When deciding on the right candidate to take through to an initial Telephone Interview we are looking for someone with at least 6 months experience in an Admin/Financial background. That could include working in a solicitors or a Debt Management company, which would mean the candidate had transferrable skills. We look for someone with customer service experience and who is used to dealing with customers over the telephone. We also look for someone who is used to doing a variety of tasks on a daily basis and not just one or two structured tasks.
At telephone interview stage we are looking for someone with good communication and listening skills, someone who you can easily build rapport with and who displays empathy and can be sympathetic. We are also looking for someone who we think would make customers feel at ease on the telephone, be confident and firm where required but also friendly - be able to chat about the weather, holidays etc. and come across as genuinely interested.
In addition to the above we are looking for someone who demonstrates they are able to deal with change on a regular basis, someone who is confident, passionate, enthusiastic and wants to learn new skills. The main thing we look for is an excellent team player who will fit in well with the team, due to the nature of work we do. This is an absolute must, the person must be able to pitch in and help out wherever required whether it is their job or not. We need to determine the person has good attention to detail & good numeracy skills.
Telephone Interview.
Role Play at face to face Interview - to assess communication skills, empathy, rapport etc.
Numeracy and Accuracy test at face to face Interview - To assess attention to detail and numeracy skills.
Competency based face to face Interview.