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I hear they can be good or bad depending on what you're doing & where you work.
I worked in one for about a year & the pay was not bad. At first everything was decent b/c we had the ability to use our own discretion & terminate a call (hang up) if a customer was being an unreasonable a-hole. Of course management would listen to the call to make sure hanging up on them was justified & in every case with me it was. However, I think other coworkers were abusing it & they changed to a no disconnect policy. That's when it really started to get bad when you had to sit & listen to someone go off in a disrespectful manner. I was good at tuning them out most of the time or stonewalling them and making them hang up on me, but it got old really fast and I checked out of that job.
I worked at a call center for a major wireless communication company. We were micromanaged - had limited freedom about how to handle the different types of calls, and got in trouble if we didn't follow the strict guidelines. We had to have really good stats - be at our desks, taking calls within 30 seconds of our scheduled start times (coming back from breaks, start of shift, etc). We were reprimanded if we took potty breaks outside of the regularly scheduled break time...Not an easy job.
However - call center work is generally considered an entry level position; most of us were there for a year or two and then got promoted into technical support roles, where we had more freedom and larger paychecks!
I wound up spending most of my time in that company working graveyard. The pay was excellent, I had very few calls, and our computer systems were limited (nighttime backups), so I didn't have to handle difficult calls - handed them off to the day shift. I often napped at my desk (or under it), so I didn't need to sleep much during my off hours. I usually worked alone, except for one night a week when I had another coworker with me - we each worked 4 nights. Management liked us, since we did a job that few other people were willing to do, yet we had very little "interference" from the managers.
If you work in a call center, I totally recommend graveyard!!!
I think it takes a very special type of person to find fulfillment/keep sane in a call center environment. I worked for two establishments briefly right out of college after my internship ended. It was either work at one or go back to my home state and stay with the parents for awhile. I have always been the type to try new things and support myself so I decided to go for it.
Really, the only thing I can say that I liked about the first call center I worked at were the friends I made. We are still very close over four years later. The rest of the experience SUCKED!! In order to get through my day, I had to don an "alter ego" to help me accomplish my work. I VERY much disliked being on an auto dial system for the sole purpose of making sales. Selling is just not in my nature at all. And really the only way to make "good numbers" everyday was to push services and sales on people who really did not want them in the first place. I admit I did this for a while to stay afloat but it never felt ethical to me.
The second call center I worked for was actually very professional and besides being mind-numbingly boring, my managers were very fair and treated us all with respect.
Fast forward three years or so, and I am finished with graduate school. I never thought I would even consider another call center job again. However, tough times will put you in tough situations. So I agreed to start training at, and this is putting it very kindly, a ROUGH call center. Looking back I probably should have bid them adieu when I noticed how LOW my wage would be, too low to cover all of my bills comfortably. But the thing that put the icing on the cake for me today was how unorganized the management was. A good example was having me go out and complete a UA the first day of training even when I insisted I never received paperwork to do so. The other reason, and this is the biggest, was how unknowledgeable the training staff was at completing I-9 documents. When I was encouraged to type in my SS number in a room with MANY people who could have easily taken it down, I assertively declared that I do not feel comfortable with inputting this information as it breaks confidentiality. I also stated that I only needed one type of documentation on List A of the I-9 form to be cleared ( I had a passport). They said they still needed other identification, which is not true. (Working in HR helped me learn that fact!) All this to say, I mentioned that I had other opportunities waiting for me this week and that I will not be continuing in training. I give myself props for trying the place as long as I did but I also am glad I had the courage to stand my ground when confidentiality and best practices were not followed.
I guess I will conclude by saying that "you get what you pay for" at call centers which most of the time isn't much!!
I started out in reservations ( call center) for a major air carrier. The starting pay was 19.50 an hour, but because I was fluent in 3 other languages I was paid 22.00 per hour.
The company offers good health insurance, paid vacations, travel benefits, 10 paid sick days a year, 5 personal days ( paid). ( more money than I was making at my accounting job). And flexible scheduling. I can pick up or give away hours to or from other employees.
After about a year I was able to transfer to the airport and work the actual ticket counter or gates. Now I am like horse poop after a parade.... All over the place. Lol I can work the gates, the VIP club, the outside ticket offices, the counter or fill in at the call center.
The call center was always busy, but we were allowed breaks and to use the facilities. Some calls were monitored by a supervisor, but not all and you always knew when they were on the line. If we had a irate caller that wouldn't be appeased .. We just handed them off to the Supervisor. I worked third sift at the center.. Much quieter and less supervision. We did have to stay at our desks for the most part, but when the volume of calls died down I could study or do homework without being admonished for not doing my job.
We also get huge discounts for travel on other airlines, 50% off hotels and rental cars and huge discounts on vacations with companies like Club Med, Sandals and the cruise lines.
The bad thing about working in call centers isn't the rude customers. It's the work environment itself, all of that micromanagement and rules that basically treat you like you're in grade school. It's petty and it's stupid.
They don't work for me because I like to be given the tools to do the job I need to do, and then stay off my back and let me do the job. Don't be "hovering" over me or micromanaging how I do it, just let me do it period. Trust that I know what I'm doing and butt out. I don't care about statistics, I care about results and giving service. If I'm getting the job done, why does it matter how much my "call time variance" or whatever is? Who freaking cares?
