CHPT 1 Staffing

Chapter 1
The Importance of Good Staffing
The importance of recruiting, hiring, and employee retention in a phonathon program can be summed up simply: No callers = No production. The ability to recruit, hire, and retain the best callers has a substantial effect on the ability to reach goals and objectives set forth for your calling program. Your phonathon program can have all the necessary tools and strategies in place to operate a top-notch call center, but without good callers, those tools are useless. This chapter addresses these three areas and offers suggestions for how to maximize your efforts in each.
RECRUITING
Recruiting is one of the most critical components of your program. Colleges and universities are facing more fundraising challenges than ever before, and that pressure is trickling through all areas of the institutional advancement operation, including the phonathon. As the performance expectations continue to increase, it is critical to maintain the best pool of employees and candidates possible to ensure the success of your program. Developing a proactive recruiting strategy that addresses both short- and long-term needs increases your ability to reach program goals. While not always the easiest task in managing a phone center, recruiting is one of several factors in the planning process over which you have a great deal of control. Good recruiting starts with having a plan, and that plan should address these four subsequent issues at minimum: capacity and need, timing, methods, and potential roadblocks. We take a closer look at each in the sections that follow.
The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
Capacity and Need

When a phonathon program is falling short of goals, management should consider several factors when determining the best methods to turn around the results. In addition to understanding all productivity input components, such as participation, average pledge, record counts, and data quality, the capacity of the phone center should be taken into consideration. The prime culprit of not achieving expectations often lies with not having the proper number of callers on staff to complete the work. Your ability to keep all of the seats filled with quality callers should be one of the first things you consider when addressing program shortfalls to reach the maximum capacity of your phonathon. The more seats you have filled with quality callers in your call center, the more calls you can make. This ultimately increases your chances of reaching the abovementioned goals set forth for your program. Like any other production business, it is important that you recognize the basic economic concept of supply and demand in the management of your phonathon. Proper staffing requires a keen focus on understanding the value of each employee hired from both a quantity and a quality perspective. We discuss quality in this book in our section on caller training. For quantity purposes, we must know how to identify and hire the necessary number of people to finish the work on time. To illustrate this point, imagine for a minute that you own a company that makes widgets. You would need to know two key factors to better understand how to run your widget business. First, you should know the maximum number of widgets you can supply over a certain period of time. Consider this number your total capacity. Next, you would need to understand how many widgets are in demand for the same period. This figure would be your need. To satisfy your customers and effectively run your operation, you could then determine if your widget supply would meet the demand. This same concept applies to phonathon programs. We outline exactly how to understand and calculate phonathon capacity in the forecasting chapter in this book, but in a nutshell there are three key concepts that you should always keep in mind when determining recruiting needs in your phonathon program:
1. Maximum Capacity. How many total records will your program be able to complete (see definition of a completed call in the chapter on caller training) if all your seats are full for the maximum amount of time during your calling calendar? Given certain historical performance parameters such as completed calls averaged per calling hour, management needs to understand what the total productivity potential is and how much work could be done at 100 percent of the phonathons capability, within your allotted budget. This is your supply. 2. Expected Need. How many callers do you need on staff to complete the necessary number of records to reach the goal established for the program? Given expected performance that considers database completion percentage, participation, contact percentage, and average pledge, it is important to understand the number of available records you will need to achieve the overall objective for the program. This is your demand. 3. Result. Will the supply meet the demand? Do you have enough callers on staff to complete the projected amount of records needed to achieve the overall goal? The primary mistake many phonathons make regarding recruiting is that capacity is never reached. Many calling stations go unused during the week because scheduling and hiring is never methodically planned, and the need for 100 percent attendance is never emphasized. Avoid making the assumption that you have enough callers hired unless you absolutely know for certain that you can finish your program on time with the staff you currently have in place. Always prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Overstaff If Possible In reality, your staffing projections will never be 100 percent accurate. There are too many moving parts to ensure a perfect outcome. Most phonathon programs do not achieve 100 percent seat capacity every night, although that should always be the goal for phonathons needing to maximize calling output to finish the program on time. Instead, anticipate
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potential issues you will face and get ahead of the problem. As a general rule of thumb, we recommend that you recruit at least ten percent more callers than you need for each shift to offset turnover, absences, and potential recruiting challenges. For example, if your call center has thirty seats, then you should always recruit to fill thirty-three seats. With this method, you essentially prepare for the worst-case scenario and avoid the unenviable position of falling behind the pace you need to finish the program on time. Remember, it is always easier to let off the gas pedal and coast to the finish line than to accelerate at the end and hope you can catch up. Time always has a way of working against you as the final days of your phonathon approach. In the event that your overstaffing plan works too well and you have more callers who show up than you can handle, there are several options you can consider that are reasonable and fair alternatives for both you and the staff. Use a lottery system to pick names out of a hat to send the additional callers home. This is the most random and fair way to choose who gets to leave. Avoid making callers go home who need the hours or want to work. Instead, only place those callers names into the hat who request a night off. And, do not count it against their attendance if they are chosen. Pair up callers to split calling time, coach each others calls, and offer suggestions to each other on presentation techniques. Take advantage of the opportunity to improve and refine negotiation skills, especially with your lowest statistical producers. This is an excellent opportunity for them to listen and learn as they will not be needed for that night of calling. Find additional administrative work that needs to be managed, such as envelope stuffing, filing, documentation, report/spreadsheet updates, and the like. Full calling shifts usually mean plenty of pledge cards and other tasks that support the work on the phones. Use this as an opportunity to catch up on the little things that need to be done around the office, budget permitting. Have extra callers assist with special projects such as recruiting, staff event planning, and so on. Posting flyers around campus and running
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errands will free up management time to concentrate on statistical analysis, revising scripts, and training callers. Again, the goal is to achieve 100 percent occupation of your calling stations, so avoid implementing these options unless you have a completely full shift.
Timing
Many phonathon managers will argue that there are only certain times of year when you should recruit, and therefore they make no effort to recruit staff during other times. To some degree, this statement is true. There are many peak periods throughout the year when recruiting is more successful because the labor force and the demand for employment is higher. However, the approach that we have seen work in most successful programs is one in which recruiting never ends. In April 2006, the Association of Fundraising Professionals reported the national turnover rate for fundraising professionals in 2005 was twenty-seven percent in the United States, up from twenty-three percent in 2004. In Canada, turnover was thirtysix percent in 2005, up from thirty-two percent in 2004. These numbers are likely even higher when looking only at on-campus phonathon programs as student callers have a history of switching jobs more often. The reality of this industry is that turnover is high, so most call centers are in constant need of new employees. There are two main factors to consider with timing. First, it is critical that you maintain a constant presence on campus and in other areas where potential employees are likely to reside or populate. Staying visible and engaged is important in attracting new talent to the phonathon, even in times you may not need to hire. Second, avoid appearing desperate for employees in your recruiting efforts. This tends to give an impression that your organization may not be a desirable place to work. While it is important to be creative in your approach to recruiting, avoid gimmicks that only attract employees looking to make a quick buck. Earning money is an attractive factor but not the only focus your recruiting should have. Instead, concentrate equally as hard on educating the student population regarding the type of employees you want at the phone center and keep a professional reputation in your efforts to find new talent.
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A healthy balance of recruiting methods built around key events and important calendar dates can be managed in a way that addresses both of these issues. For example, during your peak recruiting times you could take advantage of more intense and direct methods, often referred to as hard recruiting. During nonpeak times, you could focus efforts on more low-budget and subtle indirect recruiting methods, which we refer to as soft recruiting. These are discussed in greater detail in this chapter.
