Call centers come in various shapes and sizes, and most of what call center employees do depends on the company where they work.
Healthcare call centers, for instance, tend to focus on customer service and handling questions about billing and insurance. On the other hand, sales teams may focus more on outbound calls, placing equal attention on the positive customer experience while focusing on getting customers to make purchases.
While there are some differences between these two skill sets, there are several areas where the required skills overlap such as proper phone etiquette and ability to multitask. When hiring for an open call center position, you want to ensure that you find candidates with the skills they need to succeed . With eSkill, it is easier than ever to administer the call center skills tests you need to make smart hiring decisions.
Use eSkill’s Talent Assessment Platform to Improve Hiring
When it comes to hiring the right candidate, skills testing is a valuable tool. According to the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, more than 68% of employers administer skills tests to their applicants.
This testing helps employers quickly identify the candidates with the highest potential to succeed in an open position while simultaneously eliminating those applicants who lack the basic skills necessary to do the work well.
eSkill’s vast testing library has more than 800 skills tests, organized by job and by subject. These tests include several focusing on call center positions, including Customer Service and Inbound and Outbound Call Center Simulations.
What sets eSkill apart from its competitors is the high level of customization customers can access. In addition to pre-made tests, you can create your own skills tests, either by combining multiple skills tests or by hand-tailoring tests to your specific position by selecting from a bank of over 5,000 validated questions.
You can easily integrate your eSkill tests into most ATS software, including Bullhorn, and you can even adjust your settings to automatically email every applicant a test link as part of the application process. That way, you can use the results of these skills tests to quickly pick out candidates with complete skill sets.
Thanks to eSkill’s powerful testing dashboard, you can easily visualize your testing results data. You can see at a glance how many applicants have completed their tests, and you can sort candidates by their scores at the push of a button.
With detailed testing results, you can go through a candidate’s results question by question to get a complete picture of their skill set.
How Customer Service Skills Tests Can Give You an Advantage
Customer service is an important component for all call center employees, whether customer service representatives or salespeople. In fact, according to Microsoft, 70% of a customer’s brand loyalty can be attributed to a positive customer service experience.
When it comes to customer service skills tests, eSkill offers two powerful tools for hirers. The first is a call center simulation. The candidate will be placed in a real-world call center situation, and then asked to resolve the situation as though they were dealing with a customer. These simulations provide you with a first-person example of how a candidate will react to a problem they are likely to encounter.
The second tool is eSkill’s video response questions. These questions allow candidates to record their responses to a series of questions and submit those answers for review.
Your team can then evaluate each candidate’s response using a rubric you define. That way, you can emphasize particular skills, like communication ability and friendliness. The process is convenient, too, since each person on your team can grade the responses on their own time.
Making Call Center Outbound Sales Skills Tests Work for You
Much like with customer service skills tests, evaluating a candidate’s sales abilities relies on assessing a set of soft skills. This redundancy means that many of the skills tests you would administer to candidates for sales positions may overlap with those for openings with a customer service focus.
However, there are several additional skills that you can measure using call center outbound sales skills tests — especially simulation assessments. These simulation tests can help you evaluate a wide range of sales-related skills, including:
You may also decide to incorporate some hard skills testing, especially for programs these employees are likely to encounter while performing their duties. Most importantly, you can add sales and marketing concepts into your overall testing strategy. That way, you can make sure that the candidate you hire has both the hard and soft skills they need to effectively contribute to your team.
Interested in Learning More About How Call Center Skills Tests Can Help You Hire Better?
Learn more about eSkill’s innovative call center skills testing for both outbound and inbound staffers. Request a demo today.