What Makes a Good Call Center Agent?

At a call center management who regularly has the opportunity to walk the floor and scan the rows of faces, you’ve no doubt pondered the questions at the heart of employee retention: Why do certain call center agents excel in this environment while others fail? Why are some happy and others dissatisfied? How can some people thrive when others can’t keep pace? Perhaps a bigger question is: How can you identify an individual’s potential before extending the offer?

Four main factors influence whether individuals will become great call center agents. They are competencies, motivational fit, personality, and external factors. The more of these factors that are aligned and in play, the more likely the agent will be successful.

These factors and all of the issues they cover are like a Rubik’s cube, interrelated in numerous ways, but with the proper perspective and a framework for evaluating prospective employees, the puzzle becomes much easier to solve. While these are all important, the degree to which they affect an individual’s likelihood of success varies, as shown in the diagram.