Peak Recruiting Season There are generally six key peak times per year that need to be considered when determining your recruiting plans: 1. Summer. For those programs that call throughout the year, be prepared to recruit students who will be on campus during the summer. In addition, making contacts and building relationships with faculty, staff, and administrative officials on campus can help prepare for the busiest recruiting time of the yearthe first week of classes. 2. First Week of Classes. Students who have just returned to campus are eager to find jobs to fit their school schedules. This is the heaviest recruiting time for any on-campus employer as well as many businesses off campus that use student workers as part of their staff. You will be competing with all other sources of employment for these students, so it extremely important to be thorough in your approach and leave no stone unturned. 3. Midfall. By midfall, students will have settled into their classes and become comfortable being on campus, particularly underclassmen. Caller turnover at the phonathon tends to happen around this time as students begin realizing the challenges of balancing school, work, and social activities. Freshmen will experience the results of their first exams and in many cases will come to the conclusion that they cannot juggle multiple assignments at once. Therefore, be careful when hiring those students who may have significant distractions in their schedule.
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4. Immediately Before Finals. Stress levels typically peak immediately before finals due to the students concern for performing well on them. In many cases, term papers are due, and the anticipation of going home for the break causes the employees to readjust their top priorities. Unfortunately, the phonathon is often the recipient of this adjustment. Be prepared to recruit and hire employees around the time of finals, particularly the holiday season as you know these students will be needed after returning from break in January. 5. Before Spring Break. The weather is getting nicer in spring, students are eager to have a little fun before the grind of the last stretch of the year, and they have saved up enough money (after having spent holiday money) to take some time away from work. This is also a traditionally high-turnover time for seniors, who have developed senioritis and just want to enjoy the final few months of their college career without being bogged down with work. Be prepared to lose a few callers going into the spring break period. Few programs are immune to this season of caller turnover. 6. After Spring Break. Conventional wisdom tells us the time after spring break may not be a good time to recruit because there are only a few weeks in the calling campaign left. However, in reality this is a great time to recruit new callers if you have the right approach. Students need money coming off spring break, the phonathon is often in desperate need of calling hours to finish on a good note, and the groundwork can be laid for next years campaign by identifying returning students who wish to secure a job for next year. And, if your program calls during the summer, this time between spring break and finals is even more important.
Calendar of Events In addition to these standard peak recruiting times, it is important to keep a calendar of events at your institution so that you are aware of those moments that may affect staffing, such as institutional days off,
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midsemester holiday breaks, test dates, athletic events, registration dates, dorm move-in days, and so on. Your goal is to anticipate peak periods of turnover, understand labor force trends, and be proactive about your recruiting plans.
Methods
There are several different methods of recruiting callers for your program. Depending on your budget and human and technical resources available, phonathon recruiting methods vary from basic plans with a few marketing avenues to more comprehensive plans that use several strategies. Keep in mind that when deciding on recruiting methods, more expensive does not always mean more effective. There are many calling programs with limited resources that have effective recruiting plans not because they cost a lot of money, but because they are consistent, creative, and take advantage of key opportunities on campus. Throwing money at the problem is only a small part of the solution. The best programs in the country operate efficiently by using a blend of hard and soft recruiting, which we explain in the following paragraphs.
Hard Recruiting Hard-recruiting methods are usually more intense and direct in nature. They typically present more opportunities for direct personal communication with potential candidates, using approaches that would allow you to avoid third-party filters that can dilute your recruiting pitch. There are several hard-recruiting methods listed next that can help you identify the necessary number of employees. Open House. The best way to show prospective employees the benefits of working at the call center is to open the doors and let them see the exciting atmosphere for themselves. If you have a convenient campus location, post signs around the phonathon and distribute flyers, send e-mails, and use other communication methods
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to increase the foot traffic. In addition to helping recruit new callers, this method also helps you retain them once they are hired as they are more likely to know what they are signing up for after seeing it in person. Job Fair. Many campuses have job fairs that promote openings for graduates as well as current students. Recruiting tables or booths are usually fairly inexpensive as the goal for the school is not to make money from vendors but to identify employers willing to hire their students. Bring applications, business cards, and even fellow student callers to make it easier for prospective employees to sign up. Class Announcements. All phonathon programs play a crucial role in the financial well-being of the institution, and professors usually understand the importance of a successful annual fund campaign. Many faculty members will help the phonathon manager by making a one- or two-minute announcement themselves or will let the phonathon manager make the announcement at the beginning or end of class. Communications and business classes in particular are good targeting opportunities because the same skills that the phonathon utilizes are being taught and promoted in these classes. Greek Presentations. The same class presentation approach mentioned can also be used in fraternities and sororities by asking the chapter president or leader of the house for a couple of minutes of time during an upcoming meeting. This is an opportunity to talk about the job, answer questions those attending may have, and pass out applications. Move-in Day Assistance. Efforts such as helping students move into dorms and handing out flyers, bottles of water, open house invitations, and applications are great ways to have immediate contact with student job seekers. This keeps with the principle of staying visible on campus and recruiting during the first week of classes. Parents Weekend. Parents weekend events provide an excellent opportunity not only to network with students who are settling in to campus but also to make contact with parents who are spending
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time with their kids. Setting up an informational station at events where both parents and students are present allows potential employees the opportunity to hear about your organization while increasing interest with parents who would like their children to learn a sense of responsibility (and help pay the bills!) by supporting themselves in school.
Soft Recruiting Soft-recruiting methods are subtler in their approach, often relying on indirect communication between employer and prospective employee. They are generally used as a way to maintain constant program visibility in the campus community and to augment hard-recruiting methods. Soft recruiting can often be more creative and marketing driven as well as mass produced and distributed. The following are common soft-recruiting methods: E-mails. The use of e-mail is one of the most effective ways to reach a large number of students without incurring great expense. Despite being categorized as a soft-recruiting method, e-mails allow for direct communication with an opportunity for direct reply, unlike classified ads or online job searches. With e-mails, you have the ability to initiate one-on-one contact to literally thousands of students and drive them to your organization via your online Web site or a phone number to call for more information. Most important, the use of e-technology has become a staple communication method with todays college students. Be creative with your approach but be certain that your strategy will not end up being deleted before it is viewed. E-mails are most effective when sent at the beginning of the academic year when more students are looking for jobs, especially considering that management has the ability to contact students instantly before they even arrive on campus, thus getting a jump start on your efforts.
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There are many tips to ensure you send an effective e-mail message. First, be sure that you have a powerful subject line, ensuring your institution name is mentioned or recognizable. For example, Join the Cougar Call Center has both brand identity and a creative approach. As with any marketing piece, the e-mail first has to be read for it to be effective. Be certain to avoid common tricks in the message such as excessive use of exclamation points, smiley faces, or other characters or words that Internet service providers could categorize as spam. Second, craft your message to be short, powerful, and concise to keep the reader interested. Avoid using words in all capital letters and stay with proper, professional grammar to promote the phonathon as a good place to work. Finally, include an opt-out option as a courtesy for those students who do not wish to receive your message in the future. Flyers. Even in todays world of fast-paced technology, it is a proven fact that flyers still remain as one of the most common and effective forms of advertising on college campuses. They are old school, but they work! Flyers are like newspapers and books in that they offer the average person an opportunity to read physically from paper and not a Web site. While technology continues to make inroads into the daily lives of students, there will likely always be a benefit from paper communication. Even as most college students in todays world are using technology to enhance their job searches, it is safe to say that nearly all students also make a regular habit of glancing at informational boards on campus, whether intentional or not. Flyers are very visual and allow for colorful ways to market your program. Perhaps most important, flyers give management the ability to be creative while specifically targeting your audience by varying messages based on location. Online communication requires a computer and Internet access. Flyers can be posted anywhere and are great compliments to an electronic recruiting strategy. Use flyers to deliver specific messages to specific groups of people, such as communications and business majors or underclassmen living in nearby dorms. Cost-efficient and effective, placement of recruiting
