Understand how to make telephone calls

1.1 – Describe the different features of telephone systems and how to use them Hold – so that you can hear them but they can’t hear you, for example if the person you rang asked a question and you didn’t know the answer, you would put them on hold to ask someone within the business.

1.2 – Give reasons for identifying the purpose of a call before making it To understand the purpose of the phone call will make it so that you know what you are talking to the person about. I.E. if I had a relevant job for a specific candidate, I wouldn’t speak to them about something that was completely irrelevant to their skill set.

1.3 – Describe different ways of obtaining the names and numbers of people that need to be contacted Database
The internet
CV’s
Job boards
Websites
Social media

1.4 – Describe how to use a telephone system to make contact with people inside and outside an organisation To contact someone from outside the business (ringing out) you would put 9 before a telephone number. E.G 902476 …… To ring someone internally, you would press R on the telephone handset before typing in their personal line number. E.G R21

1.5 – Explain the purpose of giving a positive image of self and own organisation The main purpose of giving a positive image of self and own organisation is so that the person you are conversing with (client) wants to work with you. You need to sound positive and know what you are making the phone call about so that you sound professional.

1.6 – Explain the purpose of summarising the outcomes of a telephone conversation before ending the call The purpose of summarising a telephone conversation before ending the call is so that no information in the conversation was misunderstood or even miscommunicated and to make sure that the receiver of the call is fully aware about what you are / were conversing with them about.

1.7 – Describe how to identify problems and who to refer them to To identify a problem you need to know firstly what the phone call is about. Then if you don’t know the answer to a question that may be asked you would say ‘just one moment, I don’t know the answer to that question but I can ask my colleague who may’, then you would put them on hold and ask a colleague who would know the answer.

1.8 – Describe organisation structures and communication channels within an organisation Organisation channels occur when different jobs are allocated to different people, for example, Karinna and Steve deal with sourcing jobs and then sourcing the candidates current where as I deal with structuring the candidates CV’s when they are sent through to me to make them branded and chronological. As there are only three people who work at Concur Engineering at present the communication channel is face-to-face. However if Steve and/or Karinna were out of the office I would either divert the phone to them or just take a name and number and email it to them.

1.9 – Describe how to follow organisational procedures when making a telephone call “Hello is this …, I am just ringing regarding …, are you able to talk?”

1.10 – Explain how to report telephone system faults
I would report telephone system faults to Steve, who would then follow it up with our operator (BT) or depending on what the fault was possibly buy a new telephone.

Understand how to receive and transfer telephone calls

2.1 – Describe how to identify callers and their needs
To identify callers needs I would answer the phone with ‘Good
Morning/Afternoon, Concur Engineering’ then the caller would reply with a sentence like ‘Hello, can I speak to Karinna please’ then I would ask ‘can I take a name and what is the call regarding?’ they would specify name and purpose of the call then I would put them on hold and transfer to Karinna by pressing ‘R21’ on my phone, or they would say ‘Hello, Its Jess calling and I saw your job advertised in need of a welder’ then I would reply with something along the lines of ‘if you just bear with me and I will transfer you to my colleague who can give you more information on that role’

2.2 – Explain the purpose of giving accurate and up to date information to callers The purpose of this would be so that they know we are professional and so that we can deal with the calls appropriately. For example, if we were advertising a job that we recently had in the Coventry area starting on the 24th April 2014, we wouldn’t put a job in the Birmingham area starting on the 16th January 2014 as this would lead to having no relevant candidates applying for the job.

2.3 – Explain the purpose of confidentiality and security when dealing with callers The purpose of confidentiality and security when on the phone to callers is so that no one irrelevant to the business gets that information. For example maybe when on the phone to a candidate and asking for personal details about their current phone number for example, if someone who wasn’t working in the business was in the room you wouldn’t repeat the number back to them as the person who isn’t relevant could then have that information to use.

2.4 – Describe the types of information that could affect confidentiality and security and how to handle these Bank details
Address
Phone number
Income at the time
To name a few, this can be solved by always checking your surroundings and whom may be in the room prior to the conversation to engage in.

2.5 – Describe ways of identifying the appropriate person to whom a call is transferred If someone rang in with a particular problem and it was for a specific person, I would transfer to that person.

2.6 – Describe the information to be given when transferring calls or leaving messages When transferring a call it is important to get a name and where they are calling from and what it is in regards to, same rules apply when you are leaving a message, identify the caller, identify the purpose but with a message, make sure that they leave a number to be able to get back in contact with them.

2.7 – Describe how to identify problems and who to refer them to If I didn’t know the answer to a particular question, I would transfer to someone to who did know the answer.

2.8 – Describe how to follow organisational procedures when receiving a telephone call “Good morning / afternoon Concur Engineering”

2.9 – Explain how to report telephone system faults
Email to Steven (MD)