The FT Word – November 2003
The FT Word
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Welcome
Welcome to the November 2003 issue of the FT Word. Please forward it to colleagues you think may enjoy it.
In this month’s issue
· hiring mistakes and how to avoid them
· “Emotions Revealed” – a book review
· a new web site for FT Works
Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
After a long period of no hiring or “reverse hiring”, if you see what I mean, many of my clients are hiring again. Since there are so few open reqs I see that a great deal of caution is used in the recruiting process, but occasionally some mistakes show up. Are you guilty? Let’s find out.
Mistake #1: Falling in love
Otherwise called the aura effect: a very likeable, personable candidate walks in. After some friendly small talk, you are under the charm, quickly forget your prepared questions and end up having a friendly chat with the candidate. Afterwards, you can’t quite put your finger on any particular skills that were demonstrated during the interview, but the great resume and great presence make your decision easy: hire!
Not so fast. For a support job, excellent interpersonal skills are precious, but they are not the whole story. Follow prepared questions no matter how charming the candidate. It will make for better hires and fewer regrets.
Mistake #2: Asking the same question 12 times
It’s a great idea to have more than one person interview each candidates (two heads are better than one) but there’s no reason why the interviewers should ask the same questions. Divide and conquer: each interviewer can focus on a particular subset of skills. Impress the candidate with an organized interview process and save yourself some time at the same time.
It’s perfectly fine to ask an interviewer to probe an area again if the first interviewer is not sure about the answers that were given. Planned overlap: good; unplanned overlap: bad. Having the *same* interviewer ask the *same* question over and over again: very bad.
Mistake #3: Assuming they can write
Many support centers rely heavily on electronic communications with customers, yet mysteriously most support managers conduct interviews entirely orally. Most support staffers are expected to talk fluently with customers, so it’s good to check that they can do it in the context of an interview, but you should also check that they can write a competent email message.
How? Simply ask them to type short messages that reflect how they typically acknowledge inquiries, ask for more information, deliver advice and negative news, and close out issues. Hand them a keyboard during the interview and have them send the messages to you. Can they build sentences with a subject, a verb, and a period at the end? Do the messages make sense? Are they appropriately friendly?
Mistake #4: Only hiring people like us
I’m a great fan of getting team members to interview candidates, both because they can inquire on obscure, but essential technical skills beyond the capacity of the hiring manager, and also because a good fit within the team is terribly important.
But groupthink can go too far. You want someone who is *compatible* with the team, not *just like* the team. In other words, the right question is “Can we work with that person?”, not “Would we want him or her as our best friend?” Diversity is a good goal in a support team, not just because the law says so but also because customers are diverse.
Mistake #5: Holding out for the perfect candidate
Especially if you only have one req or if you are making a key hire, you want to select the very best candidate. So you talk to dozens of candidates, seeing some solid ones, but always hoping to find the perfect one. If you’re just starting your search, there’s no reason to settle quickly for an only-adequate candidate. If you’ve been actively looking for more than a month and no one meets your exacting standards, it’s time to reevaluate your requirements.
Don’t look for what the French call “the five-legged sheep”: it does not exist. Find a healthy four-legged one and you’ll be in business.
Mistake #6: Treating candidates poorly
In a challenging economy, candidates don’t need to be treated with kid’s gloves, right? I disagree. The best candidates are still very much in demand, so treating them in a cavalier manner will make them look at the competition more closely. And if they do end up working for you, they will start with an arms-length approach to loyalty, not a good start from your point of view.
Treat candidates with respect: work with their schedule, be punctual, and let them know when they are out of the race.
Want to know more about hiring support staffers? Check out the FT Works’s Complete Guide to Hiring Support Staffers and Complete Guide to Hiring Support Managers. They have a new price ($40 each) this Fall. More info and online buying here and here.
“Emotions Revealed” – A Book Review
Emotions Revealed describes how emotions are shown in people’s faces. Paul Ekman has been working on the topic for decades and has taught many professionals, especially law-enforcement personnel, how to look for subtle clues that say someone is lying, for example. If you ever wanted a scientific reason for why customers can be so much more difficult in email than on the phone, and in the phone rather than in person, this is it!
The book includes many pictures of people from all cultures displaying grief, sadness, anger, and so on, as well as pictures from the author’s daughter painstakingly manipulating one little facial muscle after another to show how each one contributes to expressions (he owes her big time!) It’s very interesting to realize how we almost immediately recognize the overall effect, but have a hard time with each individual component. Did you ever think of what your eyebrows were really doing when you’re angry? Ekman will tell you, in exquisite detail.
Why should we care about this book? First, it makes a great case of how pasting on a particular face makes one experience the emotion that matches the face. Great for days you need to psych yourself up. The other, more important benefit is the coverage of how to anticipate and recognize particular emotions when giving people bad news. Handy for support professionals (and managers).
Don’t miss the great picture of “restrained anger” on page 138.
New Web Site for FT Works
Check out the new look of www.ftworks.com and tell me what you think (especially things that could be improved.) And you can now order books online, yeah!
FT Works in the News
SSPAnews published an article I wrote entitled What’s an escalation manager and where do I find one? You can read it at http://www.thesspa.com/sspanews/102803/article1.asp
SSPAnews (re)published an article I wrote entitled Beyond a Well-Modulated Voice: Call Monitoring for Grown-up Support Centers. You can read it at http://www.thesspa.com/sspanews/101403/article2.asp
Join me on December 1-3 for a practical workshop entitled CRM and Other Support Tools. It will be held at San Jose State University in California for a modest tuition fee. Details at http://galaxy.sjsu.edu/servlet/servlets.catalogs.Catalog?PROGRAMNUMBER=2359&COURSENUMBER
=17221&CURRENTSEMESTER=13&page=PdPrograms).
The ASP Softletter quoted some of my recommendations for maximizing support revenue in the 10/31/03 issue, volume 19, number 23. More such tips can be found in The 10 commandments of Support Pricing booklet. Information and pricing here.
You can still catch the TechTarget webinar entitled What do you want from CRM? by going to http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/webcasts/0,289675,sid11,00.html
Curious about something? Send me your suggestions for topics and your name will appear in future newsletters. I’m thinking of doing a compilation of “tips and tricks about support metrics” in the coming months so if you have favorites, horror stories, or questions about metrics, please don’t be shy.
Regards,
Françoise Tourniaire
FT Works
www.ftworks.com
650 559 9826
