North America’s number one public transportation telephone customer information specialist may be working in your organization. The Call Center Challenge is your opportunity to showcase the talents of these dedicated behind-the-scenes employees.
APTA’s first-ever Call Center Challenge is a new national competition that will crown the best in the industry. Read on, to find out how to take part in this exciting competition which culminates in Orlando, Florida, during APTA’s 2008 Marketing & Communications Workshop.
Who's Eligible
The Inaugural Call Center Challenge is open to all APTA member transit system call center personnel. Transit systems are responsible for all travel related expenses for final contestants.
Call center personnel are defined as employees who handle incoming calls relating to trip planning and/or customer service issues.
Application Process
Each transit system may have one call center operator participate in the pre-selection phone interview process. All interested personnel must complete and return the official Call Center Challenge application by December 20, 2007
Pre-Selection and Phone Interview Process
All applicants meeting the eligibility requirements will be assigned a time for his/her pre-selection phone interview with a panel of APTA member judges. The tentative dates for the pre-selection phone interviews are January 10 and 11, 2008. During the phone interview, contestants will be asked a series of general “get-to-know-you” questions and will be required to resolve two common customer call center inquiries.
At the conclusion of all phone interviews, the judges will determine the eight finalists to compete in the final competition in Orlando.
Final Competition
The final competition will take place in front of a live audience at APTA’s 2008 Marketing & Communications Workshop. Finalists will be presented with three random customer service scenarios and will be judged on their ability to handle each inquiry. The contestant with the highest score, as determined by a panel of APTA member judges, will be named public transportation’s best telephone customer information agent.
Call Center Challenge Application Form
Please download and print the application form:
APTA Call Center Challenge application form (PDF)
Return completed application form via fax to 202-496-4321
Application Deadline: December 20, 2007
QUESTIONS? Contact APTA’s Jack Gonzalez at 202-496-4824 or jgonzalez@apta.com.
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