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Canadian Tire Bank - Agent Selection Best Practice

SQM Group Helped Canadian Tire Bank Achieve:

80%
Or higher First Call Resolution performance rate.

 

8%
Agent attrition rate, significantly better than industry average.

 

7x
SQM Group's Call Center Of The Year Award recipients.

 

FCR/Csat Results

Our tenure speaks volumes about the success of our hiring. Canadian Tire has a tenure average of 12 years for representatives, 15 years for supervisors, and 18 years for management. Our overall agent attrition rate of 8% is significantly lower than our industry average. Our hiring practice has played an essential role in our world-class FCR performance that we have consistently achieved for the last ten years and winning SQM’s call center of the year award 7 times.

Candian Tire Financial Services

Company Description

Canadian Tire Financial Services (CTFS) is the financial services arm of Canadian Tire. It offers credit, loans, insurance products, and services and is the second-largest MasterCard issuer in Canada with its Canadian Tire Options® MasterCard. CTFS is a significant contributor to Canadian Tire's performance, representing 8% of overall revenues but nearly 25% of profit in 2011. Canadian Tire Options® MasterCard continues the customer loyalty program tradition by awarding electronic ‘Money’ to cardholders when purchases are made at Canadian Tire stores.

Canadian Tire Financial Services

Opportunity Statement

At Canadian Tire, delivering consistently high-quality service experiences is a philosophy that is woven into the fabric of the organization’s “Customers for Life” culture. Every representative at its award-winning Customer Relationship Call Center (CRCC) is fully aligned with the mission to deliver world class customer service and is accountable for FCR and Csat.

Agent Selection Best Practices Used

We hold approximately three to four job fairs throughout the year, soliciting candidates for all positions within the call centers. The majority of our job fairs are explicitly held to solicit friends and family from our current employees who know our culture, understand our values, and live by them every day.
Our employees know the different roles at Canadian Tire and what it takes to be successful in that role. We consistently look to our employees to refer candidates for job opportunities. If their referred candidate is successfully hired, the employee will receive a referral payout bonus anywhere from $500-$1,000.

Our job fairs are announced through local media and newspaper advertisements. Resumes are accepted through our online website, through referrals from existing Canadian Tire employees, and through the mail.

We attract thousands of interested candidates and have the utmost respect for their time. Our job fairs are structured to efficiently screen and interview a large number of candidates over the shortest amount of time. We accomplish this by having our human resource team pre-screen candidates prior to the job fair and provide them with a time slot to appear for a personal interview. This method has proven to be very effective and ensures that our potential candidates receive a response quickly.

The interviewing team consists of managers and supervisors from each hiring department. Our human resource department organizes all the necessary documentation and provides training to the interviewing team in advance. The team will gather an hour before the job fair begins and are given details on what businesses are hiring, what roles they are hiring for, what availability they expect, and the procedure when you feel the candidate should move on to the next level. The team is given the opportunity to ask questions and clarify information.

Canadian Tire Financial Agent Selection

A supervisor’s first interview candidates, and if deemed a good fit, are immediately sent to the manager for the next level of interviewing. Our strategy places the candidate where they best fit for the business hiring (i.e., a credit service manager may recommend a candidate for the sales team based on their experience, responses to the questions, or disposition).

Our bilingual candidates must complete a French assessment before being considered bilingual hires. We have a French professional on hand to complete the assessment right at the job fair.

At the end of the job fair, all managers gather to debrief. Managers select candidates that are best suited for their business. Selected candidates are notified after their interview and given a start date. We pride ourselves on hiring the best candidates that fit within our culture and have the ability to provide excellent customer service. Cultural fit is key to the candidate’s success, and the effect on Csat can be directly linked to this fit.

SQM Group Call Center Best Practice Awards

SQM Awards Received

Call Center of the Year Winner (CRCC): 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016
Highest Customer Satisfaction – Credit Card Industry (CRCC): 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Highest Omni-Channel Customer Service (CRCC): 2015, 2016
World-Class FCR Certification (CRCC): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Highest Employee Satisfaction in Call Center Industry (CRCC): 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
World-Class Employee Satisfaction (CRCC): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
Best Practice - Call Handling: 2014, 2015
Best Practice - Agent Training: 2017
Best Practice - Omni-Channel: 2018