One of the most popular and easily available career options is to take up a job at a Call Center. But what exactly is it like to work in a Call Center? Find out below.
What are the jobs really about?
Calls, Calls and more Calls
Your job will revolve around talking on the phone to customers all day. You might be responsible for making sales/marketing calls to customers and convincing them to buy a product, or you might be responsible for answering calls made by customers who wish to register a complaint or make a query. The more calls you make/answer, the better it is for your performance track record. Having to speak to a 100 different customers per day is not a rare occurrence.
Why do people work in Call Centers?
Basic Qualifications, Good Pay
As compared to most other industries, it is comparatively easier to get a job in a Call Center as the requirements are pretty basic; all you need is basic education (10 + 2) and acceptable communication skills. You will generally be asked to undergo a training program for 4 – 6 weeks during your initial days in the Call Center. This is when you will learn about the job in detail.
Additionally, the salaries of employees in Call Centers with regards to their qualifications are also reasonable.
Find out the Top 7 Careers That Require Little Educaiton.
Networking
While working in a Call Center, you will get the opportunity to interact with a large number of people, most of who are going to be in the same age group as you, i.e. 18 – 30. This will provide you with the opportunity to make friends and develop strong relationships that can help you in the future.
What is it like to work in a Call Center?
Monotonous
Call Center jobs are operational in nature, and thus involve performing the same set of tasks on a daily basis. In most circumstances, you will be provided with a ‘script’ that will direct you as to what to say to a customer with regards to a particular query or complaint. This helps the company maintain uniformity in the responses of all Call Center employees with regards to a particular query or complaint.
As a Call Center employee, you will be required to follow the guidelines mentioned in the script while attending to customers throughout the day. This results in monotony at work and you might be repeating your responses several times a day.
Rude Customers
Customers will be rude and irritable, whether they call you or you call them. This is primarily due to the fact that when you call a customer for sales/marketing purposes, you are consuming their precious time whereas they are not interested in talking to you. When a customer calls you, it is mostly because they are facing a problem regarding a product or a service, which makes them irritable and angry.
The only people who manage to succeed in Call Centers are the ones who learn the art of being polite and empathetic towards the customer you’re dealing with, regardless of his/her behavior. It is a part of the job to understand the inconvenience being caused to the customer and to find a solution regarding the same. Being rude to a customer can have severe consequences, including you losing your job.
Limited Growth Opportunities
Growth opportunities in a call center are limited. You can move on to become a Supervisor or a Service Operations Manager and look after the daily operations of a specified number of employees, or you can move on to Training roles, in which you will be responsible for training new recruits about the nature of the job and how to carry out daily operations.
However, keep in mind that there is massive competition for these higher roles and you will need to be an exceptional performer with great networking skills to move up the ladder.
Odd Timings, Foreign Cultures
Most Call Centers cater to customers that live far away, often in other countries. The result of this is that employees have to adjust to the timings and culture followed by their customers. This includes working at very odd timings and acclimatizing yourself with the culture your customers follow. For example, if you’re working in a Call Center that caters to Australian customers, then you will be required to follow Australian timings and get used to the Australian culture including learning about their language, accents, mannerisms etc.
Demanding Job
Call Center jobs are generally very fast paced and demanding. Your Supervisor will expect you to attend as many calls as possible during your work hours. Most Call Centers monitor their employees constantly through software installed in the computer systems that are used for dialing and receiving calls. In most circumstances, your Supervisor will have the exact details of the calls you have made or attended.
This brings with it a lot of stress and pressure to constantly perform at a fast pace without losing your cool. People who succeed in a Call Center are the ones who manage to deal with this pressure and perform as per the established standards. You will need a lot of self – control and mental stamina to perform well in a Call Center job.
High Employee Turnover
A big chunk of the employees that join a Call Center do not stick with the company for long. There are various reasons behind this phenomenon. One being that the fast paced nature of the job along with the odd timings and constant stress takes a toll on the employees. Most people are unable to cope with the hectic lifestyle that the job demands.
Another big reason why employees choose to leave their job is that Call Centers do not offer guaranteed growth opportunities. A very small percentage out of the total Call Center employees of a company move into higher roles, most others quit on their own or are asked to leave after 2 -3 years. The main cause behind this is that Call Centers require very few leaders and a large workforce that performs daily operations. As these daily operations are basic, it suits them to hire new recruits and pay low salaries as compared to paying higher salaries to employees who’ve been with the company for a long time.