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flyers on campus remains a universal approach of nearly all phonathon programs. See Appendices 14 for examples of common recruiting flyers. Employee Referrals. Your current employees, particularly your veterans, understand your operation and the value of their work. So, why not include them in your marketing plan? Potential employees will hear the benefits of the job from current employees, which strengthens your reputation on campus and promotes the phonathon as a good place to work. Best of all, it literally takes no legwork to start a referral program. It can be as simple as offering employees a certain dollar amount for every candidate they refer to the phonathon, provided important criteria are met. For the caller who is referring the new employee, this can include having a good attendance record, completion of caller training, good disciplinary standing, and so on. You might also consider a bonus for the caller who is being referred, especially once they successfully complete training and a predetermined number of weeks of calling. Referral programs are a win-win proposition for everyone because they reward current employees via the incentives offered, future employees with a job and incentives, while at the same time contributing to a fun atmosphere that comes with working with friends. And, of tremendous importance, it reduces the burden on management for having to find and recruit quality employees. A key point to keep in mind with a referral plan is to be very clear about your expectations and selection process. If you assume that every referral is a good candidate, you could be setting your plan up for failure by having poor callers referring like-minded candidates. In addition, be aware that while callers will often join the phonathon because their friends work there, they can also resign their position with the phonathon when their friends quit. Anticipate and prepare for that possibility to avoid being caught off guard. See Appendix 5 for an example of a recruiting flyer for employee referrals.
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Online Job Web Sites. Job Web sites are used in conjunction with other recruiting methods to give applicants an easy way to learn more about your phonathon and apply instantly at their convenience. Your online site can include important information, scheduling policies, wage information, and applications. In todays electronic world, these Web site locations are almost a requirement for transparent and convenient recruiting. Giveaways. T-shirts, bookmarks, cups with the phonathon logo and information printed on them, hats, pens, and other items are sometimes used as incentives and as marketing pieces to promote the phonathon. Give a few away to current staff and ask them to wear or use them around campus. If used in conjunction with the referral program, these can help the callers promote the phonathon in a very convenient and less-intrusive manner. Table Tents. Used in lunchrooms and study areas, table tents provide a great way to promote the phonathon without having to be present physically. Students can look at the information while eating, surfing the Web, or doing homework. Table tents are a great compliment to flyers on campus, housing valuable recruiting information that a student discovers while sitting down rather than standing up or walking. Social Marketing Web Sites. As the technological revolution continues full steam ahead, the use of social marketing communication in the phonathon world continues to blossom. One of the more innovative recruiting methods that has evolved in the recent past is the use of online communities to reach out to students. Organizations such as MySpace and Facebook are now being used as recruiting tools on college campuses for a variety of positions and events, including the phonathon. The ability to tap into a students online world is invaluable in recruiting new talent. One of the potential downsides of this method that fundraising professionals continue to debate is the concern for privacy and the potential
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for predators to gain access to college students whereabouts and other information. This is a particular concern for female students. Nevertheless, it is a creative option to consider, and many institutions are working hard to modify these approaches to address these issues. In the future, phonathons will almost assuredly need to use social marketing to keep pace with other organizations searching and recruiting in the same employment base on campus.
Roadblocks
As the saying goes, Plan your work, and work your plan. A recruiting plan is only as good as your ability to execute it. That ability is sometimes limited or even impossible due to a number of issues, some of them within your control and others not. Regardless, what is important as a manager is that you recognize those obstacles and then develop a plan for how you will attempt to overcome them. Here are some of the more common roadblocks we have observed when programs attempt to implement a full recruiting strategy: financial resources, human resources, and competition.
Financial Resources We have worked with several institutions that face the common challenge of needing to do more with less. They are placed in a position in which they must recruit more creatively and consistently, but because of budget reasons they are restricted from initiating an all-out effort. Managers faced with predicaments like this will sometimes have to make sacrifices that they would otherwise not consider. The key in this situation is to ensure you have an understanding of the effectiveness of your methods. To overcome the challenges of a limited budget, we recommend placing all of your recruiting mediums into a spreadsheet or other program that allows you to track various key components of your efforts (e.g.,
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timing, number of applicants by source, frequency of use, number of hired employees from a source, expense, dates, etc.). Armed with this information, you can then prioritize which will be most effective within the confines of your budget and begin to build a more focused recruiting plan to maximize your resources. See Appendix 6 for an example of a recruiting tracker.
Human Resources It is vital that you have staff members who are willing to commit the time and effort necessary for effective recruiting and who understand how important it is to remain focused on this area of the phonathon operation. The manager may not have the time to recruit, interview, and hire each employee, although their input is necessary to make sure the process stays on track and promotes quality. In the event that human resources are limited (especially in extremely large programs), we suggest that management assign the role of recruitment to one or two of your student supervisors. The manager coordinates the development of the plan but encourages student leaders to offer input and empowers them to make decisions and determine what role they can play in its implementation. The final hiring decisions should always belong to the manager, but the student supervisors or lead callers can play an important role in finding the talent. After all, students know the student population better than does the manager.
Competition Your phonathon operation is like running any other business when it comes to hiring. You will compete with other companies or organizations in your area that are hiring from the same labor force. As a manager, it is important that you have an understanding of the job market in your area because the success of your recruiting and retention effort is affected by how you vie with those organizations for the available talent. While a
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phonathon job offers many great benefits, there are some offered by other companies that prohibit phone programs from competing. These include the ability to offer day hours (our core fundraising time is in the evening), unlimited hours, higher pay (in some cases), and the ability to work off campus and do something non-school related in their temporary hometown. With a solid recruiting plan, you can improve your chances of marketing the unique benefits of your phonathon program and position your program to compete well on its own merit.
Hiring
Hiring the best possible callers from the pool of recruited applicants is among the most important responsibilities of a phonathon manager. As with any other job, it is important to hire the right personnel to ensure the success of your phonathon program. There is usually a plethora of jobs for students on or near college campuses, typically at local establishments such as restaurants and bars, department stores, the book store, libraries, coffee shops, the dining hall, and the like. However, with the exception of internships and research assistant opportunities, there are not many college jobs on a par with a student phonathon fundraiser. In fact, we strongly believe that the job of a phonathon caller is the most important student position on campus. The challenges of raising significant funds for the institution, promoting stewardship and good feelings with prospective donors, and updating massive amounts of demographic information are not a set of responsibilities to be taken lightly. In return for their hard work and dedication, students can expect the benefit of learning a set of skills that will transfer to just about any profession upon graduation. The position of phonathon caller is simply a unique and valuable opportunity for most college students. Finding students whose demeanor and communication skills match the importance of the position is no easy task. It is not good enough simply to identify students who are willing to sit at a station and make phone calls. The job is too important and the ramifications for failure too great to take the easy road. Under the pressure to meet the expectations established at the executive level, many phonathon managers find
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themselves traveling down this dangerous path of simply filling seats. Unfortunately, not having the ability to select the quality as well as the quantity of applicants is one of the biggest factors that contribute to the poor performance of a phonathon program.
Good Caller Characteristics

