if you want to learn the 10 tips on how to Ace your initial call center job interview continue watching from here up to the very end of this video so my number one tip is to show that you understand the job description of a call center agent hey Maria thank you for coming in uh before we move forward I'd like to gauge your understanding of the industry can you describe what you believe are the responsibilities of a call center agent to me a call center agent is the voice of a company or a brand so
depending on the needs of a brand some of them could be taking calls to answer questions or troubleshoot issues or even sell products and services that means it's very important for them to be attentive to be calm and tech savvy enough to be able to navigate the tools and software needed to help the customers their goal is to give the customers the most positive feeling about the brand and services by helping them solve their problems having a basic understanding of the responsibilities just shows that you've done your research and you truly want to be in
the industry number two ensure that your resume is accurate and up to date hey Megan thanks for coming in today uh I was just reviewing your resume and I noticed a few gaps in your employment history I just want to clarify some of them between the time that you left off sourcing in 2019 and when you landed a job in consendo in 2021 what were you doing so after my time in offsourcing in 2019 I took a course a computer Basics course for about six months and then I tried finding a job but then pandemic
hit and so it it became challenging for me to find a job what I did was to take a take up a sideline gig as a delivery writer until until 2021 when I was able to get a job and Convergys all right what about the break between 2015 to 2017. okay so during that time I decided to go back to the province and just help with a family business we had and still have a small convenience store and then I felt the urge to go back to the city to Davao City and I started working
with the 611 in 2017. I think that was May 2017. yeah okay got it perfect I once applied in JP Morgan's Cebu and I was not accepted because of this well at least I was I'm pretty sure it was because of that prior to his confusion about my employment history me and the interviewer were vibing well until that part where he had to write over my resume to clarify some details I just didn't think that it was that important at that time and I didn't make a point to remember my employment history and so when
he was asking me certain gaps in the resume I just couldn't answer not because I was lying but because I truly could not remember number three prepare a reason for wanting to work in a call center because interviewers are always going to ask that question because if you truly want to work in the industry then surely you must have a good reason to do so other than I'm just curious so whatever answer you come up with make sure that you admire the industry and just highlight the benefit it gives to the people who work there
hey Lisa thanks for joining me today so out of curiosity um why did you choose to pursue a job in a call center well for me it wasn't really an overnight decision it was it started I think when I saw how it transformed my cousin my cousin by the way worked in a call center for a couple of years and I just saw how call center transformed her in terms of communication skills and confidence and being able to handle herself in difficult situations with patience and Poise and every time I admire her she would always
credit it to the call center industry and I think I want to be a part of a job environment that instills those those qualities for me right plus I also heard that having a call center experience can be beneficial to whatever field you want to be in I quite agree uh call center trainings can be transformative in many ways it's it's nice to know you're quite enthusiastic about this number four research of the company memorize facts about their awards and achievements if any and explain why you think the company is an ideal workplace to work
in so Candace why did you choose to apply here prior to applying here I did my research and I compiled a list of companies who have been receiving Awards front left and center and it turns out that you are one of the top companies who have been grabbing Awards in the last few years in fact you've got the customer service Excellence award just this year I've also read reviews about your company online and a vast majority of them have been positive so for me if that is not a reason to apply I don't know what
is wow you're actually done your research uh that's definitely right we did receive an award last May for customer service excellence and thank you so much for wanting to be a part of that absolutely I have been planning to apply even before I graduated number five prepare for the most common job interview questions this goes without saying these are the questions that I am 99 sure are going to be asked in any job interview I have videos on how to answer all these I'm going to link them in the description personally I am prone to
mental blocks I am an introvert so talking to strangers doesn't really come naturally to me I tend to be really self-conscious so what I would do was collect all the common interview questions and then prepare my answer in advance and I would memorize them word for word I know that doesn't sound glamorous but that's what I did and that's what helped me deal with mental blocks to my point of view if I can prepare for these common job interview questions then that gives me more brain power to focus on the questions that are out of
the blue if I can control this part of the interview then I will these memorized answers could actually also be applied to other questions that you do not expect in an interview it could provide a template but it could be different for you just experiment see what works for you and if you want to go down this route then I suggest that you prepare at least a week prior to your interview because that would give you enough time to memorize your answers so if you want to see the most common cause in a job interview
