How do I recruit multilingual staff for my call centre?

In an increasingly globalised economy, a growing number of organisations are expanding their customer service operations to encompass different languages. Doing so shows you’re an internationally minded organisation, open to doing business across borders. And if you’re keen to develop your call centre operations specifically in order to win business in new markets, you’ll have to take on multilingual agents to reach a bigger audience, and boost sales and customer satisfaction.

But if you haven’t done this previously, you may not be entirely sure of the most effective way of hiring the best candidates for these roles. So recruiting multilingual agents for your call centre can seem a challenge initially. You’ll need to take into account customer service experience and cultural competency as well as linguistic abilities as part of your multilingual recruitment drive. But there are a number of things you can do to make the task easier.

Here are some of the talents to look out for:

1. All-round language skills

Clearly, call centre staff need to be able to speak the target language well and have a good level of comprehension. But they also have to understand different dialects within, say, Spanish or German. Equally, test for reading and writing as well as listening and speaking, for example using tests involving reading scripts and writing replies to customer enquiries. Be clear as to which languages you need, and the expected level of proficiency.

2. Customer service expertise

Fluency in Italian or any other language is one thing. But don’t forget that you require the same customer service experience you’d look for in monolingual call centre recruitment. Your staff need to be able to handle customer queries with courtesy and professionalism, whatever language they’re speaking in. They also need to be able to upsell and cross-sell products and services. Tests such as role-play exercises and the like can be invaluable here.

3. Look for cultual competency

Alongside an ease in the relevant language, successful candidates for your multilingual call centre require a good understanding of the cultures of the people they’ll be speaking with. That way, they will find it easier to build a rapport with customers and provide an optimal service. 

Hiring speakers of multiple languages for your call centre

You can ask current employees for referrals, spread the word on social media and post on international job boards to reach the widest possible pool of suitable candidates. These may be cost-effective methods in the short term.

But working with specialist call centre recruitment agencies can save you a lot of time and, ultimately, money in the long run. After all, agencies which are call centre recruitment specialists are ideally placed to identify the best talent. They know where to advertise the vacant roles, and may already know of potentially suitable candidates they can invite to apply, so they will make contact proactively. Some professionals, for example, may respond to this type of approach even if they’re not actively looking for a career change. Plus, they can negotiate salaries.

Agencies also have specialist expertise when it comes to interviewing candidates and assessing how good their language and customer service skills are. These professionals also screen candidates initially, so anyone who is unsuitable is eliminated very early on.

Additionally, recruiters will carry out background checks on applicants who are invited to interview, saving your HR team considerable time and effort. And when it comes to the final round of interviews, an agency will provide the best advice on the questions you should be asking.

We’re call centre recruitment specialists

If you’re looking into multilingual recruitment in Europe, whatever the country, talk to us at Recruitment Direct before you talk to anyone else.  Established in 1999, we supply first-class search and selection services to businesses of all sizes across the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Our main focus is hiring for sales and call centres, as well as multilingual recruitment. We can help with contract, temporary or permanent roles across multiple sectors, whether you’re looking for commercial, technical or support staff.

We offer a detailed understanding of our markets and, before we do anything else, we’ll take the time to assess your precise requirements. Call us on 028 90511220 or fill in this simple online form and we’ll come straight back to you.