Selecting a Team Leader

[janeway]

Hello. This forum is fantastic! I have a pressing issue about which I would like to hear your views. I started a new position as a call center manager 2 weeks ago and posted 2 new Team Leader positions my first week. I am planning to involve the 6 existing TL's in the selection process as I believe I'm too new to judge the candidates alone. What would be the most effective way to screen the 8 candidates and produce a short-list? What particular exercises could we put them through? The other 6 TL's were chosen by an Operations Director based upon their productivity and have never worked as TL's, but as Super Reps. Any and all feedback will be greatly welcomed - thank you!

[NBosch]

Hi Janeway,

First of all, congratulations with your new position.

Okay, how to procede with finding 2 team leaders...
First of all, you must decide wether you want the position to be filled with an internal or external candidate. Both options have benefits to the organisation;

Internal
- knows the organisation (up to a certain level)
- will have more support from the CSR's and other TL's

External
- fresh blood means fresh idea's
- will be more loyal to the mgmt than an agent-CSR, because he is a "new guy/girl" as well

In your case you could also mix of course, filling one position with an internal and one with an external candidate.

Then it is important that you decide where you want input from your TL's. As you said, they are more super CSR's than real TL's.
In your specific case, I would organise a panel-interview.
Yourself with 1 or 2 TL's (not more, too distracting), would then interview the candidates and afterwards discuss with each other who would best fit the concept.
The big benefit of this approach is that not only do your TL's get a vote, but it also gives you the opportunity to see how they behave under these circumstances. Plus, for the candidates, how stress resistant they are (panel interviews are much more stressful than normal interviews).

What I would look for in your specific case are TL's that have strong people skills, show leadership capacity and have some background with call center statistics, because these will most likely be the fields where your current TL's will have weaknesses. (as former CSR, they will not be trained for these tasks. However, they will be great at handling escalations and decision making).

Hope to have been of assistance, and if you have any more questions, feel free to mail me: niek.bosch@medion.com

[Milliardo]

A team leader must be able to communicate well, both with CSRs and clients. He must also be willing to be a bridge between CSRs and supervisors and managers. Also, he must have good problem solving skills. That's helpful when a CSR is stuck in a rut; the TL can go over and help him out. I would think the key thing here is good communication, something which is essential in any call center.

[dpzim]

Since the TL's are new and have never done interviews. I would meet with them first and cover questions that can and cannot be asked during an interview.....you do not want to have a law suit within your first couple of weeks...

I would also go in with a set of questions broken up between you. I would have the TL speak to the candidate first and then you speak to them last or you can do it as a team. These questions can be broken into categories, Team Work questions, communications questions, technical questions, etc.....
Have a job description, schedule requirements and expectations ready and give the candidate a briefing on them before you begin the interview and then ask if they are still interested.

Look for how nervous the person is, good sign of how they would react when put on the spot with clients or senior management. Listen for good communication skills.