If your management team is committed to a consistent, aggressive recruiting plan, and you have established a very clear understanding of the type of caller you are seeking, then the ability to accomplish the best of both worlds, quality and quantity, is not impossible. The first step in this process is building a profile of the ideal caller for your program. Fortunately, the size or type of college or university does not much matter when it comes to selecting these employees. Good callers can be found anywhere if you know what to characteristics are needed. What is most important is that you recognize the key characteristics that make up a top-notch caller. This process is paramount to selecting a winning group of student representatives who will be the voice of your institution. In the following paragraphs, we outline several major traits to consider when recruiting the right staff. Good Personality Students with an outgoing, reflective personality often make great callers. Those who are not shy around others and have demonstrated a penchant for teamwork usually fit well inside a structured, group effort. They enjoy humor with coworkers, even at their own expense. They are not afraid to speak during meetings, yet know when to listen and take direction. Most important, they reach out to others who they do not know well, seeking to spread a positive rather than negative message. Good Character It can be difficult to judge character from a resume or an interview. However, to the extent it can be done, management should pursue questions
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that illuminate development in this area. Callers should demonstrate integrity and honesty in all aspects of their job. High levels of good character reduce the likelihood of pledge falsification, deliberately giving inaccurate information to prospects, cherry-picking the best donor prospects, hiding refusals, or intentionally miscoding calls.
Confidence Often an underappreciated trait, confidence is extremely important in fundraising. Callers should sound confident in their tone, and management should be able to see it in their body language while on calls and when they are communicating with coworkers. They look for ways to learn the details of the program, which allows them to quickly respond to objections and trust their information. Most important, confident callers are not afraid to be assertive and persistent, crucial to good negotiation skills. They take constructive criticism well because they know it helps them improve their skills and will make them better callers.
Sincerity Callers who believe in what they say can effectively convince a prospect to give because there is a sense of honesty in their tone. This is especially important at the larger, leadership ask levels of the script. Their program knowledge and sense of confidence allows them to relax during their presentation and understand which points to emphasize to maximize their chances for receiving a pledge.
Quick Thinking A script and list of techniques are just guides to help callers understand the flow of a presentation, the key points to cover, and the common objections they will encounter. However, no two calls are the same, and management cannot predetermine responses for every objection a caller
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may hear. The best callers understand how to think quickly on their feet and rapidly respond to uncommon objections and other unique situations that arise during their presentation. Slow, ineffective responses greatly diminish the ability of the caller to maintain control of the conversation, thereby hurting their chances to receive a pledge.
Persistence If every prospect were willing to say yes the first time you ask them for money, everyone would be a great caller! The reality is that nearly all phonathon pledges are received after the second or third ask (hence, our recommendation for a three-ask structure, which is discussed in the scripting chapter). The best callers understand this reality and know that it is their job to prepare for multiple asks on each and every call.
Maturity While you want your call center environment to be lively with lots of positive energy, enthusiasm, and buzz during a shift, you also have to balance this with the serious work you do in raising money for the institution. The more mature callers do not have to be reminded of this fact. They understand the job at hand, have great time management skills during their shift, and have a clear focus for the need to balance work with play. Some schools even gear their recruiting toward juniors and seniors because they want more mature employees who need jobs for reasons beyond fun money. No matter what the class year, consider maturity as an important factor in your hiring decisions.
Dependability/Flexibility Your best callers are as good as they are because they show up for every shift, which means they have more practice honing their presentation skills and understanding the expectations of the job. They have adjusted
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well to campus life and know how to balance school and work. Program strategies may change throughout the year for many schools, but the best callers are flexible and able to adjust as needed. You can often depend on these callers for additional special projects as well, such as recruiting, assisting during training class, filing, or other administrative duties.
Management on the Same Page Consider having brainstorming sessions with your key personnel in the fundraising organization. Review the traits just listed along with other qualities you consider important for your program. Discuss each of these qualities in detail and document your expectations. This will ensure everyone is on the same page about the type of caller you want to hire, and these qualities then become the core foundation by which your team judges candidates.
Interviewing
In addition to the quality of callers hired for a phonathon program, managers must not forget that, at the end of the day, this is just a college job for most of the students, not necessarily a career path. With this thought in mind, managers must establish a delicate balance between a professional, goal-oriented atmosphere and a fun, motivating college atmosphere. This component is crucial to the retention of staff and the overall productivity of the phone center. The type of employees you hire will ultimately determine the type of work atmosphere you maintain, and selecting those employees begins with the interview. Being honest about expectations and sharing the vision for what you want applicants to accomplish if they are hired will help them have a clear understanding of the job before they accept the offer. At the same time, the interview is a time to share with applicants your thoughts about the fun they should expect to have when making the calls and the positive experiences they will have as your team reaches milestones. With this approach, applicants can see right away that there
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are expectations and rewards with such a position. In addition, applicants looking for an easy job often take themselves out of the hiring process before you extend an offer, resulting in better quality employees for the phonathon culture you are trying to create. When establishing your application and interview process, you should keep two things in mind: ensure the process is thorough and efficient. If your recruiting process is working at its full potential, you will have many applicants to consider. Each objective is explained in detail next, with our thoughts on key components of the interview process.
Ensuring the Process Is Thorough Rushing applicants through your hiring process while not asking the right questions and listening for the quality indicators that you seek will have significant long-term damage to the quality of your staff and ultimately the performance of the program. Revisit the qualities of your ideal employee and then review your application and interview questions to ensure you are addressing each of those qualities. In addition, make sure your interview questions are as open ended as possible. Asking yes-or-no questions is acceptable for basic factual information, but you need to ensure your applicants are able to promote their abilities in a way that allows them to speak at length and articulate their answer. After all, they will be using these same skills on the phones if they are hired for the job. Following are some examples of effective versus ineffective ways to question your applicants as you gauge the qualities you seek.
Dependability
Ineffective: Can you effectively balance school and work? It is important that we can depend on you to work each and every shift. Effective: Working every shift is important to the overall development of you as a caller and to our ability to reach team goals. Tell me how you have balanced school and work in the past or how you plan to manage it for this job given the schedules we work?
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Confidence
Ineffective: Do you like working in competitive environments? Effective: Tell me why I should hire you before other applicants?
Persistence
Ineffective: Are you willing to ask for money more than once if a prospect refuses the first time you ask? Effective: Give me an example in your personal or work life when you did not get what you wanted the first time you asked, and what you did to overcome the refusal and ultimately succeed?
Ensuring the Process Is Efficient While it is best to have a thorough interview and hiring process, some programs do not have the luxury of a long time frame to hire students. However, the most effective phonathon programs not only have consistent recruiting efforts but also have an efficient application/interviewing process. Efficiency allows management to move through the pool of applicants in an orderly fashion, taking the time to see quality but avoiding unnecessary breaks in the process. We next outline a basic threestep process that can be implemented by management in most phonathon environments.
Three-Step Interview Process