questions I'm going to link it up here number six say yes to night shifts holidays and shifting schedules first and foremost would you be open to working on shifting schedules yes I can adapt to shifting schedules what about graveyard shifts yes I'm willing to work on graveyard shifts and lastly our services are quite essential so we still work during holidays and weekends how do would you feel about working on holidays like Christmas and New Year yes I'm prepared for that too while spending time with family during holidays is valuable to me I understand as well
that this is the nature of the job and I am prepared definitely to work on holidays if needed there might be Exceptions there might be companies that are willing to adjust especially if you're a working student but most of the time call centers prefer that you have a flexible schedule to adjust to theirs number seven do not reveal that you're planning to leave the call center industry so soon when companies hire and train you that means they're investing money and when you quit they cannot get that money back that's the reason why they prefer that
you stay longer for at least two to three years to get their money's worth if you're young high school graduate or an undergraduate they're definitely going to ask this question you can say yes you're planning to leave the industry but make it a point to specify at least two to three years that you're gonna stay as a call center agent it just makes for a realistic answer and answer that they also want to hear if you are a degree holder they might ask you if you want to pursue a career in your chosen field in
the field that you studied for and for that you just say that you're planning to build a career in this industry and come up with a reason why and I noticed that you recently finished school do you have any plans of going back anytime soon for further studies maybe get a PhD no not anymore I mean I've already graduated and I know that there is still a lot to dive into in this industry and I'm pretty sad on making a career out of this for me it feels like the right place for me number eight
whatever the question is demonstrate in your answer any of the following as much as you can active listening empathy patience clear communication negotiation skills problem solving skills multitasking abilities basically all trades essential to a call center agent there are probably thousands of calls in our job interview questions but essentially all of them are designed to determine whether or not you have some of these traits in the call center world problem solving is quite a crucial skill can you walk me through how you approach problem solving in a general sense all right so first off I
really take a moment to understand what's happening no jumping to conclusions that's very important and then I think about why it happened and what I can do to set it right and then I usually come up with a list of Solutions in my head and I would compare them and just pick the one that feels the most practical and right and would you say that your method of problem solving helped you in previous situations or jobs you've held yes absolutely so in my previous roles taking a moment to really grasp the situation uh helps you
be more objective about about the the problem instead of being emotional number nine prepare for situational behavioral and out of the box questions this is just an initial interview so chances are you're not gonna be asked these questions much but it's still possible I have a video about behavioral call center job interview questions and it's up here I am yet to create videos about situational which is quite similar to behavioral questions and I'm also planning to create a video about out of the box questions to answer situational and behavioral questions use the star framework situation
task action and result and can you recall a situation in the past where your interaction skills made a real difference well back at my old job at the cafe I had this regular customer let's just call her Mrs Serrano one day she went to the cafe as usual ordered her coffee and then I noticed something was very off I could just read from her body language that she was about to cry she was on the verge of tears and so when I delivered the coffee to her I asked her if she was okay what's wrong
it turned out that she was dealing with some personal stuff and to be quite honest at that time I did not know what to do or even reply I was not sure whether I should give her an advice so what I did was to just listen just let her talk and spell out her frustration I eventually assured her that things no matter how bad will eventually end that interaction probably took like five minutes before I went back to the kitchen but the very next day the very next day she ordered her usual coffee again and
she pulled me aside and thanked me profusely I could not believe that she was thanking me like it was the the best thing that could have happened to her and then I realized that what I did just lending her a listening ear helped her a lot and from that day I made it a point to listen better and empathize better because I realized that it's just a universally important skill no matter where you are oh I couldn't agree more listening is crucial in customer service and that's really great to hear because we need all our
agents to be able to listen well and anticipate the needs of our customers and my tip number 10 is to watch job interview simulation videos I have plenty of interview simulation videos and the link in the description but here's one that's specifically tailored for initial interviews good morning thanks for taking the time to interview with me today I'm Rachel nice to meet you Rachel thank you so much for this opportunity can I call you Candace sure that's how everyone calls me are you nervous I absolutely am yeah here's how your initial interview would look like
if you apply all the tips that I've just discussed in this video alright everyone thank you so much for watching my next video will be about final interviews account validation situational questions out of the box questions and if you have suggestions questions leave them in the comment below maybe some requests go ahead let me know all right thank you so much for watching this very long video bye
