What to expect and how to behave during an initial interview?

Acknowledge the presence of the interviewer if he or she calls your name for the interview by
greeting him or her. Smile. Offer a firm handshake.

Once inside the interview room, let the interviewer sit first. Wait until you are asked to sit. Sit
comfortably, but sit straight. As much as possible, do not use the backrest, you have a tendency to
slouch when you do. Keep your hand visible to the interviewer at all times, either folded on your lap,
or rest it on the table. This suggests that you are confident and have nothing to hide.

Stop fidgeting. Stop touching your face. If you are comfortable adding hand gestures to your speech,
do so, but dont over do it. One more thing, mute your phone or turn it off, NOT on vibrate. Never
take a call during an interview. There must be no distractions.

Trained recruiters will introduce themselves to you, they might also give you instructions. Listen
carefully, nod but not eagerly. Ask for clarification if you did not understand the question or the
instruction. When the recruiter reiterates his point, thank him before continuing with your response.

Direct your responses to the interviewer. Make eye contact but never stare, that is not polite. Avoid
looking at the wall, the table, your hand, etc anything which will suggest that you are not
comfortable in the recruiters presence. Some recruiters are trained to tell if someone is lying;
especially when the question is factual, avoid looking to your left (upper left corner), this has
something to do with your left brain-right brain function. A person who lies tend to look left as he
attempts to access the creative side of his brain meaning he is making up a story, ergo, lying.

Most call centers will test your pronunciation by asking you to read sentences or word pairs. This is
the tricky part of the initial interview since your pronunciation is being measured and not being
aware of your own errors coupled with poor grammar always results in failure. Your best bet is to be
labelled trainable, this means you have pronunciation or grammar lapses but either they are very
inconsistent, or you are aware of it that you self-correct.

When the interview is almost done, the recruiter will allow you to ask questions, do so, but make
sure it is relevant. Be succinct. Never ask about the compensation, in fact, never mention money,
salary, income, or anything related to the subject during the initial interview, this often turns an
interviewer off. Also, compensation is the WRONG answer to Why do you want to work in a call
center?

By the way, the recruiter will note his comments and observations about you this is his way of
remembering you when he sits down later to evaluate the applications he processed for the day.
Majority of what he scribbles is a split between what you said and how you said it, especially if its
funny. Dont let it distract you. Dont distract the interviewer by attempting to look at what he is
writing, he is bound to hide it from you.

Also, if you determine that the interviewer is sociable, in a good mood, or chatty, dont hesitate to
ask for feedback about your performance during the interview. Be specific about the feedback you
need. Advise the interviewer that you are a newbie in the call center field and you are looking to
improve yourself, to improve your chances of landing a job. Some are more than willing to provide
constructive feedback. When the recruiter does, take note of what he says. Its important that you
list your AFIs and meditate on them later when you get home. If the recruiter declines to provide
feedback, dont take it personally, he has a quota and there are probably tons of applicants outside
waiting.

When he hands you the regret letter, depressing as it is, be professional do not show any negative
attitude. Just say thank you, offer a handshake, and then leave. If the interviewer is chatty, ask for
feedback but never beg for it no matter how desperate you are for work.

If you failed the interview, dont sulk in one corner feeling depressed. At this point, the most
important step is to evaluate your performance: what went wrong? What were the questions asked?
How did you respond? What was the content of your response? The ability to self-evaluate offers
you a bigger chance of landing a job the next time you try because you already know how to respond
to the questions appropriately.

The work of a recruiter is to evaluate your job fit, so if he decides otherwise, dont be upset at him,
dont ask questions like why are you failing me? Im highly qualified for this job. He probably saw
through you and analyzed that your work attitude, behavior, ethics, integrity, etc. is questionable,
hence, the regret letter. To him, its all in a days work, nothing is personal. If you pass the interview,
a simple thank you will do. Dont promise him a venti latte just because he passed you you are
discounting your own performance, skill, and ability by doing that. You passed because the
interviewer saw that your qualifications fit snugly with the requirement. Finally, companies have
very strict rules against receiving gifts, so dont bother. An ethical recruiter is bound to decline
your gift.