1. Application Completion. Consider an online application process if you have not already done so to receive applications instantly. At minimum, you should allow your applications to be printed online and submitted via fax or e-mail to your call center. Ask for just the important details necessary for you to gain an insight regarding their background and experience. While it is important to portray a
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professional approach to this position, overly lengthy and complex applications are often unnecessary given the questions phonathon managers need answered. 2. Phone Interview. Voice qualities are the principle mechanism for delivering a quality presentation in a phonathon program. If your applicants are not very articulate and do not sound convincing when building their case for a job on the phone with you during the interview, chances are they will not be successful when trying to persuade alumni, parents, and friends to donate money to your program. The phone interview allows you to screen out these applicants as you work to narrow your hiring pool. The phone interview should be the first step in the direct communication process but not the last step. There is no substitute for a personal, face-to-face interview, and the phone interview should never be a stand-alone procedure. Management can initiate this step on receipt of the application, at which time you can choose to do a quick phone interview at that moment or schedule a time in the near future for a more thorough process. An alternative method that some schools have put into place involves establishing a recruiting line that applicants can call and leave a message with answers to a few basic questions along with their phone number and time to reach them for follow-up. 3. Personal Interview. This is the most important step in any hiring process as this is managements opportunity to get a true feel for the applicants personality, confidence, and other quality indicators we discussed. Eye contact and body language during a personal interview can tell you a lot about an individual. There are three principle types of personal interview processes you could establish depending on the resources and time frames you have available: a. One singular face-to-face interview with the phonathon manager. b. Panel interviews that include both the phonathon manager and student supervisors, who may ultimately be responsible for helping to manage the employee if hired.
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c. One-on-one interviews with one or more individuals (e.g., phonathon manager, a supervisor, and the director of annual giving). The interviewers should then meet at a later time to discuss each applicant and make a collective decision on hires. This is a more intensive process for the applicant and will likely require that they come back multiple times for the interviews and extend the length of the process. For this reason, most programs opt for either the first or second choice listed. If you implement the three-step process, be sure not to set up every applicant for a personal interview. Phone interviews should weed out those you think cannot be articulate over the phone or who are not qualified for the position based on your standards. By utilizing this procedural process of elimination, you can improve your efficiencies by narrowing your focus to only applicants with serious potential. Remember that the phonathon manager should have the final say in any hiring decision. It is important to take advice from supervisors and others, but ultimate authority rests with the leader of the program.
Additional Interviewing Best Practices and Tips Do not hire on spot. Hiring on the spot gives the impression that you offer easy jobs that anybody can get. Allowing a period of time following the interview to consider the applicant will allow you to fairly judge all those who interviewed but will also allow each applicant to more thoroughly consider the job before they accept. Often, particularly at the beginning of a school year when many students are looking for jobs, your organization will not be the only one a student is considering for employment. Chances are they have applied for jobs at several organizations, yet many students take the job that is offered immediately out of a sense of obligation or inability to break the bad news to management rather than a sincere interest in employment. Giving them the chance to change their mind will save you time and money in the caller training process. Bring applicants in to the call center to see live calling sessions. If an applicant is able to see exactly what he or she will be doing on the job, it
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will give a better feel for the position and also allow them to experience the vibrant working atmosphere. They can then make a more educated decision about whether the job is for them. You would much rather lose the prospective candidate up front than send them through training only to be surprised when they leave because the job is different from what they expected. Include script reading as part of your applicant evaluation process. Have applicants read a very basic script during the personal interview. This allows you to determine how quickly they can grasp the basic concept of a presentation, how they sound reading off the cuff, and their ability to think on their feet. Ask them to attempt to overcome one objection using the standard techniques you provide them and give them a significant primary ask to use to gauge their reaction to asking for large gift amounts. Understand the applicants other time commitments and activities. Remember, you are hiring students who are on campus not only to receive a degree but also to experience all that college life has to offer outside the classroom. While the phonathon caller position is critical to the success of your program, do not minimize the importance of other on-campus extracurricular activities of your applicants. Extracurricular activities may appear on the surface to be a distraction to a students ability to handle the phonathon position, but you might be surprised to find the opposite effect more often. Many students who are involved with other activities have a deeper connection to the institution as well as a stronger level of maturity and work ethic. Some students thrive on staying busy, choosing to work not because they need to but because they want to. These are all excellent qualities to look for in a caller. Try not to schedule too many interviews in a short time frame. It is important that you give each interview the proper amount of time necessary for you to effectively evaluate the applicants. Typically, thirty-minute interview blocks (two per hour) are good, but you can also consider twenty-minute blocks (three per hour) if your process is efficient. Shuffling applicants in and out of your office also tends to make your operation look like a revolving door. Show professionalism by demonstrating to the applicant that you appreciate his or her time. Score your applicants and take notes during the interview. If you do not hire on the spot (which we strongly recommend against), this is a good
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way to ensure you fairly and consistently evaluate applicants and do not forget important information uncovered during the process. In addition, writing down information shows the applicant that you are taking the process seriously and that your approach is professional. However, be aware that good eye contact and an engaging interview are far more important than taking notes with your head down. If you spend most of your time writing, you are likely to miss signs and indicators that can help you make a good decision. We recommend and encourage a balanced approach. Treat the interview process as a professional experience. Take notice of applicants who dress for your interviews and prepare resumes because many students will not do so. Also, take it as a warning sign if the applicant shows up late as they are more likely to repeat that behavior later when they are on your payroll. Again, while you want to create a fun working environment for students, you also have to remember that you are still running a professional business, and the position should be treated as such.
RETENTION
One of our colleagues put it best when characterizing staffing problems by stating, Perhaps your problem is not recruiting, but rather keeping callers once you get them. Unfortunately for many managers, this statement reflects the difficulties their campaign faces. Phonathon programs often address staffing concerns by investing most of their time and resources in improving recruiting strategies as the natural management instinct is to assume that not having enough callers on staff means that the recruiting process has been lacking. In reality, turnover often causes far more problems than poor recruiting and has a larger effect on the ability of the campaign to hit the goals and objectives set forth. Some turnover should be expected in any business, and phonathon programs are certainly no exception to that rule. However, significant caller turnover can affect your phonathon program in many ways beyond merely being an inconvenience. Here is a partial list of the effects of chronic caller turnover and poor retention:
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Increased Costs and Time. With improved retention, the money and staff time spent on recruiting and new hire training could be used to manage other aspects of the operation, such as coaching and development, incentive programs, administrative cleanup, and special project implementation. Negative Reputation. Word of mouth makes bad news spread fast. If it becomes known around the campus community that employees are constantly resigning from your phonathon program, the perception will eventually be that your organization is not a desirable place to work. This puts an additional burden on your recruiting efforts because you have to work harder at convincing students to apply for jobs, and a negative reputation takes months and even years to shed. Inconsistent Results. Because of low retention, many organizations are constantly training and placing a large number of new callers on the phones. Veteran callers who have been trained rotate out, and inexperienced callers rotate in. The end result is a staff consisting of callers who are working through their learning curve, leading to a lack of consistency and difficulty negotiating on the phones. The by-product of all these problems is low productivity. One of the keys to staff retention is to develop your organization in such a way that students see working for you as a privilege that will benefit their lives now and in the future. If students view your operation as just another run-of-the-mill part-time job, then it makes it easier for them to quit if they struggle to excel or if they just do not feel comfortable on the phones. We have seen many cases of callers turning it around after experiencing rough patches in their initial learning curve. However, they must be committed to the job and to the manager to get through the tough times.
Five Primary Retention Factors

