Hi, there, my name is Justin Blake from the interview training website Kareerberry. And in this tutorial, I am going to give you 10 call center job interview questions and easy answers to remember. If you have a call center interview coming up for any role or any organization, but you are the type of person who struggles to remember your answers, this post is for you.
Let’s get straight into the tutorial.
Question number one
Interview question number one, tell me about yourself. Here’s my answer.
- I would describe myself as somebody who is very positive. I am conscientious in my work. I am hardworking and I am resilient so I can deal with difficult scenarios as and when required.
- Before I applied for this call center job, I spent some time reading the job description to make sure that I have the necessary skills and qualities to carry out my duties to the standards that you would expect.
- I am professional, I am a strong communicator and I am able to always follow rules and procedures. I would also describe myself as somebody who is a fast learner.
- I am confident I will be able to get through lots of calls during the working day and I will always meet call handling targets.
- I also have previous experience in customer facing roles, and I think that gives me an advantage in this call center position outside of work.
- I keep myself fit and active, which helps me to maintain concentration levels whilst I am at work.
- If you hire me, I will always be reliable. I will be flexible and adaptable, and I will always act as a positive role model for the company whenever I am answering calls.
Question number two
Interview question number two, why do you want to work in a call center. Here’s my example answer.
- I want to work in a call center for several reasons. The first reason is I enjoy working in a busy environment where everyone is working towards challenging targets.
- I’m a fast worker and I thrive under pressure and call center work will certainly give me that. I’m also attracted to the reliability call center work gives you.
- I am saving up for a deposit to buy my first house, so I need reliable and consistent work, and I will get that when working in a call center.
- I also want to work in a call center because I enjoy communicating with lots of different people, so I’ll have to communicate with my call center manager.
- The other call center handlers and also on a daily basis, I will deal with lots and lots of different customers, and I’ll be responsible for dealing with their challenges and problems, and I find that very attractive.
Question number three
Interview question number three, what skills and qualities are needed to work in a call center. Here’s my brilliant answer.
- There are various skills and qualities needed to work in a call center. You need, first and foremost, excellent communication skills and you have to communicate in a concise and confident manner.
- You also have to be a good listener and ask the right questions. You need to be a good company brand ambassador.
- Furthermore, you need to be a positive role model for the company, and you need to have knowledge of the company’s products and services so you can answer any questions the customers will have.
- Likewise, you need to obviously be reliable, flexible and adaptable. You need to represent the company positively in all of the work you do.
- Remain calm under pressure and you need to have a positive, confident and resilient nature.
Question number four
Interview question number four, how would you deal with an irate customer. Here we go.
- Whenever dealing with an irate customer, I would make sure that I followed company procedures and I would remain calm. It’s really important to remain calm and to listen to the customer. That is vital.
- When a customer is annoyed or they are irate by listening to them and by acknowledging that you understand their issue, it helps to resolve the situation quickly so just by saying to the customer I would feel the same if I were in your situation can really help to calm them down.
- I would demonstrate really good listening skills. I would let the customer vent their frustrations and at the appropriate time, I would ask them questions and I would reassure them and then put a plan of action in place, a suggestion of what I would do to resolve the complaint or the issue for them.
- I would then check that they were happy with that, and I would then follow up after to make sure that they were satisfied.
Question number five
Interview question number five, how do you deliver bad news to a customer on the telephone. Here’s my answer.
- Whenever I was delivering bad news to a customer, I would prepare for the call beforehand. I think that’s important because if you know what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it, it helps you to achieve a successful outcome.
- Whenever I was delivering bad news during the call, I would give that bad news relatively quickly at the start of the call. I think that’s important. I would tell the truth and I would apologize to the customer.
- I would also try and focus on something positive so if there’s a positive outcome to be had, I would focus on that during the call. I would keep control of the call. I would show understanding and I would always follow through on what it is I was going to do for the customer.
Question number six
Interview question number six, where do you see yourself in five years time. Here’s my example answer.
