Finding the right person for any job is often like finding a needle in a haystack, but recruiting within Customer Service is a challenge unto itself – how do you find, and trust, someone who is going to become the face of your company?
Two of our senior and most long standing Commercial Consultants Ellie and Yasmin are seasoned Customer Service recruiters, and are intimately aware of the difficulties of recruiting for a role that requires a balance of communication, confidence, sales, administration, complaint handling and more.
In their own words, this is their view on the difficulties of hiring in Customer Service:
Ellie Berry-Roper:
“It’s often a case of expectation management between client, recruiter and candidate can be the hardest, but most satisfying, part of customer service recruitment.
Customer service is such a broad term, and covers so much ground, that making it understandable for a candidate, and with all the detail a client demands, can be tough – however, Customer Service often draws the most confident types of workers, so communicating a role that’s administrative, sales, complaints and relationship building is made easier purely by the fact customer service workers are typically very adaptable and eager!
The most important trait I look for when I recruit for customer service roles is “can my candidate take responsibility?”. Responsibility for my clients company, and their customers or clients – if they have that maturity, that adaptability and that respect for that service, they’re perfect!
Consistency is another skill I look for when sourcing talking to candidates – can they be consistent with their service? Are they reliable, and proud of their work? They sound like easy traits to have, but applying them in a work environment day in, day out, are testing!”
Yasmin Collins:
“Customer service is one of the toughest sectors to recruit for: common perceptions of the roles, and the opportunities in the job, are famously hard to get around, and many people think it’s a linear job, like just complaints handling, or just sales.
This is absolutely a misconception, as the transferable skills you gain from working in an office based customer service role can help you in most office based environments, not to mention in creative roles, hospitality, sales and almost any job in which you need to speak to people!
I think the Career progression side of Customer Service is really exciting – the pathway to Account Management, Client Management, Business Liaison or Communications and Marketing is set up perfectly by a CV with strong Customer Service skills.
In regards to complaint handling, this can be a really big hurdle for candidates when they apply for a role – however, challenges to your service is inevitable in any role you do, no matter your career path, and customer service gives you resilience and confidence – two key skills in any role”.
