CONTACT CENTER SKILLS
PART 1
BY APRIL CANTWELL, HARVER
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
WHY SCREENING HARDER WON’ T WIN
THERE IS A NEW APPROACH TO ATTRACTING
Contact centers must deliver more than they ever have before. Interactions are more complex, customers are less patient, products are more configurable, and channels now span voice, chat( including video), email, and social platforms.
In response, organizations have steadily raised the bar for what“ good” talent looks like. But there is a fundamental constraint the industry cannot technology its way around; the labor pool is not expanding at the same pace as skill expectations.
22 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
AND KEEPING TALENT.
And when organizations respond by tightening requirements and screening harder, they may narrow the pool in ways that do not reliably improve performance: and ultimately leave too few candidates to fill open roles.
If the contact center industry had a recurring storyline, it would be this: the next technology wave is always expected to solve the talent problem.
The current version centers on AI. In McKinsey’ s words,“ Many are being inundated with solutions from AI vendors amid predictions that calls requiring hu- man agent support will virtually disappear in the next few years.”
But the reality inside contact centers remains more complicated, because, as McKinsey also points out,“ humans remain valued for their ability to handle complex and emotionally nuanced interactions, too.”