Jobs in multinational call centres
As cross-border trade with the European Union (EU) and the volume of inward investment to the UK continue to flourish, a national workforce with the language skills necessary to operate key markets remains fundamental. The number of multilingual call centre jobs market provides a case in point.
Multi-skilled workforce
Multilingual contact centres maximise on linguistic skills as this provides a multi-skilled workforce that can compete in today’s global marketplace.
Candidates who are mother tongue speakers in any or a combination of Western European languages – any combination of German, Spanish, French and Italian – are in high demand.
“Strong chance of securing a call centre job”
Graduates with this skills profile should strongly consider a career in contact centres. “UK candidates with language skills have a very strong chance of securing a role,” stresses Claire McManus, Regional Manager with Hays Contact Centres.
While international candidates are also in demand, in some cases they may often wish to return home after a two-year period. “There is often a life span to these candidates and longer-term attrition is to be expected,” continues Claire McManus.
In-house training
As far as training goes, this is usually provided inhouse but employers are increasingly drawn to people with NVQs in customer service, call handling or those with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at a more senior level.
Qualifications are used less as recruitment criteria and it is more likely that organisations look at incorporating learning and development into centres for exisiting staff to avoid attrition.
Communication and technical skills
In some cases, prior customer service experience is preferred but is generally not seen as a must-have requirement. Increasingly, call centres are moving towards recruiting people with the right attitude, although business to business telesales skills are important.
As Claire McManus, regional manager for Hays Contact Centres sums up, “Excellent language, communication and technical skills are the most important attributes. Rapport building skills, previous customer service experience and exposure to targets come next.”
