Contact Center Pipeline May 2026 | Page 13

CONTACT CENTER SKILLS

PART 2

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. In this article, which I have divided into three parts, I focus on three skill areas where the hiring bar is rising fast.

AND KEEPING TALENT.

I covered digital and AI literacy in Part 1, while emotional intelligence is discussed in Part 2 here. Language skills will then be examined in Part 3.
INCREASING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS
As skill expectations rise across the contact center role, emotional intelligence( EI) is becoming a more explicit requirement.

AS SKILL EXPECTATIONS RISE... EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE( EI) IS BECOMING A MORE EXPLICIT REQUIREMENT.

MAY 2026 13