The regret letter or the statement we will call you after 48 hours is a part of the recruitment
process, well, the purpose is really to move on to the next applicant, and to lessen the histrionics as
a result of failure. As a recruiter, I have had threats from applicants who could not handle rejection,
which validates the rightness of my decision to fail the person.

Finally, applying in a call center isnt just about your excellent communications skills. I have failed
hundreds of tenured reps who spoke well simply because they showed me the negative side of their
personality, or that they were unprofessional, or that they lack integrity, etc. It is a part of a
recruiters job to judge the person he is evaluating, therefore, showing the negative side of your
personality will have a negative impact on your application.

Questions from a call center newbie
1.Ano ba usually ang tinatanong sa phone interview?

A phone interview is an initial interview, therefore, majority of the questions asked during
this process will be geared towards evaluating your communication skills, the recruiter will
also give focus on your work history, if any. The most common questions are:

How did you learn about the company/the vacancy?
Tell me something about yourself.
Why do you want to work in a call center?
What do you know about the call center industry?
What do you know about customer service?
If given a chance, when can you start?
Do you have any pending applictions elsewhere?
Other tricky questions.

Remember: grammar, pronunciation, enunciation, pacing, accent, intonation, the
content/sense of your response, etc is what is being measured here. The initial interview is
your foot in the door therefore, to get that fighting chance, you need to be almost
faultless here.

2. sa face to face interview ano usually ang mga tinatanong at gaano ito katagal?

Im assuming you mean the initial interview. It would normally last anywhere between 5 to
10 minutes, and the questions will be the same as above, with the addition of a few reading
and pronunciation exercises. Please see my blog re Final Interview.

3. ilang interview ba ang dadaanan ng isang newbie?

Anywhere between two to four interviews, depending on the companys recruitment
process. Sometimes, the client or the managers of the client will conduct the interview,
there are also times when its going to be a panel session which, admittedly, is more
challenging.

4. pag may mali kang sagot, denied ka na ba kaagad nun?

Not necessarily. It will depend on the question being asked. For example, the question why
do you want to work in a call center tests your motivation for work, and a wrong
motivation for work, in a way, is a wrong answers. You need to analyze the question before
you respond, hence, preparing before the interview is necessary, that is, you need to do
your homework.

Having been asked the questions above, how would you answer them? Write your answer
down and familiarize yourself with it but never memorize your response, you need to be
prepared to mix and match your response based on the question asked by the recruiter.

5. ano ang pinakamahirap na parte sa buong proseso ng pag aapply(interview, exam, ect.)?

Personally, the difficulty is not in any part of the process, it is in NOT BEING PREPARED. If
you are to come to war without weapons or munitions, you might as well commit suicide,
same is true if you are applying anywhere for the first time, you need to prepare or stare at
failure right in the face.

Statistically, the most difficult part will be the initial and final interview. In my experience,
out of 100 applicants, around 80% will fail during the initial interview, the remaining 20%,
provided they pass the test, will be endorsed for the final interview, but only 2 to 3 will be
successful enough to sign the job offer.

The culprit for the low pass rate is poor communication skill, that is, poor grammar, diction,
pronunction, lack of confidence, inability to deliver the message effectively, etc. and this is
magnified by the lack of preparation on the applicants part, resulting in repeated failures.

6. saan ba malimit pumapalpak ang mga nagaaply? like sa anong questions, exam? at bakit?

See above.

7. ano ba ang gustong makita ng interviewer sa applicants para tanggapin sila?

Largely, it depends on the account, client, or position you are applying for. The first source
of this information is the job advertisement, which unfortunately, majority of the applicants
will neglect. So long as they read the heading (eg call center agent wanted), they disregard
reading the blurb, that is, if the post is for inbound, outbound, customer service, technical
support, graduate or undergraduate, experienced or un, etc. Knowing is winning half the
battle, this way you will be able to craft your responses based on the scenarios given during
the interview.

