Comments on: Communication and Customer Service: More Important Than Ever http://www.ere.net/2002/02/20/communication-and-customer-service-more-important-than-ever/ Recruiting News, Recruiting Events, Recruiting Community, Social Recruiting Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:03:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Steve Booth http://www.ere.net/2002/02/20/communication-and-customer-service-more-important-than-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-4083 Steve Booth Wed, 20 Feb 2002 12:40:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2002/02/20/communication-and-customer-service-more-important-than-ever/#comment-4083 Interestingly enough, we have just had our Annual Sales Conference where we brought all our offices together. The main topic "Customer Service", with more and more Internet Job Boards being accessible to Clients and agencies alike, we need to reinforce the view that we can find Applicants that wont / don?t respond to job boards. Therefore the applicants we deal with are the greatest advert for us. If we treat applicant with professionalism, courtesy and a general "Treat each applicant as you wish to be treated" attitude, they will have no problem referring you to people they know. "Birds of a feather flock together". These are the folks who are motivated, challenged and generally happy in their careers, but will listen to opportunities, but the only way you will attract these candidates is being a professional, remember if your clients like you, you?re in trouble, they need to love you.<BR><BR>You can read the original article at: <BR>http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37 <BR><BR>Post your own Article Review<BR>http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37 <BR> Interestingly enough, we have just had our Annual Sales Conference where we brought all our offices together. The main topic “Customer Service”, with more and more Internet Job Boards being accessible to Clients and agencies alike, we need to reinforce the view that we can find Applicants that wont / don?t respond to job boards. Therefore the applicants we deal with are the greatest advert for us. If we treat applicant with professionalism, courtesy and a general “Treat each applicant as you wish to be treated” attitude, they will have no problem referring you to people they know. “Birds of a feather flock together”. These are the folks who are motivated, challenged and generally happy in their careers, but will listen to opportunities, but the only way you will attract these candidates is being a professional, remember if your clients like you, you?re in trouble, they need to love you.

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http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37

]]> By: Allan Brauer http://www.ere.net/2002/02/20/communication-and-customer-service-more-important-than-ever/comment-page-1/#comment-4082 Allan Brauer Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:02:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2002/02/20/communication-and-customer-service-more-important-than-ever/#comment-4082 I heartily endorse the message of this article. Though I am no longer in a role that puts me on the front lines of recruiting, I can attest that every maxim you ever heard about customer service and sales applies 100% to recruiting as well, to wit: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It takes months to find a customer, and only seconds to lose one. A good salesperson listens more than s/he talks. Further, I recommend that all companies provide training in customer service to all employees, not just those seen as "front-line" or customer-facing. We need to understand that everyone in every organization has customers, whether external or INTERNAL. Too many companies make the mistake of talking the talk but not walking the walk. If you are drilling your front-line workers in customer service skills, yet they are met with curt or rude responses (or no response at all) when they ask their supervisor a question or send an e-mail to the scheduler requesting a shift change, your internal communications are not in alignment with your stated goals. Companies that develop a climate of responsiveness, courtesy and service by rewarding and advancing those who demonstrate the right behaviors will be more likely to deliver the same to external customers, and will attract and retain the people who truly model a customer service mentality in all their interactions. From a recruiting perspective, see how the following practices will help you succeed: 1. Hire, train, and retain recruiters who model open, accessible, inclusive and welcoming behaviors. I have seen recruiters at job fairs who don't smile, who wait for the candidates to engage them, who answer questions with closed-end responses, and other such mistakes. 2. Speaking of job fairs, if only HR recruiters are attending, you are missing an opportunity. Develop an expectation that the departments who are screaming for candidates need to pony up resources to support recruitment. Have experienced members of those departments (who also demonstrate great interpersonal skills, of course) at the fair and get them connected with the candidates who appear to be a good match. A few minutes talking to someone who does the job can save hours in screening candidates. 3. Speaking of screening, recruiters need to understand their job is not to screen OUT the unqualified. Their job is to screen IN the potentially qualified so that your selection systems can do their work. Consider the two responses to the same question, "Do you have any openings in customer service?" Company A. No. We are just looking for accountants today. Company B. At this moment we don't, however, we may in the near future. Here's some ways you can stay in the loop about our job openings and some information about the benefits of working for Company B... Which company would you cross off your list? My two cents. <BR><BR>You can read the original article at: <BR>http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37 <BR><BR>Post your own Article Review<BR>http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37 <BR> I heartily endorse the message of this article. Though I am no longer in a role that puts me on the front lines of recruiting, I can attest that every maxim you ever heard about customer service and sales applies 100% to recruiting as well, to wit:

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

It takes months to find a customer, and only seconds to lose one.

A good salesperson listens more than s/he talks.

Further, I recommend that all companies provide training in customer service to all employees, not just those seen as “front-line” or customer-facing. We need to understand that everyone in every organization has customers, whether external or INTERNAL. Too many companies make the mistake of talking the talk but not walking the walk.

If you are drilling your front-line workers in customer service skills, yet they are met with curt or rude responses (or no response at all) when they ask their supervisor a question or send an e-mail to the scheduler requesting a shift change, your internal communications are not in alignment with your stated goals.

Companies that develop a climate of responsiveness, courtesy and service by rewarding and advancing those who demonstrate the right behaviors will be more likely to deliver the same to external customers, and will attract and retain the people who truly model a customer service mentality in all their interactions.

From a recruiting perspective, see how the following practices will help you succeed:

1. Hire, train, and retain recruiters who model open, accessible, inclusive and welcoming behaviors. I have seen recruiters at job fairs who don’t smile, who wait for the candidates to engage them, who answer questions with closed-end responses, and other such mistakes.

2. Speaking of job fairs, if only HR recruiters are attending, you are missing an opportunity. Develop an expectation that the departments who are screaming for candidates need to pony up resources to support recruitment. Have experienced members of those departments (who also demonstrate great interpersonal skills, of course) at the fair and get them connected with the candidates who appear to be a good match. A few minutes talking to someone who does the job can save hours in screening candidates.

3. Speaking of screening, recruiters need to understand their job is not to screen OUT the unqualified. Their job is to screen IN the potentially qualified so that your selection systems can do their work. Consider the two responses to the same question, “Do you have any openings in customer service?”

Company A. No. We are just looking for accountants today.

Company B. At this moment we don’t, however, we may in the near future. Here’s some ways you can stay in the loop about our job openings and some information about the benefits of working for Company B…

Which company would you cross off your list?

My two cents.

You can read the original article at:
http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37

Post your own Article Review
http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=38A60F601BA542BA87A97FC5EAFBCD37

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