Job Description
Sitting there with a headset on while customer questions and complaints (usually complaints) regarding sharedealing came flooding in without respite. I must stress that my role didn't involve sales so I wasn't working on commission, merely as a customer service advisor - so I would simply pick up a basic wage with no discernable benefits.
The one thing that I have learned is that you have to be a certain kind of person to be able to glean any amount of enjoyment from working in a call centre. A minority of my colleagues seemed to enjoy their role for some reason, but I seriously question their sanity.
Many people use call centre work as a stepping stone in their career, and attempt to quickly gain experience so that they can move elsewhere and try to earn more money; thus you will find that there is often a rapid staff turnover and efforts by management to retain staff are lacklustre as everyone is easily replaceable. This was certainly the case where I worked, and there were no real benefits to working there other than getting paid as there was nothing to aspire to; and because of this staff morale was almost non-existent.
In summary, if repeating the same thing to angry people over and over again and being an undervalued, mindless automaton sounds good to you then this may be the kind of job that you are looking for. However if you have any kind of intelligence or self worth, I would only recommend considering doing this kind of work as a last resort.
Pros
You get paid
Very occasionally you may be able to help a caller rather than just fob them off with excuses
You often work a shorter day than regular office staff
Cons
Poor pay
You are normally thrown straight into the job with very little training
Highly stressful and hectic environment
Company policy may often mean that although you know exactly how to help the customer, you may be prevented from actually doing so because you have a 30 second time limit to do it in
Little scope for promotion
Gets repetitive very quickly
Giving a customer incorrect advice or even speaking to them in a tone that they don\'t appreciate may get you into a lot of trouble
You will often be monitored at random and have management watching your every move, sometimes even having to ask for permission to go to the toilet
Potential neck and ear damage in the long-term
You will often be dealing with complete idiots, and sometimes working alongside them too Customers will often be aggressive, and in extreme cases may even threaten to have you killed
Company Size
10,000 or greater employees
Pay Range
$0-$20,000
Years in Job
2
Education
very little needed
City
United Kingdom
State
AL
