How to hire call centre operators: how many you need, where to find them, how to test them

First, count how many operators you need

Before posting a job, answer one question: at what hours, and how many people, must answer the phone? Take daily and hourly call counts from your phone system’s report.

For example, 120 calls a day at about 4 minutes each, notes included, is 480 minutes: 8 hours of pure work. An operator can talk 5–6 hours a shift; the rest goes on breaks and notes. So the day shift needs at least two people, plus a third at peak hours. These numbers are only an example.

For round-the-clock work the headcount grows fast: keeping one seat staffed 24/7 takes four to five people.

Who to look for: a checklist

• A clear, calm voice on the phone. A CV doesn’t show it; only a call does.
• Fluent Uzbek and Russian, if your customers call in both.
• Listening: not interrupting, repeating the question back to confirm it.
• Fast typing: name, phone and request go into the CRM during the call.
• Not making things up. Being able to say “I’ll check and call you back”.
• Agreeing to the schedule: if there are evening, weekend or night shifts, say so up front.

Experience helps but isn’t required: you can teach product and script to someone with a good voice who listens. Manner is much harder to teach.

Where to find them and what to put in the job post

Operators are usually found on job sites (for example hh.uz or OLX jobs), Telegram job channels and through people you know. Students suit short day shifts; experienced operators suit full shifts.

State five things clearly: hours and shifts, languages, how pay is built (base, bonus), the kind of calls (incoming or outgoing, sales or questions), office or remote. A vague post brings the wrong people.

The selection process: from a phone screen to a trial shift

1. 1First filter: a 5-minute phone call. You hear at once how the candidate sounds. Unclear speech or constant interrupting? Stop there.
2. 2Interview: why this job, which shifts they can work, where they worked before. If you need both languages, ask one question in Russian.
3. 3Role-play call: give the candidate a sheet with prices and the address, let them read it for 5 minutes, then call them as a customer.
4. 4Note-taking test: after the call, they write down the customer’s name, number and request within a minute.
5. 5Trial shift: a day or two listening next to an experienced operator, then taking simple calls alone.

In the role-play, ask one question that isn’t on the sheet. Watch whether the candidate invents an answer or promises to check:

Calls you may not need to hire for

Night shifts and the surge on the day an ad goes out are the most expensive to hire for: few calls, full salary. An AI operator for incoming calls can take them: it answers in about a second, with no queue, more than ten calls at once, in Uzbek and Russian.

It answers from your company’s own facts; if it doesn’t know, it says a manager will call back and creates a task. It transfers complex calls to a staff member’s phone by your rule. You hire fewer people, and yours work on sales and difficult questions.

Compare: call centre vs AI operator, and for the numbers, the guide on what a call centre costs. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.

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