CALLCENTERCAREERS.COM SURVEY REVEALS THE BEST & WORST TOOLS FOR PRESCREENING AND ASSESSING NEW CALL CENTER AGENTS

The results of this survey demonstrate how important it is for an interviewer to personally assess a potential agents industry knowledge and skill-set while physically hearing how that agent communicates and presents him or herself over the telephone.

Contact: Bob Gills, CEO, CallCenterCareers.com
1-877-562-8588 or 303-527-1440
bgills@scboulder.com

Jeff Furst, CEO, FurstPerson, Inc.
(773) 353-8520 or 877-292-8805
jeff@furstperson.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CALLCENTERCAREERS.COM SURVEY REVEALS THE BEST & WORST TOOLS FOR PRESCREENING AND ASSESSING NEW CALL CENTER AGENTS

BOULDER, CO., June 4, 2001 - When CallCenterCareers.com conducted an online survey to determine which is the most accurate prescreening tool for assessing whether a job applicant would make a good call center agent, an overwhelming 52% of 598 respondents voted that a personal telephone interview is the most accurate tool.

The second most popular new agent prescreening and assessment tool was call center simulation software (27%) followed by a written test (9%), an IVR interview (7%) and web site testing (3%). The most surprising result of this survey was that agent certification was the least popular prescreening and assessment tool yielding only 2% of votes. Jeff Furst, President and CEO of FurstPerson, Inc. states, We're not surprised that certifications are poorly viewed by the industry. Organizations may feel good about having 'certified agents, but those certifications will not predict job performance."

The results of this survey demonstrate how important it is for an interviewer to personally assess a potential agents industry knowledge and skill-set while physically hearing how that agent communicates and presents him or herself over the telephone.

Bob Gills, President and CEO of CallCenterCareers.com states, "Since every job is different and each hiring manager is looking for specific personal attributes combined with certain professional skills, it makes perfect sense that a personal telephone interview would be the preferred tool for candidate evaluation. First of all -- its personal, and the rapport that is developed during a conversation is a key component of success in the call center. Secondly, a properly structured personal interview can give pretty complete evaluation information. But its important for the hiring manager to remain objective and not let the development of personal rapport weigh too heavy in the hiring process."

Jeff Furst states, "Any screening tool will have pro's and con's to it. Assuming a personal telephone interview is based on the success factors that drive job performance, it can be an effective tool to examine what an applicant has done and how well they communicate. A personal telephone interview is also fairly efficient from an operations perspective. However, call center organizations should not rely on one tool or test to make a hiring decision. The whole-person approach, or using a variety of tests and procedures to fully assess people is the most powerful approach to hiring and also the one suggested by the Department of Labor's Testing and Assessment guidelines. If you're looking at one tool only, our experience has been that a simulation, using people role-playing, is the most effective tool at predicting job performance."

About CallCenterCareers.com   
CallCenterCareers.com (www.CallCenterCareers.com) is the leading job board for the call center industry. CallCenterCareers.com features an extensive resume database, employer job postings, personal search agents and career management tools. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, CallCentercareers.com provides employers with the most powerful and cost-effective solution for recruiting call center professionals.
CallCenterCareers.com can be reached at 1-877-562-8588.

About FurstPerson, Inc.
FurstPerson helps call center organizations find, hire, and keep top performers. FurstPersons integrated staffing and assessment solutions help organizations increase productivity, lower turnover, and reduce training time. FurstPerson is based in Chicago, IL.
More information can be found at www.furstperson.com or by calling 1-888-626-3412.

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