Secondly, the job of the recruiter is to determine your job fit, therefore, if you are applying
for a technical support position and your background in this field is zero, you dont get the
job. Same is true with sales accounts, if you cannot sell anything because of your inability to
deliver the message, you still dont get the job.

You need to determine your strengths, focus of them, and match the job requirement with
your specialization, this way, your chances of landing a job in that field is bigger.

8. gaano kahirap ang grammar exam?

Its hard if you do not have appreciation for the subject. At this point, Im unable to evalute
your grammar because your questions are written in Filipino.

9. gaano kahirap ang typing exam?

Not that hard, if you know how to type. This one is easy to determine, all you need to do is
Google free typing tests and you will be able to determine your min-max, number of errors,
etc.

10. anong klaseng exam pa ba yung hindi ko nasabi? at gaano ito kahirap?

These are a few exercises you might encounter:

Paragraph reading
Word pair exercises
Complete the sentence or describe the picture exercise
Mock calls or call simulation
Versant (see thread about this on pinoyexchange.coms Call Center forum)
Logic/reasoning/IQ tests
Personality tests

Different call centers use different tests so not all of the tests I mentioned here are
employed in one center. It would be prudent to research on these so you will have a clear
picture about what you will go through.

11. ano pa ba yung dapat kong malaman bilang isang aplikante?

As an applicant, it would be best to read the job advertisment in detail so you would know
what they need and if you really are qualified for it. Also, if you are a fresh graduate, it is
advisable that you bring your transcript of records; if you are tenured, it is best to bring a
copy of your payslip from your previous company. For both, I strongly advise bringing all
your documents (NBI, police clearance, etc) when applying since some centers employ a
one-day hiring process.

12. anong maipapayo nyong mga may trabaho na saaming mga newbies na gusto din
magcall center?

First, the work in the call center is not easy and its never mindless, it takes a lot of sacrifice,
learning, and adjusment you need to be prepared, especially if you are scheduled to work
the day after tomorrow, which means that your sleep adjustment may not be enough.
Shifting to the graveyard schedule impacts your body in more ways you can imagine,
therefore, you need to combat this by eating and drinking healthy. One tip: apple is better
than coffee; a study showed that drinking artificial energy boosters make your bones brittle
and it makes you acidic (citation needed) stick to water and fruits.

Second, you will hear a lot of negative stories in the call center industry, and you might
experience some of them, one tip here: filter the positive, dispose of the negative ones.
Remember how you toiled during the recruitment process and never forget the reason why
you are working, keeping your eyes to your goal will make you focus on the
learning/training, passing your scorecard, being regularized, and getting promoted or
laterally transfered. There is a career in the call center industry for those you are qualified
for it. Never be an agent forever.

Lastly, when you have achieved mastery of the job, you will feel bored or burned-out this
is normal and to be expected. This is why stable call centers and BPOs have what is called
employee engagement, a department solely focused on infusing fun in your work by
coming up with activities (eg townhalls, outings, movie premiers, contests, etc). This,
however, is not enough, so you need to motivate yourself to work, to find meaning to what
you do, and to find positive life activities to distract and de-stress you (eg gym, blogging,
etc).

kung pwede po yung mga sagot nyo based on your own experience at pakisabi po kung
anong call center yun.

maraming salamat po sa mga sasagot. makakatulong po talaga kayo ng madami. i wish you
all the best in your carreer and may God bless you

One more thing, if you find work, stay. You have a better chance of developing a career if
you have the tenure and the scorecard to back it up. This industry has been marred by job
hoppers, those with more than two call center companies in one or two years, and this is
not beneficial to your career development. Working, after all, isnt just about money I pity
those who have reduced their work value to what money can offer, they end up scratching
the bottom years after they started, probably with higher income, but little or no
satisfaction, zero career/achievement, and contemplating on jumping to another center
again. Remember this, a tenured rep has a higher market value, this translates to you having
a better position when negoting a job offer. If you are a call center hopper, your chances of
being able to negotiate an offer will not reach its maximum potential yes you will have a
salary increase, pero barya-barya lang. Never discount yourself and the sacrifices you have
made.