There are many factors that influence caller turnover rates. To effectively tackle the problem of poor retention, management must be willing to
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address the main reasons why turnover exists in the first place. The following five reasons are the principle issues relating to caller turnover. We discuss and explain each in greater detail in the subsequent paragraphs. 1. Wage 2. Incentives 3. Knowledge and skills 4. Atmosphere 5. Opportunities
Wage Students working for a phonathon program are really no different from your average part-time employee. Most have no long-term interest in the job, and it is usually a need for money rather than pride for the institution or an understanding of the importance of fundraising that attracts them to the program. They simply want to earn enough funds to help cover marginal living expenses or extracurricular activities (nights out with friends, campus events, food, organization membership fees, etc.). If your wage is not competitive, then it becomes even more challenging to compete with other employers. That challenge also goes beyond campus boundaries as higher-paying jobs off campus usually attract students who will sacrifice proximity to make good money. Low wages have a tremendous negative impact on two key areas of your program: The quality of employees you hire because the best candidates will accept higher-paying jobs more often than not, thus leaving you with a less-talented applicant pool. Employee retention as some current employees will begin to question whether they are working for a reputable organization or if the salary they are receiving is worthy of their effort. Consequently, they keep their options open for higher-paying positions.
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Best-Paying Job on Campus

There may not be a way to compete with every potential employer regarding caller wages, particularly for schools located in larger cities where there are more businesses for callers to choose. However, phonathon programs should always strive to be one of the highest-paying jobs in your area. Ideally, the phonathon should be the best-paying part-time job on campus, thereby guaranteeing that wage will not be an issue with those employees seeking a job in the immediate vicinity. Even if it is twenty-five or fifty cents per hour higher than your next-closest competitor, advertising that the phonathon is the highest salaried student position on campus gives you a recruiting advantage and helps improve the quality and quantity of the applicants.
Incentives Effective incentives are a staple of many successful phonathon programs, in many cases offsetting the challenge of lower wages. They provide a bridge between what the program can afford to pay the callers and the compensation needed to make the employees happy and motivated. There are two key reasons why incentives should be a key part of your retention strategy: 1. Make the Job Entertaining. Incentives are an excellent way to allow callers to have some fun during a shift while rewarding them for their performance. The reality is that at the core of any phonathon operation is a caller who spends three to four hours per shift making hundreds of calls, only reaching a small percentage of prospects. They give the same presentation over and over and are repeatedly rejected. The monotony of this routine can result in lack of focus due to boredom or the mental stress of subpar performance. One of the key roles of a manager during the shift is to find creative ways to keep the energy up on the floor and maintain a fun, yet professional atmosphere. Incentives such as games and contests that are based on actual performance and goals set by
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management help to accomplish a productive calling session and keep the students motivated and entertained. 2. Recognize and Reward Callers. Recognizing callers for a job well done is a great way to let your staff know that you appreciate their contributions to the campaigns mission and congratulate them on their personal accomplishments. Incentive programs are a common practice in the business world. Think of just about any organization you know, and chances are they have recognition plaques or other trinkets located somewhere in their offices. In the world of phonathons, there are two categories of incentives to recognize or reward staff: tangible and intangible. Tangible incentives are those incentives that a caller can physically see, touch, or take away. Here are some examples: Award certificate Plaque with name engraved Gift cards Pizza parties or other food and beverage Household/dorm items Novelty prizes Intangible incentives recognize callers in ways that are usually publicized but do not include physical items. Often, intangible incentives can be just as effective and have minimal costs, if any. Some examples include: Flexible scheduling Time out early Being a supervisor for a day A visit by the dean or director to give a personal word of thanks and encouragement A simple handshake from management for a job well done
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Additional Strategies for Incentives

