Call Centers Welcoming the Class of 2010: Applications Accepted

The new research conducted by Hays Contact Centres in conjunction with the Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service, reveals a growing number of UK call center job seekers; however, retention of  the best talent still remains as a bottleneck in the growth of the industry. As the economy improves, call centers are planning to implement flexible working and training initiatives along with better career progression packages to retain talented resources.

Even with the downplaying economic market, there is a significant increase in UK call center related job applications, many of whom are 2010 graduates, reports recruiting expert, Hays Contact Centres. The survey further shows that almost 55 percent of call center managers received more speculative job applications in the year 2010 than 2009. The research was conducted based on the input from 286 call center managers and agents, revealing a growing interest among graduates.

In a recent press release, Geoff Sims, managing director of Hays Contact Centres, commented, “Call centers are becoming more demanding of their staff so it isn’t surprising that the profession is attracting more people with degrees, particularly when we are still faced with a challenging economy and high unemployment levels. A clear career path is always a strong draw for graduates and it is increasingly being recognized that call centers offer excellent opportunities for progression.”

The survey also revealed the positive morale among call center staff towards the advancement of their career with almost 54 percent acknowledging that call centers offer progressive career opportunities and 58 percent wanting to develop long-term career relationships with the industry. Although there was tremendous boost in the applications, almost 67 percent of managers believe that talented employee retention would be challenging with the improving economy. As a solution, 41percent of the managers have introduced flexible working options so as to retain talented staff, with better training and better career progression opportunities as added benefits.

Simon Thorpe, program director at Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service, believes that with the growing number of job seekers, focus should be on retaining the best talent so as to ensure a high standard of customer experiences.

Contact centers are not only faced with the challenge of retaining best talent, but must boost their social media awareness.