Never, never, never consider hiring a call center professional unless you have first talked to them on the phone.

The front-end qualifier is sound (voice-tone presence) not appearance. If you bristle when you hear their voice, what will your customer do? If you lip-read to interpret their dialog while they answer a face-to-face interview question, what will your customer do on the phone? Don’t hold face-to-face interviews for a telephone position unless they first qualify by sound and voice-tone. Phone-presence is the first cut.

“Is that discrimination?” A reporter asked. My jaw dropped.

Ummm. When is something discrimination, and when is it an essential tool for the job? There can be a fine line, though it’s a good question for a lawyer. I’m not the legal department for your firm, so take this question to them for an official call. In the meantime, consider this:

• Do you want your surgeon to have steady hands?
• Do you listen to Barbra Striesand because she can’t sing?
• Do you think members of the Olympic synchronized swim team can’t swim?

If your company has a standard procedure to conduct initial interviews of job candidates face-to-face, then before you offer anyone a call center job make sure, there is also a back-end telephone conversation with someone who has never physically seen the candidate.

What are you looking for, oops, listening for? Here are some elements to keep an ear on.

Rate the following on a scale of 1-10. 10 is high.

From these 12 elements, total the ratings and divide by 12 for one number. Then, in one word or phrase, describe your impression.

Total of all 12 elements = _____ ÷ 12 = _____

ONE WORD IMPRESSION: _______________

Here are some added questions you can ask during a telephone interview to assess someone’s verbal ability and presence, their “sound” quality. Remember that you want to understand how they handle themselves when given only their voice tone and vocabulary choices to make an impression. In this environment, you are not at all swayed or biased by physical impressions.

• What do you understand the job to be?
• Why are you interested in it?
• Why do you think you would be good at it?
• Describe the image you try to convey over the phone.
• Would you say you are a good listener? How do you know?
• Describe a recent movie / book / TV show.

If the person applying for a call center position doesn’t impress you on the phone, there is no need for more interviews.