Portman Building Society is short listed for European call centre award

Portman Building Society today announced that it has been short listed from several hundred entries in the Best Contact Centre Recruitment Practice category at the European Call Centre Awards 2006*. The Society has worked with a number of external solution providers, including Jobpartners and SHL, to make significant changes to its Contact Centre recruitment process.

Commenting on the news, Gary Saddler, Associate Director of Customer Contact Operations at Portman Building Society said: ìTo be short listed from so many entries is a real achievement particularly as this is the first time we have entered these prestigious industry awards. It reflects the significant advances that we have made in our approach to Contact Centre recruitment over the past year. We are now operating a very efficient online system from Jobpartners supported by SHLís tailored psychometric testing and competency based interviewing by our fully trained team managers.î

By implementing Jobpartnersí online recruitment solution, ActiveRecruiter, and psychometric testing from SHL the Society can ensure that candidates enjoy a more interactive and engaging recruitment experience with faster response times. Portman Building Society has seen a number of quantifiable and measurable benefits to the business and to employees.

Commenting further, Gary Saddler said: ìThe quality of the candidates we have recruited coupled with the improvements in training and development have led to very real benefits for our customers. Our advisers have developed their knowledge and skill set further and possess high levels of customer interaction skills. Answering calls efficiently coupled with reduced call hold times have further enhanced the customer experience.î

* The Awards take place in London on 3 October 2006.