Call Center Manager Interview Questions and Answers

A Call Center Manager is responsible for motivating call center agents, recruiting and training new hires and monitoring employees in their team. The right candidate for the position must demonstrate a solid knowledge of the company’s products and services, and have excellent interpersonal skills. This article shares some common interview questions that focus on professionalism, expertise and personality when interviewing for a Call Center Manager position.

Common interview questions for a Call Center Manager position

Here are some questions and example answers to help you prepare for a call center interview:

What is a Call Center Manager job, in your opinion?

The interviewer may ask this question to gauge your understanding of the job profile. When answering this question, you should focus on highlighting some of the tasks a Call Center Manager performs on a daily basis and paraphrase some information that you read in the job description for the job you are interviewing for. 

Where possible, provide examples of successful management and mention specifics to back up your claims. 

Example: ‘A Call Center Manager is a customer service professional who is in charge of a group of customer service representatives working at the call center. A Call Center Manager ensures that their team does its best to meet the needs of the customers by recommending the best ways to resolve customer issues, troubleshoot problems, answer complaints, give useful tips on products, take orders and facilitate returns. A Call Center Manager must also ensure that all employees routinely meet goals set by the management to answer a number of calls or resolve a quota of customer issues.’

Which types of call centers do you know of, and what is the significant difference between them?

When you are asked this question, the interviewer is trying to understand the diversity of the calls made at the customer service centers where you have worked. You most likely are going to be supervising customer care representatives who make and receive calls. In answering this question, you must demonstrate your knowledge about the different types of call centers and be able to understand the duties of each and what types of calls are made or received. 

Example: ‘There are two types of call centers, and they are outbound call centers and inbound call centers. In an outbound call center, a customer associate makes a call to a customer regarding sales or business. For instance, a customer service representative at a telecommunication company may call a customer to inform them about new products and promotions. In an inbound call center, a customer associate receives calls regarding customers’ demands and queries. For instance, a customer may call their internet provider to inquire about internet services or a trending tariff.’ 

How many people have you managed in a call center before?

The more people you have to manage in a call center, the more complex your job may get. The interviewer wants to know if you can handle the workload for the position they are hiring you for. Be honest when you answer this question even if you do not have experience with managing a large call center and make sure your answer is clear and concise.

Example: ‘I have managed 54 call center agents in a call center. While I managed this large staff, I was able to help motivate them to meet all of their company goals and provide reliable and efficient customer service to customers.’

How would you handle negative feedback about one of your representatives from a client who is upset?

Handling clients who are upset is a part of many customer service jobs. The interviewer wants to know how well you can handle your client as well as the team member that the client is complaining about. It is best to describe your answer in detail and provide examples. 

Example: ‘If a client who is upset relays negative feedback or information about the way a representative dealt with them over the phone, I make sure to listen to them first before I respond, then I offer my apologies, offer to look into their complaint and ask them what I can do to better assist them. If their issue is something our call center cannot resolve, I will politely explain our policies to the customer and offer something else in place of their request, if possible. For example, if a client is requesting I remove a valid fee from their account, I will deny their request but offer some current promotion we are offering. Once the phone call is complete, I will talk to the representative about what went wrong and how we can fix it next time and offer them further training that involves dealing with difficult customers.’

What do you believe is the key to success in a call center?

The interviewer wants to gain an understanding of what you think is important for the success of a call center. Most often a successful call center will have excellent customer service and service representatives who handle customer complaints well. It is also important that you mention how supportive you are of your team since they are the ones who handle most of the customer calls on a daily basis.

Example: ‘I believe the key to success in a call center is great customer service and teamwork. I believe that training my team to handle various customer concerns with a good attitude enables them to take ownership of their work and results in excellent customer service. When each of my representatives knows they can rely on the team around them for help, they build trust with each other and tend to do what is best for the customer. A happy and well-trained team makes customer satisfaction scores go up, which in turn helps the company reach its desired goals.’