- I believe in five years time I would still be working for your company, either in the same position or having gained advancement to a more senior level.
- In five years time, I would hope to be seen as a fully competent and reliable member of the call handling team.
- To have undertaken numerous training development courses within the organization to help enhance my skills as a call handler.
- And I would also like to be seen as someone who could help train up newer call handlers as and when they join the company.
Question number seven
Interview question number seven, tell me about a time when you delivered excellent customer service. Here’s my answer.
- In a previous role. I was helping a customer choose a product. Now, the customer had expressed an interest in a really expensive product. However, when I started asking them questions about their needs and requirements, I felt they didn’t need the expensive product.
- I felt it would be unfair to sell them a really expensive product when they didn’t need it. Now, of course, the easy thing for me to do would be to say, Yep, no problem. This product is perfect for your needs, but I wanted to be transparent and I wanted to deliver good customer service so I explain to the customer that we had alternative products available that were half the price.
- Now the customer was really thankful for me giving them these alternative options. I explain the benefits of the cheaper products and they were very satisfied with the service they received. In fact, they went online and left a glowing five star review about the service they had received from me.
Question number eight
Interview question number eight, what’s your biggest weakness. Here’s my easy to remember answer.
- I would say my biggest weakness is the fact I find it really hard saying no to people.
- I’m that type of person who says yes to everything and then becomes a little bit overwhelmed when I have too many responsibilities so I am trying to be more mindful in situations like that and to assess my workload before I say yes to things. I am the type of person who will always continually develop and improve in the role.
- If you see something about my performance you want me to improve on, I will take on board your advice and expertise, go away and implement the necessary actions to improve.
Question number nine
Interview question number nine, tell me about a time when you went above and beyond what was expected at. Here’s my example answer.
- Work in a previous role, the company website went down late on a Friday afternoon.
- Now, this was disastrous for the company because we had an online sale plan for that weekend and we’d put in a lot of effort into this online sale and we really wanted it to be successful so my manager came into the office and he asked for a volunteer, somebody to stay behind late that Friday evening to try and fix the website problem and get it back up and running for the following day.
- I volunteered to be that person, so I started out by calling around local IT companies to try and find one who could help us. Unfortunately, because it was so late on a Friday, none of them were available, so I then used my initiative.
- I came up with an alternative solution to the problem. I went online and I managed to find a web developer on the website Upwork, who was readily available to try and fix the problem so I then arranged a Zoom call.
- I went online and I spoke to him about the issue we were having. I gave him access to what our server and I checked his reviews to make sure that he was a competent individual, which he was.
- He then spent a couple of hours trying to fix the issue. I stayed online and answered loads of questions that he had, and then he came back to me and said, finally, he’d fixed the issue and we got the website back up and running again, which was a great result because the online sale was a success.
- I am the type of person who will always be flexible and adaptable, and I will always go above and beyond what is required to help the company.
Question number 10
Interview question number 10, do you have any questions for us? My advice is to ask three small questions that are designed to impress the interviewer and show them that you are going to be someone who really can add value in the role. Let me tell you three small questions to ask at the end of your interview.
- Question one, how do you see the company evolving over the next five years?
- Question number two, what advice would you give to a candidate who wants to do a brilliant job in this role?
- Question number three, what are the next stages of the process and when could I contact you to find out the results of my interview?
Now the next thing to do is head through to my website and you can find full set of interview questions and top scoring answers, including the ones I’ve worked through together today so make sure you go through to the website because I’ve also placed more questions on there that I recommend you prepare for. There’s also some really important additional tips that will help you to polish your interview. Make sure you check those out.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the tutorial of call center job interview questions. As I said at the start, it’s really important because I can then help you not just pass every job interview, but I can help you to negotiate a salary, get a pay rise and also get a promotion and make sure you share your feedback on the comments section. That’s all I ask that motivates me to create more articles for you. It’s really good to connect with like minded professionals such as yourself. Thank you so much for reading, and I wish you all the best for passing your interview. Have a brilliant day!