Then you have about 35 logins for 35 different "systems," and you have to write down all of those passwords whereas I'd be one to punch them into a smartphone or PDA because I lose papers--but no, electronic devices are the devil in a call center. (Do these people not realize what decade we're living in?) Then you have to reset the password on these systems every 30 days, or sooner if you've forgotten it due to losing the scraps of paper that you had to use since putting it in a PDA is something only the devil would do, and you have to wait and wait until they reset it, and that makes you late for being "on available" for whatever. It's ridiculous.
So yes, call centers aren't for me. Heck, to me, they aren't for any decent person.
I worked in the back office doing data processing/entry. I felt so awful for the workers on the floor. First off, I knew they had hundreds and hundreds of old employees in the data-base-so right away, I knew that they hired/fired and people ran..and it was true. The upper management were high tyrants that worked like dogs and expected supervisors do the same. I knew the low level supervisors were massive perverts and heard awful stories..this call center was for cable-so very sleazy. '
I found there to be no job security for the workers and lack of managers being grateful. I would never recommend anyone working at one...you want a boss who you make a connection with and appreciates you-you won't get it at most, NOT ALL, call centers.
I worked in the back office doing data processing/entry. I felt so awful for the workers on the floor. First off, I knew they had hundreds and hundreds of old employees in the data-base-so right away, I knew that they hired/fired and people ran..and it was true. The upper management were high tyrants that worked like dogs and expected supervisors do the same. I knew the low level supervisors were massive perverts and heard awful stories..this call center was for cable-so very sleazy. '
I found there to be no job security for the workers and lack of managers being grateful. I would never recommend anyone working at one...you want a boss who you make a connection with and appreciates you-you won't get it at most, NOT ALL, call centers.
Totally agree. It is worse than high school in them.
The bad thing about working in call centers isn't the rude customers. It's the work environment itself, all of that micromanagement and rules that basically treat you like you're in grade school. It's petty and it's stupid.
They don't work for me because I like to be given the tools to do the job I need to do, and then stay off my back and let me do the job. Don't be "hovering" over me or micromanaging how I do it, just let me do it period. Trust that I know what I'm doing and butt out. I don't care about statistics, I care about results and giving service. If I'm getting the job done, why does it matter how much my "call time variance" or whatever is? Who freaking cares?
Then you have about 35 logins for 35 different "systems," and you have to write down all of those passwords whereas I'd be one to punch them into a smartphone or PDA because I lose papers--but no, electronic devices are the devil in a call center. (Do these people not realize what decade we're living in?) Then you have to reset the password on these systems every 30 days, or sooner if you've forgotten it due to losing the scraps of paper that you had to use since putting it in a PDA is something only the devil would do, and you have to wait and wait until they reset it, and that makes you late for being "on available" for whatever. It's ridiculous.
So yes, call centers aren't for me. Heck, to me, they aren't for any decent person.
I recently left a job in a call center. Worked there 7 1/2 years and it almost robbed my soul. Call centers are awful places to have to work. And, as a previous poster mentioned, a lot of people consider it entry level, and promote to technical support, etc. I did just that. However, management, somewhere up the food chain, decided that technical support would now also take the straight customer service calls in addition to the technical support calls. I promoted out of the customer service department, and loathed taking those calls. Now I found myself, back at square one, taking those same calls, in add'n to the calls for technical support, and for no more $$.
Where I worked, there is an entire department that employs folks to monitor your calls, 5x's per month, you get a report of that call. Your words are scripted, there were approximately 23 bullet points that had to be covered in every call, and to not meet those bullet points, was a mark against your score.
Your supervisor also sat with you, side by side, hooked in, and listened to an add'l 2 calls per month, as well as one per month, that wasn't side by side, so you never knew which call might be monitored. You were scored on all three of those calls also.
They also enacted, that supervisors are now required to walk the floor, basically, monitor you as if you are a school child, and make sure you are doing your job, and not surfing the net, avoiding calls. I don't even know how you avoid calls, because everything is digitally monitored. If I'm not in an active call state, ready to take a call, then my phone is in some other state, and that is monitored, .. and so I will be asked about it.
The company where I worked, a major insurer in this country, ... the supervisors were never someone who had done this job, they were usually former claim reps, ... and promoted to a supv position in the call center, to "better round out their resume". That may look good on paper, but it works pretty bad, as far as having management as a resource. Management knows nothing about how we do our job. They simply know how to monitor stats, and if we're using too much "Unplanned Activity", etc.
I am so glad to be out of that environment. It was the best thing I could've done for my health, well-being. I feel so bad for those who still have to do it.
The best thing I can say is that when you are unfortunate enough to have to call your "major insurer", and you end up on the other end of a call center rep, please bear in mind, that a lot of them would like to help you more, they are conscientious folks, who want to do a good job. But management thinks it more important that the stats be adhered to, that those bullet "talking points" are hit, at all costs. A lot of them tie your hands as to what you can and cannot offer as to support to customers. How this makes sense, I never understood, the reason I left, .. that and so much more.
I have no personal experience working in call centers, but in recent years they seem to be springing up like wildfire in the lower midwest and midsouth. Mainly in communities of 50,000-100,000 population, with chronically depressed economies. They do quite well in these areas, because the pay is superior to anything else available to the locals. These are folks who have been making $8 an hour most of their lives, and $10-12 is like hitting a home run. I suppose the lower one is on the economic food chain, the more willing they are to put up with the negatives of the occupation. Still, the turnover must be great, because these firms seem to have a perpetual ad for employees in the Sunday paper.
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