It's A Customer Service World After All...

One of my very favorite questions to ask during any candidate interview is, "What are your thoughts on customer service?"

For me, this is usually the "make or break" moment in any interview. Depending on this candidate's answer to this question, I may politely turn them to a different employment avenue. I'll admit that the weight that I put on this question is laregely due to my own Customer-Focused attitude, but give me a moment to stress to YOU the importance of this issue in your own interview and screening process.

So often I hear answers like, "Oh gosh, I just can't handle customer service. Put me in the back office because I just don't want to deal with customers all day." Another popular answer goes something like "Oh I just can't handle retail. Customers are so hard to deal with!" The second answer is especially amazing to me. WHEN did I say ANYTHING about retail?? And where did we, as a working society, ever link those two concepts together? It's like nails on a chalkboard, I tell ya!

The truth of the matter is that EVERY job out there - yes, every single one - MUST have a customer-focused individual in it. What people don't understand is that each and every job in this world exists to serve another person or process. WHO is it that asks you to do the things that you do in your job every day? Is it your boss, a computer-generated task request, a pile of filing that builds from a department? All of these things are customers, and if you treat your customers promptly and with respect you will 1) make your customer happy and 2) generate a better relationship with that customer creating better opportunity for you in the future.

Let's look at a couple of examples.

Candidate A is an Executive Assistant. She comes from a privledged family and has had an excellent education. She gradutated from her high school with honors and went on to attend a university. Her higher education was paid for by scholarships earned from her high school performance and a college fund paid for by her family. Four years later, she graduates with a Bachelors' Degree in Business Management and goes out into the world to look for her first (yes, first) job as an Executive Assitant. Miss A considers herself to be a degreed professional and expects to be paid a premium for her skills and degree. She gets herself into a position and immediately struggles. She butts heads with the expectations given to her and has trouble prioritizing and completing tasks appropriately. Her boss is angry and she is frustrated. From a technical skills standpoint, Candidate A is a gem. From a personal relations and customer focus, she is a flop.

Candidate B is an Executive Assistant. She comes from a low-income family. She gradutated from high school with average grades. She always held down a part-time-plus job at a local restaurant to help her family and herself pay for housing, school, and her vehicle. She goes on to college part-time and continues to work in lower-end positions to support herself. She does some restaurant supervising, retail work, and possibly Reception or Mail Clerk for a local business to pay for her tuition. Attending part-time she is able to graduate in four years with an Associate's Degree in Business. Candidate B takes her degree and lands a great job as an Executive Assistant. She quickly blossoms in this position and finds a home with her new company. The company offers her growth with their business and she moves into progressively higher-profile (and higher paid) positions in the company over the next 10 years. Despite her mediocre education, Candidate B's escalating customer service experience turns her into the kind of employee that we all want.

These stories are just examples and many different situations could really occur, but the truth is that many times in our staffing history situations just like this play out every day.

The moral of the story is two-fold.

First, if you are an employer do not automatically assume that the nicer suit and the better education equal a better fit for your position. If you are looking to be served as an employee's customer, are they going to be focused on your needs? Or if you are putting this candidate in front of your actual customers, are they going to act appropriately?

And second, take a look at who your customers are in your current position. I don't care if you make $20,000 a year or $2,000,000 a year, you have them. Ask yourself if you are serving them properly. And if you aren't, take some steps to improve your customer focus. I promise, it can do amazing things for your personally and professionally.

Would you like to take a look at some of my customer-focused candidates? Would you like to BECOME one of them? Give me a shout and we will begin the move in the right direction. And as always, if you'd like to dicsus this further please don't hesitate to send me a message. I'd be happy to sit and chat.