I recently
discovered the greatest television show - ‘House’. I know, I know... that’s like saying I just
found microwaveable popcorn since the program has been a huge hit for
years. I’m a late bloomer, ok? The good news for me is that they run the old
episodes on cable, sometimes 4 or 5 in a row, so I can really get immersed. The bad news is that it’s the last
season. But, I am still catching up so I
won’t be sad for about another year or so, I estimate.
I find the show
entertaining without being too demanding.
The writing and acting are top-notch, it balances drama and humor nicely
and there are certain elements that remain consistent; House will always be on
the verge of being fired, sued or both, whatever the original diagnosis is will
be wrong, and will change a dozen times before the patient is cured and, most
times, House will have his doctors break into a patients home in search of
‘something’ significant. He never asks the
patient’s permission because he believes that “if they know we are looking for something, they’ll hide it” since,
as he is fond of reminding his staff; “people always lie.”
He has a
point. We all have things that we don’t
readily share with others, parts of ourselves that we share with our family and
friends and keep outside of the workplace.
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion around employers asking for
access to potential employees Facebook and other social media accounts. The argument being that this will be a way to
gain insight into the candidate to enable the employer to make the best hiring
decision.
What a bunch of
fertilizer!
Let’s get real
here. The first thing the employer is
going to be looking at is the candidates profile page and what that is going to
reveal will be two types of information;
boring unimportant stuff that is already on their resume or application,
and interesting unimportant stuff that it would be ILLEGAL to ask a candidate
about directly. The boring stuff is info
like hometown, schools attended and previous employers, the juicy interesting
stuff is religion, political affiliations, relationship status and
‘extracurricular’ activities. All private stuff that people are able to
keep private by using privacy settings to limit who can see
it… because it is PRIVATE.
It’s SOCIAL networking, like chatter in a
nightclub, not PROFESSIONAL
networking, like a job fair. If I am
meeting a potential client, I am in my business finery. If I’m out with the girls for Cosmo’s… it’s a
whole different section of my wardrobe… and a very different type of
conversation happening at the table.
In case you’re
not sure… I am opposed to employers asking for access to social networking
sites. It’s like asking for an invite to
my family reunion or the keys to my front door. You’ll find out some interesting things about
me, for sure, but nothing that will help you determine whether or not I am
going to be able to help you improve your contact center’s performance and
customer sat scores. In fact, you may
find out some things that will lead you to think I am nuts (my sisters still
like to tell people about the bleached blond Mohawk I was sporting in the mid
80’s).
I was reviewing
ACD reports at a client recently and something jumped off the page and smacked
me – one of the reps took less than half as many calls a day as her peers. I figured that maybe she was that one in a
million rep that just happened to get all the really, really complex calls…
but, no, her call length was about the same as everyone else. Puzzled, I asked the contact center manager
if she could shed some light on this for me and she told me that that
particular call center professional didn’t like taking calls so… she just
avoided them like the plague!
I’m going to go
out on a limb here and say that I am pretty darn sure that NOWHERE in her
Facebook or LinkedIn profiles does it say; Likes – sunsets, Jeopardy, soft jazz
and the Twilight books. Dislikes –
slushy sidewalks, Wheel of Fortune, Justin Beiber and answering the telephone!
Sure, look at
your candidate’s LinkedIn profile, that’s what it’s there for… to give them a
chance to sell themselves. But, if you
really want to know what you are getting before you hire a person …change
the way you interview.
To insure that
you select the best candidates to add to your team you need to be able to get
them to reveal the secret toxin that may be hidden beneath their bathroom sink. (Dr. House always has his team look under the
sinks.) After talking to, literally
thousands of representatives over the last 20 years, we have determined that
there a few ‘poisons’ that can be discovered up front.
Do they see things in black
and white, or shades of gray?
There are folks
who approach work with a ‘just tell me what to do, when to do it and for how
long’ attitude and that is great for some jobs… service representative, however,
is not one of them. A great rep is
flexible, adaptable and creative and, as such, able to survive in the
ever-changing, super demanding, fast paced call center environment. The folks that need to ‘be told’ what to do
are going to become frustrated, frazzled and just plain burnt out in no time.
So how do you
tell what kind of person is sitting across the table from you? Ask
the right questions and listen for the wrong answers. Get them to
tell you about a time that a customer wanted something out of the
ordinary. Do they refer to the ‘rules’
and what they ‘weren’t allowed to do’?
Talk with them about a time they had to juggle multiple tasks. Did they need to be told which was most ‘important’?
Did they solicit assistance from others on their own or need their
supervisor to ‘get them some help’? Did
they do what it took to get everything done or ‘try their best’ and get most of
it completed?
Are they able to communicate
clearly over the phone?
I listen to
calls, lots of call, and it amazes me how many contact center professionals
sound like they are half asleep, incredibly bored and/or talking into their
armpits. We all know that vocal tone,
pacing and clarity are as important as the information being communicated and
yet every call center has experienced that employee who thinks they sound
great… and they don’t. We are hiring
people to talk on the phone most of
the day, but how many of us actually talk
to them on the phone before hiring them?
The candidate sitting upright on the opposite side of the interview
room, looking you in the eye and answering your scripted question is ‘on
guard’. They are in your environment and
watching your reactions (I hope). Talk
to them when they are in the comfort of their own home, slouched on the sofa,
and see how they sound. Crisp, clear and
engaged? Bring them in for a second
interview. Mumbling, distracted and hard
to understand? Don’t waste your time.
Can they rise above the
fray? Avoid the call center drama?
When hiring we are looking for people who will
be able to stand their ground and support management, people who are willing to
be leaders.
I interviewed a woman who was an experienced
rep in the long distance division of a telephone company. Her department had closed due to cuts so she
was looking for a new job. She had all
the right answers to all the right questions and had been passed to me for a
final interview.
After the introductory niceties and building
rapport, she was relaxed and I tossed out one of my favorite openers. "So, Mary, working in a contact
center for so many years, you must have experienced everything. Tell me one of your juiciest stories."
She smiled, leaned back and launched into a story about how it was common
practice for her peers to provide free long distance calls for prisoners
without authorization from the company. I clarified, "you mean, FREE phone calls WHEREVER
they wanted?" Oh, yes and “everyone knew",
in fact every day at lunch the reps would try and outdo each other with stories
the inmates had shared with them before their calls were connected.
So I asked her if she thought it was wrong
for her peers to be giving away free calls and she agreed that it was, in fact,
stealing. But had she ever shared that
opinion with her peers, or advised management about the practice? No. She told
me, "It's not
my job to say anything.”
By allowing Mary to chat about her past
experiences, to be ‘in control’ of the conversation, I was able to get her to reveal
that she was inclined to turn a blind eye to unacceptable behavior rather than
confront her peers and do what was best for the organization. Needless to say, I passed on hiring her.
Dr. House is
right, people do lie… a lot. But they
also tell the truth when given the chance.
Yes, approach your interviews in an organized, methodical and consistent
manner, but don’t be afraid to create an environment where the candidate will
feel at ease, to have control over the direction the conversation may take.
Candidates are
savvy, they know the type of question we are asking and have prepared answers
in advance. If you are expecting
company, you make sure your house is in order.
It’s when someone drops by unexpected that they’ll catch you watching ‘House’
with the unfolded laundry next to you on the sofa, instead. Not me… I ALWAYS fold the laundry as soon as
it’s dry. You believe me, right?
Would I lie to
you?
