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How to hire a customer service team lead

Customer service team lead hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring customer service team leads in the United States:

  • HR departments typically spend 15% of their expenses on recruitment.
  • It usually takes about 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
  • It typically takes 36-42 days to fill a job opening.
  • The median cost to hire a customer service team lead is $1,633.
  • Small businesses spend an average of $1,105 per customer service team lead on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
  • There are currently 263,747 customer service team leads in the US and 249,105 job openings.
  • New York, NY, has the highest demand for customer service team leads, with 47 job openings.
  • Houston, TX has the highest concentration of customer service team leads.

How to hire a customer service team lead, step by step

To hire a customer service team lead, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire a customer service team lead, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step customer service team lead hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a customer service team lead job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new customer service team lead
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a customer service team lead do?

A customer service team lead is responsible for managing a group of customer service agents. They monitor their tasks and productivity and report the team's performance to senior management. A customer service team lead provides coaching opportunities for the agents, identifies their challenges, and creates strategic procedures for them. Customer service team leads also respond to customers' inquiries, resolve high-level complaints immediately, and maintain the highest customer satisfaction to build the company's good reputation, generate revenues, and increase profitability.

Learn more about the specifics of what a customer service team lead does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    First, determine the employments status of the customer service team lead you need to hire. Certain customer service team lead roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    A customer service team lead's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, customer service team leads from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

    This list shows salaries for various types of customer service team leads.

    Type of Customer Service Team LeadDescriptionHourly rate
    Customer Service Team LeadCustomer service representatives interact with customers to handle complaints, process orders, and provide information about an organization’s products and services.$13-22
    Customer Care AdvocateA customer care advocate is responsible for monitoring customer transactions, ensuring the highest customer service satisfaction by timely responses and complaint resolution. Customer care advocates recommend strategic procedures and training programs necessary for handling customer support... Show more$11-21
    International Customer Service RepresentativeAn international customer service representative usually communicates with an international client. Their work is to take calls and answer queries about a particular product or service... Show more$11-19
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • HR
    • Inbound Calls
    • Product Knowledge
    • Front End
    • Customer Service
    • Outbound Calls
    • Customer Satisfaction
    • Customer Inquiries
    • Customer Complaints
    • Credit Card
    • Customer Service Reps
    • Customer Care
    • Customer Issues
    • Sales Floor
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Interact extensively with customers to achieve timely issue resolution while maintaining high standards for dock organization and cleanliness.
    • Share Medicare eligibility information with insurers and providers to ensure correct billing of claims.
    • Handle incoming telephone calls pertaining to Medicare plus insurance medical and pharmaceutical claims, billing, eligibility.
    • Communicate with center leadership and corporate customers any observe performance gaps; tracking and analyzing compliance to call center service standards.
    • Communicate with center leadership and corporate customers any observe performance gaps; tracking and analyzing compliance to call center service standards.
    More customer service team lead duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in your customer service team lead job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A customer service team lead can vary based on:

    • Location. For example, customer service team leads' average salary in georgia is 44% less than in district of columbia.
    • Seniority. Entry-level customer service team leads 40% less than senior-level customer service team leads.
    • Certifications. A customer service team lead with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
    • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a customer service team lead's salary.

    Average customer service team lead salary

    $36,623yearly

    $17.61 hourly rate

    Entry-level customer service team lead salary
    $28,000 yearly salary
    Updated January 20, 2026

    Average customer service team lead salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1Maryland$44,473$21
    2New York$42,598$20
    3New Jersey$41,916$20
    4Texas$41,829$20
    5California$41,752$20
    6Wisconsin$41,435$20
    7Pennsylvania$41,237$20
    8Massachusetts$39,965$19
    9Washington$39,792$19
    10South Dakota$38,734$19
    11Kansas$38,688$19
    12Minnesota$38,628$19
    13Michigan$38,208$18
    14Illinois$37,471$18
    15Oregon$37,425$18
    16Arizona$37,190$18
    17North Carolina$37,037$18
    18Virginia$36,826$18
    19Florida$36,166$17
    20Ohio$35,803$17

    Average customer service team lead salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Santander Bank$79,120$38.041
    2Accenture$57,865$27.82438
    3Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield$55,382$26.635
    4AIG$54,804$26.35
    5City of Detroit$51,611$24.811
    6Morgan Stanley$51,265$24.65216
    7Brown University$48,296$23.2211
    8Santander Private Banking International$47,865$23.011
    9Virginia Housing Development Authority$46,589$22.40
    10AO Architects$46,387$22.301
    11ICF$45,952$22.092
    12Stryker$45,154$21.7129
    13Celanese$44,038$21.17
    14Uline$43,694$21.0190
    15Kohler Co.$43,649$20.999
    16Thermo Fisher Scientific$43,598$20.9617
    17University of Washington$42,409$20.395
    18Bank of America$41,672$20.03251
    19Square$41,159$19.791
    20Organogenesis$40,627$19.532
  4. Writing a customer service team lead job description

    A customer service team lead job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a customer service team lead job description:

    Customer service team lead job description example

    • Bachelor's Degree required. Supply Chain discipline preferred.
    • Minimum of 5-7 years previous experience in a Customer Service role with emphasis on Order Management, Transportation/Distribution/Logistics and experience working with cross-functional business units, specifically Sales and Finance teams.
    • Strong knowledge of SAP Order to Cash Process strongly preferred.
    • Ability for analytical and problem solving skills, collaboration and generating alignment.
    • Previous experience managing customer inventory and managing to key service metrics desired.
    • Must have strong attention to detail, while understanding the strategic direction set.
    • Must have strong MS Office proficiency.
    • Excellent verbal and written communication skills required.
    • Ability to provide direction on adherence to policies, programs and procedures.
    • Must have strong teamwork skills to lead others and to commit to team goals, activities and schedules.
    • Good business perspective skills with the ability to look at problems or projects through the eyes of the customers, competitors, and coworkers.
    • Less than 20% travel required.

    Work conditions:

    Normal office environment. Office environment is very busy during August through February and at all fiscal quarter closes (OCT, JAN, APR, JUL). Physical presence in the office is required during key periods. Some holiday and weekend coverage required throughout the year

    ACR

    The Company is committed to providing equal opportunity for employees and applicants in all aspects of the employment relationship, without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

    In that regard, U.S. applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law. Click here for additional information.

  5. Post your job

    There are various strategies that you can use to find the right customer service team lead for your business:

    • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
    • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
    • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your customer service team lead job on Zippia to find and recruit customer service team lead candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Your first interview with customer service team lead candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

    Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new customer service team lead

    Once you've decided on a perfect customer service team lead candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

    You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

    After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new customer service team lead. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a customer service team lead?

Before you start to hire customer service team leads, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire customer service team leads pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

Customer service team leads earn a median yearly salary is $36,623 a year in the US. However, if you're looking to find customer service team leads for hire on a contract or per-project basis, hourly rates typically range between $13 and $22.

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