To decide whom to hire, call center managers have to consider more than the skills jobseekers possess. They need to be sure candidates for positions as call center agents know what they're applying for.

Some types of businesses, like banks and insurance companies, seek call center agents with specific combinations of skills and traits. That's why Atlanta, GA-based LOMA, a membership organization of more than 1,250 financial services companies, offers assessment tools to help call centers in this sector identify candidates who have both the ability and the desire to serve customers.

LOMASelect Service Index is a set of 81 multiple-choice questions that ask jobseekers to describe their attitudes about conditions of working in financial services call centers, like adhering to schedules, following a company's policies, dealing with numerous customers at a fast pace throughout the day and handling the same types of calls repeatedly. This questionnaire, which takes under an hour, reveals if prospective agents have the right outlook for the job.

LOMASelect REPeValuator is a simulation with six hypothetical scenarios concerning calls that agents in financial services call centers are most likely to receive, and 42 questions about these scenarios. During the six simulated calls, which usually take a total of between 15 and 20 minutes, candidates demonstrate how quickly and accurately they can enter information from customers.

LOMASelect REPeValuator is a variant of REPeValuator, which Aon offers as a simulation tool for assessing agents in call centers within various types of industries. Aon, a member of LOMA, also collaborated with the organization to develop LOMASelect Service Index.

You administer LOMA's assessments on-line, and you indicate who within your company has permission to view candidates' scores. You can refer to the results of these assessments to determine if a candidate qualifies for a certain stage of your hiring effort, such as an in-person interview.

With LOMASelect Service Index, the starting cost per candidate is $12; for LOMASelect REPeValuator, it's $22. LOMA also charges an initial start-up fee of $500 for each of its assessment tools, plus $75 for each additional location where you administer them. Volume discounts are available from LOMA if the total number of candidates you assess using either product exceeds 500.

Besides assessment and performance management tools, LOMA also offers professional certificate programs, research, conferences, seminars and workshops, among other products and services. Many of these are available at a significant discount to LOMA's member companies and their employees.

800-275-5662/770-951-1770, www.loma.org