Hope this helps.

Call Center Life: Ten Things You Need to Survive
Youve tried to land a job in the call center industry and finally, after so many
attempts, you got in. Is it time to celebrate? No. Youre not out of the woods
yet. As a first timer in the call center industry, the first six months, even up to
the first year of your work is your break in. Some people are able to adjust
easily, a lot, however, fail to survive.
Now that you got in, the next item in the agenda is to survive. The question is
how, right? Here are a few things Ive gather over the years.
1. Get away from complainers and people who give bad advice.
These are the tenured call center employees whose first reaction to everything
is negative from their work schedule, their pay, their scorecard, their team
leader, the company, and overall, their job. Theyre not hard to spot, really. A
classic sign of this is their attendance record. You can also check their habit
and mannerisms when taking calls do they bang the mouse a lot? Curse a lot
when the customer cannot understand them?
2. Talk to your Manager/Team Leader.
Never shy away from a conversation with your manager, in fact, you should be
the one to start it. Understand the kind of person your manager is, how he
thinks, what irks him, whats good and bad in his book, and ask him what his
expectations are from his agents (he might even ask you what your
expectation of him is). More importantly, ASK YOUR MANAGER FOR
GUIDANCE. Dont wait for a coaching session to ask him this. Right now, ask
him if he has a minute, then tell him this: Sir, I am a first timer in the call
center industry and while love the work, there are a lot of things that I need to
learn. I want to succeed, to reach the level youve achieved and I cant do this
alone. I wanted to ask for your guidance.
3. Learn everything that you need to learn.
This may sound too general, but theres a gem to it. From the moment you
enter the company, everything you need to do is to learn about the product,
process, systems, customer service, call handling, scorecard, the company
culture, policies and procedures. Your learning doesnt stop. The problem
begins when your do blind learning learning without direction, whats
worst is when you learn by necessity, meaning, you learn because you need to.
Learning needs to have direction, a goal, and ultimately, it needs to level up.
This means that once you have mastered your job and everything around it,
you need to learn about leadership and management. You need to improve
your skills and competencies and aim for the next level.
4. Be different.
Admit it or not, you are surrounded by people whose goal while working is just
to get by (I login then logout), or just go get paid, or worst, you are probably
surrounded by job hoppers people who have been in this industry for so long
and all they do is to find out which company offers a higher pay. This is where
you can be different. What this industry needs are more game changers.
People who are goal-oriented, whose direction is to achieve growth in their
career via tenure. Its so easy to leave the company and jump to the next BE
DIFFERENT. Do something more challenging STAY. Not only does this benefit
your learning and your career, it also provides. I am a firm believer that if you
work for the career, money and fulfillment follows. Choose carefully the
people you hang out with.
5. Perception management.
Always remember this: right from the day you start in that company up to the
date you resign or retire, you will be watched and listened to. What you say,
what you do, how you resolve issues with people and work, your
professionalism, your attitude and behavior, (your contribution or lack thereof)
and how you speak will never escape the critical minds of your leaders. Your
daily interaction with them will form part of how you manage their perception
of you. Speak like a complainer and you will be last in their priority, but speak
like you are a part of the solution and they consult with you first. Consider
these two examples:Ano ba yan, kasalanan ba nating mga agent kung
humahaba ang AHT, eh an bobobo ng mga customers? and Boss, Ive
noticed that the AHT is taking a hit, and as a member of the team, I am very
concerned. Is there anything we I can do to help? The trick is simple: be a
part in finding the solution, dont be a part of the problem.
8. Motivate yourself
What makes you wake up in the morning, go through horrendous traffic, do
the work day in and day out, then go home tired and sleepy? If youre able to
answer this straight with an inspiring reason, then you have a great motivation
for working. If you paused for a long time or says Thats a good question,
then you have a problem. Motivation is an important aspect of your work,
without it, you will have no direction, desire, joy, satisfaction, and you will find
yourself in an endless state of emptiness. Motivation is the wind the blows the
sails of your ship and in turn. Motivation gives you that extra energy to
navigate successfully through the most difficult part of your career, its the one
that tells you to keep going when everything or everyone wants you to quit.
9. Take things personally.
And by this, I mean be accountable for the things that you do and that you are
responsible for. When you take things personally, the first thing you do when
there is a problem is to ask yourself and others what have I contributed that
resulted to this problem? Then, you follow it up with What can I do to
improve myself to make sure this will not happen again? Taking things
personally allows you to grow, allows you to improve your skills and
competencies, and it gives you direction. When the caller is irate, take things
personally that is, how can I help this customer resolve the issue? This way,
not only will he be happy, I will shorten my AHT, handle the case with
efficiency and effectiveness, and have a positive result on my CSAT.
10. Dont be a HONDA
A HONDA is the term they use for people who logs out ON THE DOT, they have
no reason to linger because for them, work is a confinement, therefore, the
top of the hour spells freedom. People with direction, with motivation, and
with a dream for a career stays a little longer to help a colleague, to chat with
the bosses, to ask his/her Team Lead if there is anything he can do to help, to
confide with his manager about issues, or simply, to relish another successful
and productive day. He stays because he finds joy in the confines of his work.
Finally, heres the real point of this article: agree with me or not, the word
survival is used for people who are in a wrong place, situation or time,
hence, the need for survival tips. If this is your case, you need to think deep
about your situation, not being able to embrace your present reality spells
trouble in the medium or long-term. If you are new in the call center industry
and you feel the need to survive, a change of perception is much-needed. If
you have been in the call center industry for more than a year and are still
trying to survive, my question is why?







