When it comes to recruiting Customer Success managers the knack of being able to recognise intelligence, a competitive spirit, or a penchant for thinking outside the box in the shortlisting and interview process can be tricky.
Jon Eyers, a Customer Success recruitment specialist, shares some useful tips to aid shortlisting and recruiting your next Customer Success manager.
Shortlisting Customer Success Managers
The Customer Success job market in the UK, with current low unemployment levels, is very competitive. Approximately only 36% of candidates in the talent pool are actively looking for new job opportunities.
So, Jon suggests to create a strong shortlist of candidates that you reach out to, top tier candidates who may not be actively looking to change their jobs. Referrals and a solid personal network of contacts is invaluable in finding these hidden candidates for your shortlist. Whilst this additional searching and screening does tend to take more time, the effort is well worth it.
He also suggests being open to the ‘right’ person rather than just the ‘right’ CV to ensure that you do not miss suitable candidates that may not seem to meet your hiring criteria. He often uses his extensive personal network for powerful word of mouth referrals that focusses on the person and their personality rather than their CV.
Interviewing Customer Success Managers
At the outset, you need to have a clear understanding of your organisation’s culture and the qualities you are looking for in your next Customer Success Manager. An actual list of the key qualities you are looking for is useful for sharing with your key recruitment stakeholders. Here are a few key qualities we see featured regularly:
• Hunger for knowledge with an appetite for learning – they are not afraid of asking questions and a regular in the CS community – Blogs, books, videos etc
• Natural networkers that enjoy building relationships
• Disciplined and methodical – like to plan things out and execute on the plans
• Good listeners who tend to validate what they have heard
• Natural problem solver that are adaptable and think creatively
• Positive attitude
Customer Success Interview Questions
Jon finds that interview questions that encourage Customer Success candidates to share examples / stories that show their experience are useful in understanding the candidate’s temperament and outlook. In addition, profiling tools, testimonials and word of mouth referrals are invaluable in matching candidates to the role and organisation.
Some typical questions we may ask corporate-level Customer Success Manager candidates include:
• Tell me about a time when you had to turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one?
• Describe a typical day in your current role?
• What are you most proud of in your current / most recent role? Why?
• If your portfolio increased by 20 accounts overnight to a total of 50 accounts, how would your account management processes change? What 3 key things you would do to manage the change and deliver results?
• Give me an example when you did something that made you feel extremely satisfied/dissatisfied with how you worked with a customer? What did you do after that?
• Give me an example of a time when your work impacted your peers positively.
If you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this article, please do contact Customer Success recruitment specialist Jon Eyers on +44 (0)1908 307474 or via our website.
