The latest 2006 survey conducted by Manpower, the global leader and benchmark in human resource services, announced that 40 percent of a total of nearly 33,000 employers interviewed in 23 countries around the world were struggling to find qualified candidates.
Sales Representatives, Engineers and Technicians, occupy the top categories when it comes to the talent shortage.
Governments and employers around the world are taking steps to counter the effects of such shortages by improving educational and training resources, adopting strategic migration policies, increasing the integration of the economically inactive workforce and incentivizing staff. Older experienced and qualified to stay longer in their jobs.
If we transfer this analysis to the Call and Contact Center industry, what we detect is that if demand continues to increase in our region, certain profiles will be increasingly difficult to obtain. We speak, for example, of personnel with a good command of English, technicians or systems engineers, in the case of BTO Centers (Business Technology Outsourcing) and auditors / Accountants, for BPO Centers (Business Process Outsourcing).
Why "talents" for Call or Contact Centers?
To understand why we speak of "talents", it is convenient to do a little history and observe what has been the development and evolution in the profiles and competencies of those who work in what today constitutes the Call Center Industry.
Brief relate
15 years ago, in the 1990s, it was enough to have a good voice, precision and data entry speed, plus some basic knowledge of PC, to be in a position to apply for a Telemarketer position.
Even so, and already at that time, at Manpower we detected that it was necessary to invest in specific tools that would allow us to validate these competencies in order to in turn be able to offer the quality of resources that this task required. This is how the "Telephone Interview" arose, which until today allows us to measure the characteristics of voice and language, and the "Data Entry" test to evaluate precision and speed in data entry, no less detail if we take into Note that the telephone operator fulfills a dual function by having to maintain a conversation and enter data into the system simultaneously.
In the second half of the 90s, the Telemarketing or telephone sales channel was consolidated, a specialty where it seeks to meet certain sales objectives. The problem of turnover and absenteeism arises. It was difficult to achieve the objectives for those who did not have the necessary skills and knowledge. This prompted us to make a new investment: to design selection tools and interactive telephone sales training programs. Simultaneously, other specialties such as Customer Services, Help Desk, Telecollections and Satisfaction Surveys were emerging. We expanded our portfolio of tools and we understood that we also had to create a division with expert personnel in the area of Call Centers.The reality of the market showed us that we could not select a telephone operator for Customer Services or another specialty, under the same modality in which we carried out the selection process for a bilingual secretary.
From Call Center to Contact Center
Technology provided new communication tools that were consolidated in the new millennium. Call Centers, which until then had only one channel, which was the telephone, incorporated email, chat, Internet, etc. and they migrated to the Contact Center mode. This change once again raised the degree of complexity of the profiles to the extent that operators also required, for example, knowledge of commercial writing, good spelling, the ability to interact via the Internet and simultaneously operate in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) environment. These new competencies led us to design selection and training tools once again, this time in a multi-channel environment.This is how Multi Access was born, which allows us to train candidates in the use of each of these new applications and which adds to our Virtual University - which offers us the opportunity to train all our employees in multiple areas and through the Internet. Likewise, we have other web tools such as Career Harmony that allows, for example, that only by having access to the Internet, applicants can enter their data, take tests and / or apply for a jobtake tests and / or apply for a jobtake tests and / or apply for a job
Current situation
It is extremely clear that we are passing through and living in a totally globalized new world. This scenario is the genesis of the great changes in the world of work. The Off Shore of services where our region, after India, is the most chosen for the installation of Contact, BPO and BTO Centers, increased the demand for talents and made it necessary at the same time to redesign the profiles, to which and Depending on which country they provide the service to, the command of a second language is added as a condition, which is not English in all cases, although it is the most required. Now, we are also talking about a whole cultural change that modifies in some cases the habits and customs of workers, and so depending on the time slot,Your working day can begin at the time you usually go to sleep.
Who knows if, as we talk about Jet-lag, let's start talking about Contact-lag…
Conclusions
The Call and Contact Center industry will continue to play a fundamental role in generating employment. The great challenge is to create the right conditions and generate the necessary cultural changes to design attractive job offers. The salary offer, so key in the cost structure and in generating interest in potential candidates, will have to overcome the minimum wage barrier and position itself either at the average or above the market.
Environmental and ergonomic conditions, length of shifts, rest times, concrete development opportunities, permanent training, supervision with leadership, motivational actions, are just some of the aspects that we recommend taking into account and paying close attention when designing. the HR selection plan, both for new projects and for the optimization of the current service. If this process is to be outsourced, the experience and specific knowledge that the supplier or strategic partner has will be totally key to achieving the desired success.
