How to screen a customer service advisor

Must-haves to check first

Decide these before you advertise. Keep the list short - every extra requirement narrows your pool.

• Availability for your shift pattern, including evenings and weekends Possible knock-out
• For home-based roles: a quiet workspace and reliable broadband Possible knock-out
• Languages spoken - for multilingual desks Nice to have

8 questions to ask every customer service advisor applicant

Ask everyone the same core questions, in the same order, and follow up where their CV leaves a gap. That's what makes a screen fair and comparable.

1. Which shifts can you work, and can you make the training start date?Listen for: Availability for the cohort and the rota.
2. Home-based roles: where would you work, and how reliable is your broadband?Listen for: A quiet, private space and a stable connection.
3. Tell me about a time you turned an unhappy customer around.Listen for: A specific example with a good outcome.
4. A customer is shouting at you on the phone. What do you do?Listen for: Stays calm, listens, acknowledges, follows the process for abusive calls.
5. How do you handle doing lots of similar calls in a row?Listen for: Energy, pace and treating each customer as new.
6. Which systems have you used - CRM, ticketing, live chat?Listen for: Useful but trainable.
7. Which languages do you speak, and how well?Listen for: For multilingual desks, test the language separately.
8. Sales roles: tell me about a target you hit.Listen for: Numbers and how they got there.

What not to ask

And for every role, avoid asking about:

• Age or date of birth - unless the law sets a minimum age for the task
• Health, sickness record or disability before a job offer (Equality Act 2010, section 60). The narrow exceptions include asking about adjustments for the recruitment process, and whether someone can carry out a task that is intrinsic to the job - ask about the task, not the condition
• Pregnancy, children, childcare or plans to start a family
• Nationality or "where are you from?" - instead, ask every applicant whether they have the right to work in the UK, and check documents before they start
• Religion, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, or gender reassignment

More on this in AI screening and UK law.

Screening customer service advisors at volume

If you get more customer service advisors applicants than your team can phone, the questions above are only fair if everyone gets asked them. BeCareers asks every applicant about your must-haves and these questions in a short conversation - in their own language, at any time of day - and gives you the transcript and a summary. You decide who to interview.

See also: AI screening for contact centres.