Change your game on a regular basis. Your staff will eventually get bored with playing the same contest or game every shift. This does not mean you need to development a new game every night. Rather, it means mix up the games that you have and add new games when possible. In addition, you should allow your callers to have a voice in the games you play as they will be more likely to take them seriously and compete harder if they had a hand in creating them. Be sure the incentives are tied to your desired program and individual goals. To maximize your programs productivity, build your incentives and contests around nightly goals. Playing games for the fun of it can actually hurt your callers performance. Set specific objectives for number of donors, dollars, credit cards, upgrades, and additional criteria. Callers tend to appreciate the incentives more if they have earned them, not if they are given them. Offer incentives for both short- and long-term goals. A healthy focus on both short- and long-term areas keeps callers motivated for multiple reasons, which contributes to a more focused overall program. It can also help caller retention by providing incentive for remaining with the phonathon until the overall goals and objectives have been reached. Use relative performance parameters that are more difficult to alter. Results using raw numbers such as dollars and pledges can be used but should be monitored closely because they increase the temptation for callers to enter false pledges, resulting in lower fulfillment rates and more angry alumni and friends. Instead, base your incentives around objectives that cannot easily be exaggerated and offer potential win-win situations for both the caller and the phonathon program. Examples include: Pledges on credit card (which helps reduce postage and processing costs) Team fulfillment rates Attendance bonuses The importance of pledge verification. Implement a pledge verification process in your phonathon. Any time incentives are offered to motivate callers to improve performance, the temptation exists for callers to use
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poor judgment. They may consciously enter false pledges or subconsciously misunderstand prospects in their enthusiasm to achieve the goal, unknowingly undermining good fundraising habits. Online verification, telephone monitoring, or randomly calling pledges back to ensure their validity will improve your fulfillment rates, especially when incentives are built around goals for the number of pledges or dollars.
Knowledge and Skills One of the main reasons employees leave phonathon jobs is due to lack of confidence in their knowledge or skills. When callers feel they are not contributing to the success of the team or bringing the team down due to their poor performance, they are more likely to quit. Lack of quality training, coaching, and verbal and written feedback contributes to a cycle in which callers lose confidence in their ability to perform at a high level. Consequently, every calling shift is an exercise in anxiety, and they eventually resign in frustration. One of the key objectives of your caller training and development plan should be to ensure that every employee is given access to the full skillbuilding resources of the phonathon program. As leaders and managers, it is your responsibility to provide callers with the necessary tools to develop their talent and be successful. Before a caller ever leaves due to performance issues, management must have the confidence that they have fulfilled their responsibility. During the callers tenure, be sure to document strengths and weaknesses in employee files. This can be as simple as a formal coaching program that includes documented call evaluations along with any performance appraisals given to the employee during their time with the phonathon. As we mentioned at the beginning of this book, a phonathon is a business. And, while our business is unique in many respects, giving employees what they need to be successful is a universal concept. The results of a 2006 survey to determine the best small companies to work for in America reported that businesses that made the top twenty-five got high marks for having low turnover rates, being flexible with time off,
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and providing quality employee development training.* The survey also found that compensation is often less important to employees than practices like regularly communicating the firms financials and its competitive positioning. Again, this same philosophy can be applied to phonathon programs. If you are consistent and clear with the goals, expectations, and progress of your program and provide the quality training and ongoing development your staff needs, you will definitely experience an improvement in overall phonathon performance.
The Three Ways Callers Learn: Tips on Improving Knowledge and Skills
1. One on One. Consistent face-to-face feedback with your callers is critical to improving caller confidence. Many newer callers are shy and do not respond well to criticism in the presence of the team. Individual coaching sessions gives them a way to open up about their challenges, thus resulting in more productive coaching and caller development. It is important to develop regular cycles of coaching with the callers and establish coaching minimums in terms of frequency with your supervisors. We recommend that each supervisor on shift formally coach at least three or more callers per shift, offering quality face-to-face feedback (in addition to informal coaching). Build a tracking schedule to ensure every caller is coached an appropriate amount of time over a selected period. 2. Apprenticeship/Osmosis. Spending time with veteran callers who are seasoned at being in the trenches of calling and allowing them to be able to listen to their presentations and ask questions is an invaluable way of learning the skills necessary for phonathon success. There are some callers who find this to be a more effective method of learning. While they need to understand formal concepts and procedures for calling success, they will pick up on the
*Business Week Online, July 13, 2006, The Best Small Companies to Work for in America, Jeffrey Gangemi.
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subtleties of the job quicker when they interact with veteran callers. Be certain to put your new staff only with callers who have sound fundamentals in their skill set. Otherwise, you run the risk of teaching bad habits. 3. Group Exercises and Activities. Consider holding team role-playing sessions periodically as a way to continue reinforcing fundamental presentation habits, even with veteran callers. Management should understand the importance of keeping their callers skills fresh the same way any performer or athlete understands the importance of practicing the fundamentals of their craft. Team meetings provide an excellent opportunity to highlight successful techniques from other callers and reinforce good habits and fundamentals in front of the entire team. In addition, consider conducting periodic group retraining sessions, working with three or four callers at once on specific areas of focus. Often, this serves as a way to work closer with a cluster of callers who may all be struggling with similar performance issues.
Atmosphere Imagine the following scenario when coming in to work every day:
Your office is a big, square room filled with cubicle workstations containing only computers and phones. There are very few pictures or other items on the white walls. Perhaps the location is in a campus buildings basement or classroom with few windows. The supervisor comes in every day to take roll call, makes a few brief announcements, tells you what prospects you are calling, and says, Get started. Throughout the shift, there is limited communication from management other than to tell you what you did wrong, and callers do not communicate with each other very often due to management frowning on perceived distractions.
Does this sound like an enjoyable place to work? We do not think so. Unfortunately, the fact is that many phonathon programs operate in this manner or something close to it. Management becomes so preoccupied
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with administrative responsibilities and the pressure to meet goals and expectations that they fail to realize some of the little things that could make a big difference. The bottom line is that the working environment affects the attitude we keep, which in turn affects the turnover rate in our places of employment. The positive physical, social, and professional atmosphere of a call center has a significant impact on the feelings of the staff and their desire to work. It is the responsibility of management to create the type of working atmosphere in which callers can be successful. Phonathon programs have a built-in advantage over other types of on-campus employment, and if managed properly can easily be the most rewarding place to work. Unlike other businesses, phonathons experience immediate feedback on their level of success. Statistical results show tangible proof of hard work and can provide opportunities to rally the callers around a positive outcome. A few recommendations for creating great calling atmospheres follow.
Enhance Visual Aids

Not only do visual aids help create motivation for your staff, but they are also a great way to help keep your program goals at the forefront of discussion and enhance the inspiration for your callers to achieve success. When callers are visually aware of the goals and objectives set, they are more likely to buy into your philosophies and work a little harder. When constructing your visual aids, be sure to use large, visible progress trackers such as pledge thermometers, competition-based races that emphasize calling statistics, and goal-oriented games that can be easily updated. Consider including a wall of fame that highlights leaders in various categories such as participation, overall dollars, credit card percentage, attendance, and other important areas that reflect the focus of your program. Many programs also use placemat fact sheets for each caller station that provide information callers can use in their calls. Of course, the goal of any visual aid is for the work to be creative and visibly appealing. Ask your supervisors or calling staff to use their artistic skills to create theme-related posters and pieces. Everybody wins when the staff takes ownership of the program and invests their time and personality in the team.
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Promote Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is contagious, and it starts from the top! You want your callers to succeed at what is a challenging job from a mental standpoint, so as managers you owe it to your staff to develop a fun environment that helps overcome those challenges. You need to create an atmosphere in which people enjoy being at work and spending time with their peers while working toward a common goal. Having fun could be as simple as holding energetic team meetings, discussing a funny call, or patting somebody on the back for a job well done. Be sure to have a sincere, lively tone in your voice as you communicate goals and objectives to callers. If you sound as though the information you are sharing with callers is not important or exciting, they are not likely to feel much different.
Interactive, Hands-On Management

