FurstPerson®, a Chicago-based company that provides pre-employment hiring solutions to the call center industry has introduced a new hiring process for technical support representatives that is improving quality of hire by up to 30%.

FurstPerson President and CEO, Jeff Furst cited the importance of technical support representatives to the general economy.

“Technical support representatives are critical to helping customers resolve issues with their smart phones, pay for TV services, internet services, and a host of other technology based products and services. Firms that employ the right technical support representatives generally have better customer satisfaction which drives lower subscriber churn,” explained Furst.

A technical support representative working in the US earns $15.16 on average based on FurstPerson’s 2008 Call Center Recruiting and Compensation report.

FurstPerson conducted an in-depth review of technical support representative jobs that found significant talent gaps.

“Many companies assume that technical knowledge or interest in technology are the key competencies for successful technical support representative performance. Our in-depth review showed that many TSRs lacked the ability to learn and apply complex information effectively. Closing this gap as part of a comprehensive pre-hire screening process yields significant gains for on the job performance,” said Brent Holland, Vice President of Research and Consulting at FurstPerson®.

The FurstPerson® technical support hiring process helps hiring managers identify candidates who have a better understanding of technical issues, can explain these issues well to customers via the phone or chat, and perform at a higher level. In many cases, technical quality and overall performance improved by up to 30%.

FurstPerson operates a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) call center hiring system called 1stHire that is used in over 600 locations across North America, Europe, and Asia. FurstPerson’s call center solution includes call center simulations, problem solving tests, personality tests, and analytics that are all integrated into a hiring solution that enables contact center hiring managers to reduce call center turnover and hire individuals that perform better on the job.

For more information, visit http://www.furstperson.com.