If there is one thing I know about job interviews, it is this: it is competency
based. Interview questions are designed to determine if the candidate fits the
posts by comparing his responses (along with his work experience) with the
skills and comptencies required for a post.
Interview questions are not meant to be answered mindlessly, doing so would
be a waste of opportunity, in fact, if you have read my previous blogs, I heavily
encourage preparation (read: research), including finding out what the
competencies required for the post are, attempting to determine what
possible questions will be asked during the interview, AND preparing
responses which the candidate must know and understand (but not memorize)
and mix and match it based on the questions and scenarios asked during the
interview.
What are the common interview questions and how best to answer them?
1. Tell me something about yourself.
This is not an invitation to talk about yourself mindlessly. The question is
geared towards measuring your work attitude and behavior, therefore, you
MAY discus some personal items, however, you must have direction, that is,
your goal should be to talk about your personal qualities reflecting honesty,
integrity, professionalism, and even your philosophy as an employee or as a
student.
2. Why do you want to work here?
This question requires research. Prior to the interview, visit the companys
website, find out their history, type of business, their mission and vision, their
accounts (if available), and their culture. Knowing about the company makes
you sound impressive, that you did your homework, and that you are really
interested to get the job.
3. What do you know about the call center industry/agents work?
You are not an expert (yet), therefore, the recruiter/employer does not expect
you to know everything, but having a basic knowledge of the industry or the
work involved is an expectation, and naturally, failing to meet that expectation
results to failure.
4. Why should I hire you?/Why should I not hire you?/What sets you apart
from all the other candidates outside?
The objective of this question is to determine if you fit the job based on the
skills and competencies required by the post. The second question is a trick
because of the word not but the answer is still the same. Question is, how
can you make sure that you answer this question satisfactorily?
1. Study the skills and competencies required for the post.
2. List down your own skills and competencies. Compare it with the
requirements.
3. Think about the interview question. Prepare a response. The bottomline of
your response should be that you have the competencies and skills required.
For fresh graduates, it is often challenging to answer this question, plainly
because they have no work experience. I suggest the following:
1. Study the skills and competencies required.
2. Consider your experiences while you were still in school: organizations you
joined, meetings you attended, awards you won, your advocacies, etc. List
them down.
3. Compare your personal list with the skills and competencies required for the
post. Then, create a response to the interview question with the goal of
proving that you are fit for the job because even as a student, you already
exhibited the required comptencies and skills.
The above preparation will allow you to respond to the question with full
confidence and ease.
5. Why do you want to work in a call center/as a call center agent?
No matter how honest you are, DO NOT answer this question with because of
the compensation. Remember that you are being evaluated, therefore, the
objective is to sell yourself and to pass the interview. Talk about how close
this job is to your skills, competencies, and experiences. If you dont have the
experience (being a fresh graduate or a newbie), talk about how close it is your
