Interview Questions

[Connormar]

I am interviewing to replace an experienced, highly visible call center supervisor. Many of the applicants I will be speaking with are presently at the highest level of the rep career path. It's been several years since I've had this task (the supe turnover is very low). Other than the technical phone questions regarding staffing, scheduling, traffic, etc., does anyone have any thought provoking, make the applicant think from a different prospective, type questions/scenarios to use in the process? I want to challenge the applicants to think quickly and creatively while giving me a feel for what they "think" the job entails versus the reality of a call center supervior. I'm fresh out of ideas on how to keep the process fresh.

[chitra]

The man management skills are what I would focus on. You could get them to answer questions related to giving feedback on poor performance, positive feedback etc. I have tried role play situations during the interview which gives a good insight into the leadership style of the candidate as well.

[globalrespondez]

The man management skills is what you need to focus on. You could get them to answer questions related to motivation levels to agents. We have tried role play situations during the interview which is ver significant. If these could be tried.

[Robert Druhot]

I have found that through asking these questions, you can assess an individual based on their management style, the way that they handle stress, and personnel issues:
1) If the world was perfect, explain how the perfect boss would be. (This gives you insight into how this person perceives, or wants to perceive himself as a manager.)
2) If the world was perfect, describe the perfect employee. (This gives you insight into two areas, the type of employee that they are becoming and the expectations that they will have on their employees.)
3) List your three top assets and three top areas that you need to develop. (Most people have no problem listing their three top assets; however, when it comes to the areas that they need to develop, they typically can not come up with more than one or two. This is a great time to see how well the function under stress. See how they react when they can not come up with any. Let them sit and think about their answer for a minute or two and then move on to the next question.)
4) If you were to relate yourself to an animal, what animal would that be and why? (This question typically blows them out of the water. It catches them off-guard, especially, if this question is asked during the other intense questions. From this question, you can ascertain how well this person thinks on their feet, their creativity and problem solving skills, and find out how truthful they are to the questions that you are asking.)
5) In college, or High School, what was your favorite class or subject and why? (This allows you to dig deeper into their personality and interests. Typically people enjoy a particular class or subject, based on their interests.)
6) In college, or high school, what was your least favorite class or subject and why? (See the converse from above)
7) Why do you think you would be a good supervisor to work for? (This question assesses the individual's thought pattern about how they will be effective as a manager or supervisor. A lot of further questioning can be developed based on the individual's responses.)
If more questions are needed, I will reply later.

[beejay]

If you have candidates without prior supervisory experience, it's sometimes tough to measure. However, you might want to think about situations that exist in your center, both positive and nagative, and create questions about them. Look for behavioral tendencies and information.

First, define the characteristics you are looking for in a supervisor and then create the questions that get at these.

For example, if you are looking for leadership, you could ask "If you were to have or take over a poor performing team, how would you go about improving the team performance?" You should be looking for a coaching and mentoring approach instead of the stereotypical 'I say - you do' type style. You could also ask "how have you settled conflicts in the work enviornment? What process do you use?" Or "what're the biggest differences between management and leadership?"

If decision making is a trait, you might ask them to explain in detail what process they follow in making decisions. ANd how do they evaluate success in those decisions?

In the area of performance, "what problems in the wokplace frustrate you the most? How do you handle them?"

Again you are looking for defined characteristics and your questions should require behavioral examples that demonstrate these characteristics. Hope this helps you..........

[Jimmy Childs]

1. How do you define customer service?
2. What is the difference between good and great customer service?
3. Customer has a legitimate complaint with your service and requests an expensive refund.
4. What are the criteria you use to decide whether an agent with poor performance requires retraining or termination.
5. How would you typically deal with a floor supervisor lying, being unfair to an agent or cheating the time clock?
6. What issues do you need to report to your manager and what issues do you deal with yourself?
7. How do you team build?
8. How do you deal with various quality assurance issues?
9. When do you support your lead positions and refuse to support them?
10. Describe a training program that works.
11.Describe a quality assurance program that works.
12. How can you benchmark customer service?

[rdmaher]

We use behavourial questions to ascertain the persons action given a certain situation.

Eg: Tell me about a time...........

We look for the Situation, the action that was taken and the results.

Hope this helps!

[hallbj2]

I would agree with a couple of prior posts....

Situational and behavorial type questions would be in order. Also, you have the advantage of possibly knowing some of the internal candidates which gives an edge.
If you have observed an internal candidate struggling in a specific arena, you can target your open ended questions to that end.

Hall & Associates
Beverly Hall

[jerryvn01]

Originally Posted by hallbj2

I would agree with a couple of prior posts....

Situational and behavorial type questions would be in order. Also, you have the advantage of possibly knowing some of the internal candidates which gives an edge.
If you have observed an internal candidate struggling in a specific arena, you can target your open ended questions to that end.

Hall & Associates
Beverly Hall

Hi,

Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.

Tks again and pls keep posting.