Contact centre hiring has traditionally focused on easily measurable attributes: typing speed, previous call centre experience, specific product knowledge. These are real and relevant skills. But our experience at Telnet suggests they’re not the primary predictor of agent performance — and that over-indexing on them causes us to miss some of our best potential hires.
What Actually Predicts Success
The attributes we’ve found most predictive of agent success are harder to measure in a standard interview: genuine curiosity about people, resilience under pressure, natural empathy, and the ability to communicate clearly and adapt tone to different customers.
These are what’s commonly called “soft skills” — a misleading label, because they’re harder to develop than technical skills and more valuable in the long run. Technical knowledge can be taught in a structured training programme. The ability to de-escalate an angry customer while simultaneously navigating a complex system requires a kind of intelligence that’s much harder to train.
How We Screen for These Skills
Telnet’s hiring process includes scenario-based assessments that put candidates in simulated customer situations. We’re not looking for perfect answers — we’re looking for natural empathy, clear communication, and the ability to stay calm and focused under pressure.
We also look carefully at how candidates talk about their previous experiences with difficult people or challenging situations. People who demonstrate genuine reflection and learning from those experiences tend to perform well in contact centre environments.
The Training Equation
When you hire for soft skills and train for technical knowledge, you get agents who genuinely care about the customers they’re serving. That caring shows up in customer satisfaction scores, retention rates, and the quality of every interaction.
It also shows up in staff retention. People who are naturally suited to caring for others don’t burn out in the same way as people who are fighting their own instincts to be helpful. Hiring for fit, not just for measurable skills, creates better outcomes for everyone.
