It is best when you can train some of your current employees to serve the online customers using chat software. But there is sometimes a need to recruit new people and assign them with that responsibility. In that case, you should consider many important issues, among which a distinctive one are the character traits.

It is clear that knowledge and previous experience are important issues when hiring any kind of staff. But in the case of hiring customer service reps, you should also look at some important character treats in the person. It is because when the operator does his job, most important variable is his attitude towards the client, representing your company. Some the traits that should be assessed are:

patience
critical thinking
sensitivity towards customers
not easily excitable
ability to deal with stress
other

But candidates always put their best effort in showing good in the interview. The problem is how to recognize his real character and anticipate how he will react towards customers.

Researching this area, I came to one model for assessing behavior. It is called the DISC Behavioral Model. According to it, there are four styles of behavior. They are:

Direct (approach to problems),
Influence (other people to your viewpoint),
Steadiness (of pace and change), and
Compliance (with procedures set by others).

Individuals respond to the 4 Ps with different levels of intensity and energy. These factors may work independently or in tandem with the other behavioral factors. The interrelationship of these factors describes how an individual responds to situations and interactions in a work environment. Most people who are customer service friendly fall into two categories - Influence (social and verbal aggressiveness, optimism, good persuasion skills and vision of the big picture) and Steadiness (people-oriented, loyal to those they identify with, good listener, patient and empathetic, likes a team environment and long service is deemed important). These are the two styles that focus on people which are extremely important in the area of customer service.

It will be best to hire a representative that is a combination of Influence and Steadiness.Those people are good listeners, they focus on people, communicate well, and are patient and positive. Also, this combination of styles lends itself to people who like to continually work in a stable environment, appreciate the security of being located in an office and receiving a steady pay check; but also like the challenge and excitement of dealing with new people on a regular basis.

Most of the information about this model, you can find on Internet, and if you use some of that tactics, I expect some feedback from your experiences.