The Challenge

When one of our contract clients (a major international IT company) opened a new Customer Response Unit, to handle product and service enquiries from its European client base, they had an urgent requirement for multi-lingual temporaries. These temporaries needed to be able to understand customers’ enquiries, respond to them appropriately and take effective action. Fluency in at least one other European language and good customer service skills were the key requirements.

The Wise Solution

Wise Employment contacted the Business Language Division at Swindon College to assist us in putting together a tailor made assessment to meet our client’s needs. Together we met with the client to establish their exact requirements.

Wise designed telephone role-play exercises to test the candidates’ listening skills, composure, quality focus, spoken communication skills, ability to refer to source material to provide solutions and information and their ability to complete written records.

The College staff translated the role-play exercises into the required languages (German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch).

These exercises where then used as the final selection stage when recruiting temporary staff for the project.

The temporary was sent an information pack, containing product and service information and an action form to ensure follow through. We suggested that they familiarise themselves with the information in advance of their telephone role-play.

We arranged a convenient time for a Language Tutor to call the temporary and conduct the role-play in the appropriate language.

On the basis of the role-play, the Tutor evaluated not only the temporary’s fluency in line with National Language Standards but also their customer service skills. This information was provided to the client’s On Site Coordinator.

Following the role-play the temporary would fill out an action form to ensure that the appropriate follow through would occur - as promised to the client. This form was returned to the On Site Co-ordinator for assessment.

On the basis of the Tutor’s report and the completed action form the On Site Co-ordinator would decide whether or not the temporary was suitable for the assignment.

The Outcome

Our recruitment campaign for the new unit was an unqualified success. Not only did we recruit the required headcount to man the unit, but our advertising also generated a surplus of good calibre candidates with language skills.

We marketed these candidates for other opportunities within our client’s organisation with great success. Within a few short months we were appointed as their preferred supply agent for multi lingual staff.

Realising that there was no other Swindon agency specialising in the supply of multi lingual staff, we promoted our capability to attract and select multi lingual staff to other clients in our area. The level of interest was high and Wise Employment’s Linguistic Division was created.