How to write a successful recruitment strategy

Understanding of the roles and responsibilities

Any manager worth their salt will tell you that the first step has to be an understanding of the role and responsibilities and being clear about what is required, in order to brief HR or your agency. This includes a number of elements from the medium, i.e. email, voice, chat, through to the task, technical support, sales, customer service and perhaps also language skills or a combination of these. Having a grid and selecting the requirements is a great first step and that, added to competency levels, will ensure that there is clarity surrounding the role before the recruitment stage. Highlight anything specific to the role, qualifications, CRB checks, etc.

Develop your competency grid

Work to develop your competency grid in partnership, reviewing the skills, experience and personality type required. Think about the brand the agents will support, who is the target audience, what will their expectations of the service be and how can these best be met? Be creative with your brief. Think about the mix of talent, experience and profiles. What makes a good team and how will they gel?

Having a good agency on board can help enormously

Invite them into your business; let them understand the culture, the standard of your existing staff, what is important to you and what the benefits of working with you are. Sell to them and they will sell to their candidates. High volume recruitment is worth extra effort at the planning stage. Work with the agency and develop tests and checks that they can carry out on your behalf. This will save an enormous amount of time and effort at your end, as the candidates will have been pre-screened. Don’t be afraid of the fees, as getting the selection right first time can save later in training and coaching, attrition and even poor performance or behaviour.

Always be honest with the interviewees

Focus on the positives but ensure they understand exactly what is required of them. Let them see the call centre, where they will sit, who they will work with, where they can chill out during their breaks and what facilities you offer. Remember that working in a call centre is often an extremely social occupation. The applicant will be interested in their fellow agents. Are there regular social events? Are they sponsored by the company?

Talk through the training programme and ongoing support

Agents want to know how much preparation they will be given before going ‘live’. Show your organisation chart and describe the departments they will come into contact with during their first few weeks. Give them confidence in your ability to look after them during the early days.