure that the right probing questions are asked, that cultural fit is considered, and that hiring is based on facts and metrics, rather than gut feeling, which often leads to bad hires.
Faster Hiring
The longer you wait to hire your new telecommunication representatives, the worse it is for your company. Your current team might not be able to handle the demand, so customers will be placed on hold or have their conversations rushed, which can hurt your company’s reputation and customer service quality. This isn’t good for business and piling additional work on your current employees isn’t good for morale.
With a staffing agency, you won’t have to spend weeks on the recruitment and hiring process. Instead, you’ll be able to get your new qualified and trained telecommunication representatives on site in a matter of days so productivity doesn’t suffer.
Try-Before-You-Buy Opportunities
When you work with a staffing firm, you can benefit from the temp-to-perm employment model. You’ll be able to hire your new telecommunication representatives on a temporary basis first, for a pre-determined amount of time, before committing to hiring them permanently. You’ll be able to see their skills in action and see how they fit into your environment so you can make more informed hiring decisions.
