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Are they all that bad? I may be relocating for a job in a call center in another state next month. It pays pretty good at 17 to 20 dollars an hour. It is an inbound only call center. My title would be Customer Service Representative. The company actually prefers people with at least a Bachelor's Degree, which I have. The hours are great too. Day time shift Monday through Friday. They train you for a month or so. Which is good.
I'm not completely sure if I'm going to take the job yet, but I am strongly leaning towards taking it b/c nothing has come up as far as a job in a long long time.
I know about all the horror stories in regards to call center work. But I am desperate right now and would love to move the hell out of my parents house.
My question is: Is it really that bad of a job and is it totally a dead-end job? The people I interviewed with said that I could probably get into another department after a while....whatever that means????
Anyway I am looking for advice from people who have worked in this kind of environment to let me know of pros/cons or if it would be complete hell every single day. Thanks.
Call Center is like saying "Retail" or "factory". Who you work for, what duries you perform, what expecations, etc, etc will make all the diffrence. A person in a call center answering inbound calls asking about store location & hours is not the same as a person in a call center handling complaints of messed up products. You need to be a bit specific to get real answers.
If they want people with degrees that tell me this almost certainly for a division of a financial services firm. It need not be a dead-end. Many such firms actively do promote people and just to "call center supervisor". If you learn about their offerings you can move horizontally and vertically -- believe it or not there are firms that actually do like people with "front line" experience involved in marketing and new product roll out.
$34k / yr is pretty solid money for call center work. You will earn it. It won't be acceptable to loaf. If you are worn out and do not want to learn about the rest of the company it will be a dead end. If you use the tools they give you and make connections to other parts of the firm it can be a good entry...
Basically, here is what this call center job entails:
The customer service rep is responsible for processing customer purchase orders, resolving issues, handling inquiries, cross referencing, expediting and communication with supplier, customers and Sales Reps.
I am totally not sure what to do. Take the job or not. I have never worked in a call center and I am a bit apprehensive. I don't know if I would like it or not. I'm just sick and tired of not doing anything and living with my parents. It kinda blows. My thinking was that maybe I could take the job and force myself to deal with it for a while (a year or a little more) and then start looking for other jobs in the area that I am relocating to which seems to have more jobs than where I currently live. But then again I could just not take the job and continue living at home and keep searching until I find something else.
Be careful....when they say flexible hours, they mean THEY have the flexibility, not you. I worked for a call center, if call volume dropped, they would pick certain employees to go home. I found once I stayed in the building because it was raining, they called some employees back. Or, they give you a split shift, one guy lived an hour away, they scheduled him like 8-12, then 6-10 pm, not much you can do in between.
Also, its all about statistics. Sales, or satisfied callers (you know those surveys they give you at the end of a call? People's jobs depend on them). I just know its considered a $hitty job in general, but a good stepping stone. Oh, yes, and they short you your hours so you don't qualify for benefits. but other than that.........
I would say take it, but have a backup plan, don't burn your bridges
Basically, here is what this call center job entails:
The customer service rep is responsible for processing customer purchase orders, resolving issues, handling inquiries, cross referencing, expediting and communication with supplier, customers and Sales Reps.
I am totally not sure what to do. Take the job or not. I have never worked in a call center and I am a bit apprehensive. I don't know if I would like it or not. I'm just sick and tired of not doing anything and living with my parents. It kinda blows. My thinking was that maybe I could take the job and force myself to deal with it for a while (a year or a little more) and then start looking for other jobs in the area that I am relocating to which seems to have more jobs than where I currently live. But then again I could just not take the job and continue living at home and keep searching until I find something else.
Sounds like your basic CSR position.
The pay you will get is surprising. Most call centers don't pay that much even if they require a degree...which you will soon find out doesn't mean squat because a monkey can do call center work.
What they mean by, "you could move to a different department" is true, but not the whole truth. It means, you and anyone else in that call center who wants to get OUT of that cubicle will be trying. You will have all kinds of competition every single time another job opens up in the company so if you have no experience, get ready to wait awhile for your advancements.