work and personal goals, beliefs, and that you see yourself being successful in
this field. The objective is to let the interviewer know that YOU ARE PERFECT
FOR THIS JOB.
6. Why did you resign from your previous company?
This question has a lot of answers, the only tricky part is if your reason for
leaving is negative (disagreement with the boss, your forsaw termination, you
went on AWOL, etc), no matter what the reason is, BE POSITIVE. Truth is, it
does not matter if your stint was short or long (so long as it is not a string of
short stints, giving the impression that you are a job hopper). Tell the recruiter
about what you realized while employed with that job, and what you
(positively) gained by leaving, and that you are ready to move on. One example
of a good response is the employee has had a lot of achievements from the
previous company that he is now ready to move on to a bigger, more dificult
challenge and achieve more success.
7. What are you strenghts and weaknesses?
Responding to this questions poses a bit of a challenge. We Filipinos tend to
shy away from boasting, on the other hand, we do not want our weaknesses to
be exposed for fear that we will be judged unfairly.
Remember what you are applying for, if it is a call center post, focus on
communication, customer service/focus, friendliness, eye for details, etc. As
for the weakness, think of one of your strengths and let it come across as a
weakness my personal example here is I tend to be too attached to my work
that I am annoyed when I am not able to achieve my goals.
8. What is your expected salary?
Remember that this is not the negotiation part yet. The secret here is to know
the industry standard. You do not want to give too high an amount that will
make the interviewer think that the company cannot afford you, you also do
not want to give too low an amount which will give you no room for
negotiation. Know the going rate for the post then blurt it out. Be confident
when you say the amount, dont be coy, dont be too proud. Being confident
about your expected salary means that you know yourself, your experience,
and your self-worth, your skills and competencies.
9. Can you work on weekends? Shifting schedules? Do overtime work?
Graveyard shifts?
The recruiter expects that you know the industry you are applying for,
therefore, the BEST answer here is a VERY CONFIDENT YES. Do not sound
doubtful. Rememeber, you are the one job hunting. (If the work schedule is
not acceptable to you, why did you submit your resume in the first place?)
10. How do you see yourself five or ten years from now?
It is tempting to answer this with I see myself getting married, having kids, 2
cars, a house on a hill, but this is not the response fit for this questions. Again,
remember that you are being interviewed, therefore, the best response is to
focus on the job you are applying for. The answer must be work-related,
examples would be establishing an impressive performance as foundation for
promotion, getting promoted, etc. The more specific the future plan/vision is,
the better. This means that you have proper direction in your life and you have
plans for your career and that you intend to be there for the long haul.
While it is true that being interviewed is nerve-wracking, it is also true that if
you are well-prepared, you will be able to respond to questions with
confidence and ease. Again, read and understand the competencies required
for the post you are applying for, Google interview questions and write down
your sample answers, let someone look at it if youre still not sure , know and
understand the responses you prepared but dont memorize them. Be
prepared to mix and match your prepared responses based on the questions
given by the recruiter.
If you have other questions that you found to be hard, or if you have suggested
answers to interview questions above, dont hesitate to leave a comment.