Call centre recruitment trends

Internal referral fees have been a characteristic of call centre recruitment for many years.  The payment of a spotter’s fee to employees who refer a friend or family member to the organisation has worked reasonably well. 

It is a system that is particularly suited to call centres due to high attrition rates and the repetitive nature of the job.  A current employee normally has a good understanding of what the job involves, the impact of a roster. They also have an insight into the ability of a friend to cope with the task and culture of the workplace.  There are always limitations, of course, but the process can work well from time to time as a combination of reward and recruitment strategy.

However the current skills shortage is forcing employers to investigate some previously untried and unconventional approaches.  Although there are close relationships with professional recruitment consultants, some employers are now casting their employment net wider than their own staff and recruitment firm.

Enter the bounty hunter.  In a new and yet unproven concept to the Australian recruitment industry, the employment bounty hunter is now online.  The system works by the employer advertising a job online and nominating a bounty for anyone who can refer a suitable candidate.

Instead of searching within the family and friends network of current staff or the candidates on the books of the recruitment firm, bounty hunters start searching on the employer’s behalf.  The employer can then receive applications from all sorts of people who may or may not be at all suitable.

The jury is still out as to the ultimate success of this tactic.  While it will be seen as novel for a short time, it is unlikely to gain support from companies who operate in the ‘employer of choice’ category.

Will bounty hunters make the difference to desperate call centre employers?  One thing is for certain, a bounty hunter will not provide the critical testing performed by a professional recruiter.  Psychometric, skill assessment, aptitude and language testing are services heavily sought by call centre managers.  Induction, interactive training and e-learning are also specialist services provided by professional HR and recruitment practitioners.

Of course, bounty hunters might just be a symptom of the tightness of the current employment market.  The additional cost of a bounty will need to be added to the other costs of due diligence prior to making an offer to a candidate.  And there is no evidence bounty hunting will do anything to enhance an employer’s retention rates.

Where the emphasis is on quality, call centre managers may ask whether job bounty hunting will flush out the elusive perfect candidate?  Will the cream of the talent pool rise to the top?  And the simple answer is, probably not.

The web of online employment networking is still in its infancy.  Employers cannot and will not be able to perform all the ancillary services offered by recruitment professionals especially in the specialised area of call/contact centre personnel.  Bounty hunting may be an interesting experiment, but one unlikely to solve the skills shortage faced by call centres.