The second-largest low-fare airline in the U.S., AirTran Airways®, receives more than six million incoming calls annually. So when it was reported that it was taking newly hired call centre agents longer than 90 days to achieve optimum performance standards, management took notice.

AirTran looked to PreVisor® to help develop a selection solution that could accurately predict on-the-job performance in a call centre environment. After conducting an analysis of the AirTran Call Centre agent’s job, PreVisor recommended that candidates be put through a battery of three assessments. The first assessment would measure basic skills, such as math and reading comprehension. The second assessment would evaluate soft skills, such as trustworthiness, conscientiousness and cooperation. The third assessment would be an actual call centre scenario, using the pressure of a telephone call to test emotional intelligence, listening, computer aptitude, and problem-solving skills.

Job seekers can start and complete the battery with very little instruction and scoring is automatic, so recruiters know immediately how the candidate is likely to perform on the job. Now, new hires that surpass the recommended minimum scores on the PreVisor assessments are productive sooner, reaching performance standards in an average of 45 days — half the time it used to take. In addition, employees hired with PreVisor Selection provide a consistently better experience for AirTran customers.