Life of a Call Center Employee

CONGRATS, MAHAL KOH!!!

This afternoon, Mai finally signed her job offer from a call center here in Cebu. Orientation will be tomorrow night, training will start next week.
I'm excited for her but failed to show it 'cause of other things clouding my mind.
This will be her second time working for a call center. Me? I've already worked for 3 call centers. Some might wonder why we chose the call center career. Some might even laugh at me saying that there's a CAREER in call centers.

Well, in our experience, yes, there is a career working in call centers. But, only people who are taking their call center job seriously while enjoying their time with colleagues would agree with me.

The first thing that would attract anyone to working for a call center is the SALARY / compensation. The salary you're gonna get is higher than most jobs here in the Philippines. Why? Mainly because most call center employees work at night so they get 20% or more night differential on top of their basic salary. Most companies also give very good compensation and benefits to their employees. And, honestly, this is why I started working for call centers.

If you already have a family of your own and your current salary is not enough to support your family, then, you might wanna consider working for a call center. But, mind you, getting hired is not as easy as some people might think.

One of the major criteria for getting in is how good your English communication skills is. No, you don't have to be an English major to work in call centers. You just have to know how to speak confidently in English. Fluency is better but as long as you're confident, you can pass the interview. Trust me, I've already interviewed applicants myself and most of the people we hired were not necessarily good in grammar but were confident with how they expressed or answered our questions.

Another thing that you need to think about is this: Can you stay up at night? Can you adjust your body clock and get used to working at night? Most call centers have office hours at night because most of the clients are in the US. This can be an issue for people who have their own families. I've had agents telling me their life stories, how they miss important events with their kids or families because of work. So, are you willing to sacrifice that?

Working at night also affected my metabolism. I gained weight because my lunch is at night, when my body should be resting. And you'll be sitting 6-8 hours a day/night while taking in calls. So, you better have a fitness plan, too, before working for a call center.

One good thing about working for a call center is the chance of meeting people with different kinds of personalities that you won't get to meet in your "normal" life. Some of them you might not even befriend in your "normal" life but you'll be surprised that you consider them as your close friends. This is one thing that I love about call centers - the different sorts of people I get to meet.

However, this has negative effects on couples also. If one of you is working in a call center and the other is leading a "normal" life with a day job, there's a big possibility that the former will have an illicit relationship with a co-worker. I'm not saying that this happens to everyone, ok? I mean, I've had married co-workers who had/have affairs with people from work. Most of the time, these mistresses or other men are fine with being #2. Sad fact but I just wanna warn you.

Alright, you might be asking yourself now, "Is she trying to convince me to work in a call center or what?" Yes, I am. After all that hoopla about what ugly things you might experience in call centers, my experience, so far, has convinced me that I wasn't wrong in choosing to work in a call center.

With the first company I worked for, I was a technical support representative (TSR). They gave us really good training and I learned a lot. After being ignorant with networking for so long, now, I can setup wired or even wireless networks here at home. I even know how to troubleshoot our own computers.

The second call center I worked for gave me a huge opportunity. After regularization, I was promoted to Quality Specialist. I learned a lot about coaching people, how to motivate them towards better performance. I discovered that I am a very influential person and I used this to help others.

With the last call center I worked for, I was given a chance to become a Team Leader. With that job, I realized how much I love coaching people. I love seeing people improve because of my help. I love seeing people get motivated because of what I said or did for them. I love how people showed respect towards me. I love that I was able to affect people's lives and attitude towards work. And everyone around me saw this. I was considered the senior Team Leader for our account and I was even next in line for the Operations Manager post. This is why I'm applying again as a Team Leader here in Cebu.

Another thing to consider: How much this job can help you improve in different aspects. Mai's communication skills greatly improved after she started working in a call center. She can fluently speak in English before, but, now, she's more confident. This also happened to me.

Demanding for quality customer service wasn't really my thing before. I guess it's because we Filipinos were more accepting, we take what's given and we try to be satisfied. And working for call centers developed in us (me & mai) our desire for quality customer service everytime. Even from tinderas at Divisoria or Carbon, if they don't pay us attention, we move on to the next store.

We should always demand for quality customer service. Everyone who's employed by a company whose clients are the masa or common people should be trained on how to provide quality customer service. Because their performance or how they treat customers will affect the company's image.

Is it worth it? Yes! Financially, a call center job can support a family with 2 kids or even 4! You just have to learn how to stay away from temptation or from being a social climber.

For all call center people out there, wherever you are (India or here in the Philippines), what have you experienced working for a call center?