Hi Ian,

Having worked in a call centre a few years ago for a car insurance company, I'm happy to share the assessment process I went through.

The first round of interviews was a telephone call where I was asked situational judgement questions. Then I was invited for face to face interview which was two part, first part was a traditional interview and then a short 3-5 min roleplay with one of the managers. I believe I was given a scenario and then got a few minutes to think through it and then the role play began.

Hope that helps :)

Hello Ian,
I have some experience too with a BPO CC as a CC rep, CC project admin and recruiting for in-house CC, so here's my input.
For BPO CC's, the process will be different depending on the Client and the profiles you are looking to hire (i.e. multilingual, tech support versus cs etc). Some Clients have specific requirements for the profile and the process. E.g. when I was a Tech Support & later a Project Admin with a BPO CC for a global Tech Client in a multilingual (5 languages) project, we had agreed we will follow their global process which included: First, we had a 10min in-person interview with the Recruiter from the CC, typical "tell me about yourself, why this job, are you OK with shifts" - enough to see if the person understands the context of the job and is a good fit.
Then, numerical, logical and tech test (e.g. understand a given error message if it relates to hardware, software or peripheral issue) entirely in English (because the training would be in English too, for everyone). Also, a 10-15min phone interview (because it was phone Tech support) with a native speaker from the Client's vendor management team (Coach or Trainer), which was entirely situational judgement questions - not "tell me about yourself, why us" etc. If all this is a Pass, then the Candidate is hired for the Training (initially). It's not over yet; the Client had a 2-step assessment process throughout the Training (lasting 3 weeks). One Test after the 1st week, which was entirely technical based on the training material provided until then. And one final Test at the end of week 3 (after all tech training is complete and listening calls with experienced reps) - this one is a combination of technical (more advanced) and customer policy. Any trainee failing either of these 2 Tests, is not continuing.
For the in-house CC, it was for the financial service industry, not multilingual and required a degree and some knowledge around insurance products. The process included numerical, logical tests, all timed and scenarios relevant to financial services/insurance. Whoever, passed those, then had to go through a 1:1 interview with a team lead and manager.
Best of luck
Calliope

In reply to Calliope:

Thanks, I passed back all this was feedback and there the new site is about to launch.

If anyone wants free access to it from Monday let me know as it has been decided feedback from competent HR professionals is worth it's weight in gold (i did do some persuading).

No strings or contracts or anything a straight case of you give us your professional feedback and in return you can set whatever assessments you wish free of charge (and get the resultant reports) - Could be the most bizarre HR xmas party game ever

Site is www.simusuite.com any questions ask