Call Centre Job (apply, career, company, wage)

[BDUB01]

Hey everyone. Im 18 years old and just graduated high school. I will be attending university in September but for the summer I am looking for a job. I currently live in a city in Ontario, Canada where there are 5 call centres. The reason why I am considering working at a call centre is because generally these places pay $2-3 more an hour than fast food restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
My mom has talked to a couple people who previously worked in these places and they all said with my background I would get hired without a problem. Anyway, Im wondering if anyone on this forum has experience in this field of work? Is it a stressful job? would you recommend it to a student? Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!

[TracySam]

Please read the threads started by the member "beenhereandthere" in this forum. She paints a pretty dismal picture of working in such a setting. You'll be better off working in the mall.

[J Arp]

I did telemarketing for a year and it paid crap, but I got to put in a ton of hours--I was actually kind of good at it. The only reasons I even worked that long was literally everyone working there was a friend of mine from school and due to the fact that the manager knew the place was going down the tubes so he didn't care about numbers. The reason I only worked a year is because it shut down...it obviously wasn't your typical coaching cheering pep talk kill me now kind of place.

After I got laid off I went to go apply at one of those pep talking cheering types of places. I walked in the door and saw the "coach" walking around and people shouting out of their cubicles how much they just sold and I immediately ran out the door. Scary scary place.

If you are just doing tech support or customer service I could see that being a good post high school job, but for the love of god do not go telemarketing unless you truly think you have that kind of happy-happy-joy-joy mentality.

[BDUB01]

The job I am thinking about taking is tech support which I hear is much better than telemarketing. And its pays roughly $12/hour which is quite a bit more than minimum wage here(8.75/hour).

[J Arp]

I did helpdesk/tech support over the phone for a year and I liked it alright. It was pretty laid back though. If you think you have the right personality I say go for it.

[jamesandveybe]

OK, so it's the call center vs. the mall, right? Reasons I would choose the call center:

1) I was disabled and confined to a wheelchair.
2) I tried phone sex and got an STD.
3) I am obese to the point of making strangers avoid me.
4) My teeth are so bad or poorly-maintained that my breath scares the dog.
5) I have a medical condition that makes me fart continuously.
6) I enjoy talking to people I don't care about and will likely never talk to again.

Otherwise, work in the mall.

[sunny AZ]

I say go for the call center. Mostly because this is going to be a short term job for you, it's not like you are planning to make a career of it. Also, I think you might learn some valuable life lessons. Just try to get the job and make the most of it, learn what you can.

When you get a good job in the future, you will appreciate it that much more after getting experience somewhere like a call center.

[Goodbye Bawlmer]

It depends on what type of call center you find. If you have to make "cold calls", you'll probably end up hating it.
I work in a call center that schedules appointments for a large Radiology company and I can tell you that the schedulers here are happy, paid well and secure.
I'm not sure who else has this type of "call center", but it would be a great choice if you can find one.