Attracting and Retaining The Skills For The Future.

I was at a recent event and talking to a Director of Customer Experience about the changing roles within the customer market, as well as the perception vs the reality of the pace of change, given that voice is still a prominent and, in many organisations, still the leading channel of contact.

For me, the biggest challenge to organisations across our sector is attracting the individuals we need to deliver the future workforce, those that will deliver the cross-channel customer experience today, whilst retaining and developing this talent for the future to take on new and varied roles.

As with most change, these issues fall beyond one function or, department and will require CEO’s, ExCo and leaders who can adapt and offer truly inclusive and purposeful leadership.  In a recent article on ‘The Future CEO’ from Raconteur, ‘creating a value-based culture’ was the second most important business objective for CEO’s behind ‘ensuring long term success and investing for the future’.  Giving workers a voice and the ability to provide opportunities for all ages, gender and ethnicity, whilst leading by example, will be key attributes to the successful CEO of the future.

With an ageing workforce, the ability to engage, listen and connect in an authentic way will set one business aside from another.

I was recently invited to give an interview to Call Centre Helper on the subject ‘Why is it getting harder to recruit good contact centre people’, you can read the article here.

Contact Centres, Customer Service, Customer Experience, still has a dated perception which doesn’t always reflect the reality of life and opportunities available within this environment.  Companies certainly need to start looking at how they promote themselves and the roles they wish to fill.  Our industry is a great environment for so many.  If we look at so many of today’s leaders, myself included, they have learnt and built their trade within the Contact Centre from the ground up, in fact we were writing about this back in 2012 in Contact Centre, The Future Leaders Training Ground.

As trust in a brand grows ever more important to our consumers, as it does for our employees.  Individuals want to feel valued, they want to develop skills for the future, they want to believe in and invest in a brand that cares for their people, their customers, their environment, their future footprint.  Delivering and promoting these areas will help us attract and retain the skills for the future.

If you would like a conversation about how you can develop your recruitment and talent acquisition strategy, or to work with an organisation proven in our ability to help you attract and retain future proof talent, please give me a call on 01543 231071 or email michelle@douglas-jackson.com.

Michelle Ansell is a founding member of Douglas Jackson, partnering with clients for over 15 years to find solutions to their recruitment challenges.  Michelle was recently announced in the Top 50 CX Stars, at #8 in the CX Influencers list, also a top 3 female influencer.