Be sure to interact and manage the calling floor by moving around. Supervisors and managers should avoid sitting behind a desk, rising from the chair only to answer a question or update the contest or game. Being active and enthusiastic about the calling shift is vital to the teams success and gives the callers the energy they need to be successful, especially after they sit in a classroom for most of the day. High-five callers for a job well done and tell them how much you appreciate their efforts. Remember, phonathon management is an active process not a passive responsibility.
Opportunities Most institutions do not have large fifty-seat or more phonathon operations that require additional management or other noncalling positions. This can be challenging because growth opportunities can keep employees (especially veterans) from pursuing other jobs. However, no matter what the size of your program, there are still ways to create formal and informal opportunities for callers to contribute to your operation while increasing their own experiences. For most programs, there are typically only three key noncalling roles:
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Manager: Oversees most aspects of the program, including recruiting, hiring, training, scripting writing and other direct mail responsibilities, performance analysis, and so on. Supervisor: Handles day-to-day management of shift preparation, coaches and motivates callers, deals with scheduling and attendance issues, prepares and analyzes reports, and the like. Administrative Assistant: Handles all the paperwork, such as folding and stuffing letters, making copies, proofreading materials, doing manual demographic research, processing miscellaneous paperwork, and the like. All three of these positions are very beneficial to a phonathon operation because they allow for specific concentration on important areas while keeping the program organized and focused. Still, we encourage you to go beyond the standard responsibilities of these roles and determine if there are other pockets of opportunity for callers who are interested in more than just calling. Take an inventory of your current positions and discover if there are ways to delegate work, budget permitting. Perhaps there are new initiatives you and your staff might want to pursue but have not had the time. Many programs benefit from a full debriefing at the end of the year, and various program wrap-up duties that take place may provide an opportunity for staff growth and assistance. In addition to those duties already mentioned, consider the following growth possibilities for qualified callers: senior caller program, additional administrative hours, other benefits of additional opportunities.
Senior Caller Program

Typically, a senior caller will have some, but not all, of the same responsibilities as a supervisor. They are eased into the management role over time, which helps develop a pipeline for future leadership. This type of program allows callers to develop managerial skills while learning about other aspects of the fundraising operation and without placing undue pressure on them when they may not be fully ready. Some institutions can offer this opportunity with minimal or no pay increase because they do a good job of promoting the opportunity and not the money. This
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allows them to create growth opportunities without negatively impacting the budget.
Additional Administrative Hours

If you do not have a formal administrative position available but could use the additional help, ask callers if they are interested in picking up additional noncalling hours to manage some of the paperwork on your plate. You do not have to create a new position for this (although it is more attractive if it is indeed a formal role). Rather, by simply offering the opportunity to help and pay the extra hours, you are actually developing the position without formalizing it. Multiple callers that understand these skills and processes are extremely valuable to the program and usually perform better on the phones because they appreciate the importance of quality in all aspects of their job.
Other Benefits of Additional Opportunities

In addition to promotions and opportunities beyond calling, there are long-term benefits to a phonathon job that students often fail to consider. For example: 1. Resume Builder. When employers can see that you have experience in a philanthropic position, particularly on behalf of the institution that educated you, it says something positive about your character. Most employers consider character as one of the intangible, yet key components of their hiring criteria. We have spoken to several former phonathon callers who have gone on to have great careers in their field of study on graduation, and nearly all of them have told us how much their phonathon experience helped them get a foot in the door when they began. 2. Skills Builder. The type of skills necessary for success as a phonathon caller are transferable to just about any career a student chooses after college, and this benefit should be promoted as much as possible. Consider some of these advantages:
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A student studying law will learn how to build a case in a short period of time, develop reasons to support the case, and convince others to do the same. A student pursuing a degree in business will learn solid presentation and sales skills and the value of promoting a brand similar to how they promoted the institution. A theater student will have consistent practice thinking on his or her feet and working with scripts as well as delivering a great presentation. A communications major will build on the ability to be articulate and generate quality dialogue with prospects, which are important skills to have when dealing with people in the real world. Some students may be interested in social work or the nonprofit industry. Working for a phonathon program is one of the best ways to enter the nonprofit arena in a professional way at an early age, learn about higher education development, and gain an appreciation for the impact that fundraising has on the institution and the community.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Identifying and cultivating the talent inside the phonathon room is a top responsibility for any call center manager. While staffing is not the only factor that contributes to achieving the goals and objectives set forth, it is undeniable that managements job is made harder by poor results in recruiting, hiring, and retention. A serious initial investment in this area will ultimately prove wise and will pay dividends for months after calling begins.
Three Overall Recommendations for Better Recruiting, Hiring, and Retention

1. Track Recruiting, Hiring, and Turnover Information. Keep track of key components of why people are leaving or staying with your
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program. Develop simple surveys that gauge the feelings of departing employees on the key issues reviewed in this chapter that are most important in your recruiting and retention efforts, including wage, incentives, knowledge and skills, atmosphere, and opportunities. Many programs experience a high volume of voluntary job abandonment, which does not leave them with much information to make decisions to improve their organization. This is why it is also important also to gauge the feeling of your current employees before they leave. Survey your current staff on why they are continuing with your program, focusing on the same key areas. In addition, track your recruiting and hiring sources so you know where your marketing efforts are working best and where to invest your resources. Identify other key figures such as average length of employment and the amount of time it takes to fully turn over the calling staff (i.e., if you had twenty stations, how long from the first hire date until the twentieth caller turned over). These figures will help management make better decisions and potentially save both time and resources for future campaigns. 2. Recognize Your Core Employees. You will always have a certain group of employees who are considered your ace callers, those you can always count on for a number of reasons. They may be your top-performing callers or the ones who spark enthusiasm among others. Perhaps they are only average callers statistically but have excellent attendance and can always be counted on to work hard each and every shift. Whatever the reason you value these employees, it is important that you recognize who they are and ensure you do whatever you can within reason and fairness to retain them. They are the callers you can count on to set positive examples for others to follow and who become candidates in your future leadership pipeline. Use the twenty percent rule, which states that at least twenty percent of your callers should be solid employees that you can count on. If you have forty employees on staff, at least eight or more of them should be considered core employees. 3. Know That All Turnover Is Not Bad Turnover. There are several reasons why callers leave phonathon programs, so as a manager
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you have to be realistic about your expectations, recognize these reasons, and be proactive about finding ways to combat them. In some cases, turnover might be expected and perhaps even welcomed. Caller burnout, in which veteran employees have difficulty staying focused and putting in consistent effort, is often a contributing factor to a negative calling atmosphere. New callers that come on board help bring fresh energy to the program and reduce the cynical attitudes among callers who are doing just enough to get by. In addition, callers who will be graduating soon sometimes lose focus toward the end of their employment. New staff tend to lead to new enthusiasm, and management should appreciate the accomplishments of those departing from the phonathon but welcome the excitement that the new students tend to bring.

CHPT 1 Staffing

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Chapter 1

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

Capacity and Need

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

Good Caller Characteristics

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

Three-Step Interview Process

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

Five Primary Retention Factors

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

Best-Paying Job on Campus

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

Additional Strategies for Incentives

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

Enhance Visual Aids

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

Interactive, Hands-On Management

The Importance of Good Staffing

Senior Caller Program

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

Additional Administrative Hours

Other Benefits of Additional Opportunities

The Importance of Good Staffing

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Three Overall Recommendations for Better Recruiting, Hiring, and Retention

The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook

The Importance of Good Staffing

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