I have a small but growing software company and the number of support requests as well as "how do I do something almost plainly simple with the software" are coming up more and more frequently as the user base expands.
I'm looking at hiring some additional eyes and hands to filter/respond to the basic data that comes through these questions.
How do I tell if candidate is suitable for job like that? What are factors to take into account when hiring for customer support?
UPDATE:
Nic's comment below about discussing tying shoelaces got me thinking on the questions to ask a prospective applicant to do. Many applicants (though not all) are not US-based so testing English language ability is fairly important.
I ended up asking some basic checkbox questions on software packages they have used, then asked two natural language questions:
- Please describe as simply as you would like, how would you tell a Mac computer user to find their Documents folder.
- Please describe as simply as you would like, how to tie your shoelaces.
I had them submit all answers into a Google Docs form and the answers thus far have proved perfectly insightful as to what I'm looking for and not looking for e.g.
Hello <Name>,
The best way to find the documents folder would be searching via the finder's toolbar. When you type ""Documents"" in the Search field and press Return, your MAC will search for items whose names contain the terms you typed.
Please let me know if you need any additional assistance.
Regards, John
Another one:
to be honest I have no idea since I am not a mac user.
I'm not easily dismissive but the above contender also wrote:
No good, then stretched shoes!
...whatever that means.