It's a boring job. At first it's not, you have to remember everything they're teaching you, (depends on what the company is about...some are ridiculously easy, some are more complicated...yet the salary doesn't always reflect that!), and you're anxious your first month or so "on the floor".
But then, you start to realize you're a rat, stuck in a cube, tethered to your desk by a headset connected to a phone. You will have "quality control" where they listen in to your calls and call you in to tell you what you did good and what you did that they don't like and want you to change.
Your raises may be determined by this quality control. In some cases, you have limited time to take care of the call. Depends on where you work. Some are hard core about this, "2 minutes!!!!" and some are more customer friendly.
Pretty much everything you do is monitored. You won't have time to be surfing the web, updating status on your FB or reading City Data, (IT department can see what you're doing or the company may just block internet altogether with exception of what you "need" to have access to), and your life is call after call after call after call after call.
And some days you'll have easy calls. And some days it will seem like every fricken call you get is a difficult call and you will hate your job and your life by the end of that day.
And even though you're busy, this is the breeding grounds for gossiping, backstabbing hens. You may get lucky...you may get seated next to people who don't care about that but just prepare yourself anyway. If you have a strong work ethic, someone is going to hate and they are going to start problems. And you will stand there, (sit, rather, since you're tethered to your desk), bewildered.
You may find yourself facing "mandatory overtime" so be prepared for that. Depends on when the "busy season" is for that particular call center. Be prepared to work holidays...especially if you're the "new kid" on the block. Be prepared to get your desired vacation slots last. And be prepared to deal with, "you can only be sick x number of days" before you start to get the stink eye.
And pray to GOD that you get a decent supervisor.
Ok, that's worst case scenario. Considering they are paying more than your average call center, you may find yourself in a better work place. Course, depends on WHERE you are going to work. If you are working in, say, NY, no, that's not good pay. If you are working in BFE, North Dakota, hells yas that's good pay.
Having said all of that, you should take it. You aren't doing anything right now, you need a job, you need to get OUT of your parents' house and start making your own life and when you start, you usually do the crap jobs. It's good experience, you can make connections and hey, you get to move to a new state WITH a job so why not?! Be adventurous! Do this for a couple of years, (not just one year, that's not enough time), get to know people in your new home state well, make a lot of friends, network and see what you can find.
But you have to start at the bottom and this may be it. Like I said, you may get lucky and be working for a fabulous company....you'll know it's fabulous if you still think they're tops two years later.
I'm not trying to scare you away from the job...I'm just giving the realities of what many call centers can be like. They aren't all like this. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
But whatever it is, it's YOU getting out there and starting life. Surely there shouldn't be a question whether you should do that or not!
Hey! Preciate that 3 Wolves in Snow. Yep, the main reason that I am thinking about taking the job is to get out of my hometown and get out of my parents house. I'm pushing 30 and need my space and need to start a life of my own. I really don't have any thing specific that I am looking to do as far as a job so I guess this would be at least a job that would pay the bills.
I am a little nervous about it though. IN regards to if I will like it or not. I would hate to be miserable and in a new place. I am currently pretty miserable at home, but then again I have no options here.
Is it really about getting the customer off the phone quick and not really helping them out? Is it really about taking in as many calls as you can? I'm unsure of how I would be in this kind of environment. I'm not the most aggressive/outgoing individual but I guess I can learn to be that way if the job calls for it.
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Most call centers have a high level of automation and track/report on everything you do. You have to produce to get a raise, or to keep your job.
If it was a sales job, such as a catalog center, you would be required to upsell. For example, someone orders a shirt, you try to sell them pants to go with it. You meet your quota to keep your job, exceed it to get a raise. If it's truly just customer service you must be able to learn fast, because they will want you to handle as many calls per hour as the best, longest tenure employees as soon as the training is over. Not for everyone, but that actually is a lot more than most call centers pay.
I am also a bit concerned about the sitting all day everyday fact of the job. I would hate to get fat and jeopordize my health for being so sedentary. I have never had an office/cube sit down type of job either so this would be a big change to what I am used to.
Guess i would have to hit the gym to keep in shape
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