1. Why do you want a career in the BPO sector?
Telling your interviewer that you need the money or that you love the fast-and-easy BPO culture is a complete no-no. There are other ways of convincing your employer to hire you. Think about personality traits that make you suitable for this job. On the other hand, you should have correct information about the growth rate and the size of the BPO industry. Quoting these makes you look serious, knowledgeable, and professional.
You can come up with an answer like -”I would like to pursue a job in this sector since this is an industry that is growing very fast. According to this year’s Financial Times Report on the Indian Industry, the size of the BPO industry is around $ XX billion and it is growing at a rate of XX percent.
2. Will you be comfortable working in different shifts?
Yes, I can. I might have difficulties at the beginning, but I am sure that my body will easily adjust to working at odd hours.
3. Are you confident of your communicative skills in convincing people?
Point number one—please do not answer in negative to this question—even if you are an absolute failure at convincing people to do anything. The answer has to be—”Yes, I think I can easily convince people.” Then tell them how you convince people. Reading up on this aspect will help not only frame a good response to this question, but will also help you in doing your job better.
4. What is the difference between a BPO and a call center?
Call center is a subset of BPO.
5. What will you do when a customer is abusive/irritated?
When you work at a call center you will come across irritated, angry, and abusive customers, you can say you will do the following to handle them:
- Listen to them and empathize with their situation
- Apologize and take ownership of the problem and give a solution
- Approach them and ask for a reason for their displeasure
- If they insist on talking to your manager, get him on line ASAP
- Follow up after giving the solution and ask for feedback
6. Why do you think companies outsource their call centers?
There are mainly four reasons for a company to outsource its call center:
a) Cost saving
b) Focus on core activities
c) Access to the special enterprise which has expertise in the domain.
d) Other resource-related reasons like relieving resource constraints, reducing staff.
7. What is a KPO? What Is the Difference between the call center and a KPO?
KPO stands for Knowledge Process Outsourcing. It is a subset of call centers. The ways in which a KPO differs from a call center are :
1. In KPO knowledge and information-related work is carried out.
2. Staff requirement is for highly skilled people.
3. Is mainly related to supporting and not sales.
4. Carries out works mainly for research and analysis process besides support.
8. What is onshore outsourcing?
When a business process is outsourced from a company in one country to another company in the same country – it is called onshore outsourcing.
9. What is off-shore outsourcing?
When a work process is outsourced to a different country that is not nearby – it is called offshore outsourcing. For e.g. If the USA outsources a work process to India- it is off-shore outsourcing.
10. What is a call center? What are the different types of call centers?
A center equipped to handle a large volume of telephone calls. These calls could be the calls coming in from customers for service or support or these could be the calls that call center executives to make to the customers for marketing
There are mainly two types of call centers :
a) Inbound call centers – Inbound call centers are those which receive support or service calls from customers usually on a toll-free number. For e.g. when you call up a bank to check the status of your request for a credit card, it is an inbound call.
b) Outbound call centers – Outbound call centers are those in which the call center executives make calls to the customers. These calls are usually made to generate leads or sales. For e.g. when you receive a call from a bank offering you a personal loan, it is an outbound call.
11. What is the difference between the inbound process and the outbound process?
Inbound customer service agents handle incoming calls from customers for:
- Requests for help
- Inquiries or requests for information
- Placing orders, in product purchases
- Applications for services
- Filing complaints
Outbound customer service agents make calls to random potential customers to sell a service or product. These agents can also be called telemarketing executives.
12. What procedure you will follow when taking a customer’s call?
Answer this question around the following steps :
1. Greet customers.
2. Tell your name to the customer.
3. Ask the customer how you can be of any assistance to him/her.
4. Listen carefully and patiently to the customer's query or requirement.
5. Provide the customer with the best solution or assistance without making him/her wait for long.
6. Inquire if customer is satisfied with the assistance or help provided.
7. Ask the customer if he needs any further assistance.
13. Have you ever worked in a call center before? If so, how long did you work there?
The purpose of this question is to see if you already have some experience of working at a call center. If so, tell the interviewer about your experiences and what you learnt there. If you do not have a work experience, don’t panic, stay calm and say “I don’t have a first hand experience of working at a call center but this is what I know about them and I look forward to work for one.”
14. What you understand with the term “Customer Satisfaction”?
Any business depends upon the quality of the service you offer to your customer. To offer this, you need to understand the customers need and their problems. You have to think from their point of view and try to meet their demands and requirements.
15. How will you enjoy working in a call center?
As I am an extrovert person and I like to interact with people, call center job is a perfect job for me. I like to resolve customer’s queries and face the challenges positively that come across. Also, the pace of work in call center and team members' friendliness always motivates me to work for call centers.
16. What are your strengths?
This is the common question, you might face in any organization. So, prior to interview you have to clear in your mind about your strength like subject knowledge, computer skills, communication etc. Also, how you can relate your strength to your current job like you have a good hold on some language, or you have some good marketing skill or having ability to convince other.
17. How you handle pressure?
To handle the pressure situation, I always try to keep focus on work and avoid frustration.
18. What is your typing skill?
This question means how many words you can type in a minute. If you know the number you can mention it but if you don’t know than just tell them that I have a good hand on it.
19. Can you handle multiple calls at the same time?
If you have experience of handling multiple calls, then tell them you can handle. In case you don’t have experience tell them on given training I could handle multiple calls with ease.
20. What is the key to get success in a call center?
The call center is all about providing quality service to customers. If you are good at handling customers well and offering a good service then you can be successful in a call center.
