Tips from our Director of Recruiting and Virtual Talent
To excel as a work-from-home customer service agent at Working Solutions, you need to know how to deliver great service and exceed customers’ expectations.
Plus, do it all remotely—not as employees, but as independent contractors.
Work-from-home contact center agents embody the 21st-century labor force: Have skills. Will work on demand.
Think of yourself as entrepreneurs, selling your talents at will over the web. As freelancers, you flourish as workforces everywhere modernize, becoming more flexible and mobile. Your talents telecommute to the jobs.
“Work-from-home agents take ownership of the work they choose to do,” says Mary Susan Costa, director of Virtual Talent at Working Solutions.
“As a result, their output and quality are higher,” she notes. “As businesspeople, they’re motivated to produce and progress, which in turn, earns them more money and success.”
As achievers, these on-demand agents possess certain strengths. They have what Costa calls “bankable qualities,” which enable them to perform well and profit in workplaces without walls.
After personally interviewing 1,000s of remote agents, she identifies five attributes that stand out—and she hires:
- Driven self-starters – This quality shines through—from the online job application through development to ongoing performance. Such drive reflects a person’s character, conscientiousness and capabilities. “For self-starters, it’s all there, in everything they do,” Costa emphasizes.
- Nonstop learners – School is never out for nonstop learners. Business and technology are changing far too fast. This bankable quality needs to show when applying online and in person. “Avid learners strive for more, which enables them to perform better,” she says.
- Techno adopters – They’re at ease with ever-changing technology. Their work-at-home computers are up to date with the latest operating system and processing power. Also, techno adopters know how to troubleshoot common technical issues. “In short, they’re Web 2.0-enabled agents,” she says.
- Team champions – Costa has found this trait is all about “we”—not “me.” With agents sometimes separated by thousands of miles, a remote team needs to work as one to best serve a client and its customers. “It’s a shared success. So it has to be a collective effort, on every agent’s part.”
- Brand advocates – The best agents are extensions of a client’s brand. They identify with its customers—and often, are even customers themselves. As brand advocates, they personify the business, whether it’s selling services, caring for customers or handling technical support. “They are on demand, in the brand—elevating every customer experience,” says Costa.
RELATED READS:
