Finding customer service personnel who can be trusted to make the right judgement day in day out has just got easier with the launch of OPC Assessment’s Customer Service Situations (CSS) test – research shows it can fine-tune recruitment processes as effectively as far more costly and resource-intensive assessment methods.
OPC Assessment’s first situational judegment test, the CSS, is one of the increasingly popular types of psychometric test which assesses an individual’s ability to make the most appropriate judgement in a work-related situation. The CSS has been designed specifically for the customer service sector, or roles which demand at least some level of customer service provision, to help employers identify applicants who can decide the most effective course of action in a range of customer service scenarios, ie those people who have a “head for customer service”.
The CSS has been rigorously researched and validated by the Occupational and Business Psychologists at OPC Assessment and evidence shows that it can provide assessors with information about the same kind of behavioural competences as one-to-one role plays which have been designed specifically for customer service personnel. This means that employers can now have direct access to customer service competencies in action, without the effort and resources that traditionally have to be committed to the use of role-plays and job sample exercises. It can be used as an effective sift tool at selection, sifting large numbers of applicants quickly and effectively.
Lead test developer for the CSS, Chartered Occupational Psychologist Dr Stephen Fletcher, said, “The CSS offers organisations an exciting and innovative way of assessing an individual’s capacity to deliver customer service excellence. Using a situational judgement test as part of a recruitment process allows assessors to get a measure of an applicant’s soft skills and practical intelligence in dealing with customers, which can make all the difference to a company’s reputation and success”.
Employers are choosing to use situational judgement tests in increasing numbers since they tend to lead to significantly less adverse impact than standard ability tests, but they can be administered and scored with the same ease. In addition they have high face validity which means that candidates feel assured that they are being assessed fairly and appropriately for the job in question.
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