Recruitment plays a big part behind the success of an outsourced call center in India. A company rises or falls due to its employees. If the employees are skilled, hard working and have intent to learn then the outsourced call center will definitely rise among the ranks. On the other hand bad recruitments can be a total waste of time, effort and revenue. This why the leading outsourced call centers in India pay a lot off heed to the people they hire. The candidates have to go through tough screening sessions to be selected for the job. Everything about them is judged from their character to their communication. The best can come through the grades of such a tough screening process. After the selections are finalized, the new candidates have to undergo the inductions. Inductions are a sort of “welcome to the company” sessions where many formalities have to be performed. This is also the first real training and mutual understanding session for the new employees and the existing team members. This is why it is important to take the induction sessions really seriously. Some innovative ice breakers that would benefit both the new recruits and trainers conducting the session are mentioned below.

Two Truths and a Lie Game: One of the toughest things for the conductor of an induction session is to create an environment for two way communication. The new recruits will not open up unless you get really innovative with it. Two truths and a lie is a classic game that opens up the agents perfectly. It helps all the new recruits know certain things about one another. This may be the start of interesting discussions. All the individual recruits become a group very quickly when they are playing the game.

What lead them to join the company: This is also a great way to start a conversation with the new recruits. Ask them to tell one reason or may be two why they chose to join the company. Their answers will also help you learn a little bit about them.

Ask the Agent’s Superhero Replica: Another interesting ploy to employ in an induction session. You could have some cut outs of superhero characters and then ask the new recruits to come up and pick a superhero character that explains their professional strengths or skills. They have to explain their selection to the sitting audience and may be there should be a scope for cross questioning.

Ask for Brief Presentation on Bad Customer Service: Divide the new recruits into small groups. Ask them to voice their opinion about bad customer service using hand drawn charts or a Powerpoint presentation. This will inspire the new recruits to work together as a team and explain their points.

Ask for Three Things about Self: Give the agents five minutes in which they have to talk to as many other new recruits and learn three things about them. This will create a lot of noise and all the agents will start talking with the other. This will start the rapport building you want to attain. Start by creating small groups and give each five minutes to reduce the noise.

Ask New Recruits to Name Some New Technologies: Youth today are technology crazy; they keep updated news of any technological innovations. So the easiest way to open them up and learn about them is to ask them questions regarding technology. Ask the attendees to name a few new technologies that have hit the global stage just recently.

Ask Everyone to Share Some Jokes: Most of the employees will be glad that they got a chance to share some jokes. Everyone knows a joke or two ask them to come up and share them one by one. It has been seen that if an agent can make the rest of the crowd smile than he/she is easy to converse with.  

Take them on a Guided Tour: There are some organizations that take the new recruits on a guided tour accompanied by the HR or trainers. They are taken to various departments and introduced to the managers soon after they arrive. Maybe some video clips about the goals and services of the company can be shown to the employees.

Let Everyone Speak to the One Another: Create a small group and ask the team members to talk to others. After certain time mix up the group and let the members mingle again. Continue the process until everyone has talked with the other.

If you have any other creative activity which can act as an effective ice breaker then you are free to use that. Getting the new recruits to talk among each other is the first step to their conditioning process.