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We are currently in the middle of a recession, and there is no doubt about this fact. If you have been laid off from your last job, it is probably due to the economic crisis we are facing. Many companies have been forced to reduce their workforce or face being closed down. But there is one line of work that is showing no signs of letting up – call centres are thriving and are always looking to hire new staff.
One of the reasons for the UK (as well as other parts of the world) call centre resurgence is because of the demand from customers to speak to agents who are actually based in that country. Many complaints have been received and the contents have been acted upon. If you like the idea of working inside a growing industry, please read on for some helpful pointers.
What Are Call Centers?
When you need to speak to one of your service providers, the bank or perhaps a utility company, you usually call the help line number on your bill or statement. The people who eventually answer your enquiry are call centre agents. A call centre is usually a centralised workplace that staffs hundreds of professional helpdesk staff. They usually work an eight hour shift and will be on the phones for most of this time.
How To Apply
Most IT related jobs and service management posts are advertised on the internet these days. Just open up a search engine task and type in ‘Call Centre Jobs’ and you will be inundated with responses. Many of these roles require no experience; find a few that appeal to you and apply as soon as you have your resume details at the ready.
Personal Qualities
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As you can imagine, this is a high pressure role and you need to be happy working in a very busy environment. You need to be able to fit into a large team, but also require the ability to use your own initiative when making judgement calls. You will find that the day goes pretty quickly and there is a lot of job satisfaction to be had if you do your job properly.
Career Progression
Most of the available jobs in call centres will be temporary positions, because that is the nature of the beast. It might be a wise move to take one of these roles for 6 months or so and then start looking for a permanent placement elsewhere. In a large company with a decent career progression pattern, you can expect to spend about 2 years in this role.
After this, you may be faced with various promotion options. Many agents remain in the call centre sector and move up to a more technical role such as Tier 2 or perhaps desktop support. It all depends on your ability and the available roles.
Call Center Tips
Once you have secured a position, temporary or permanent, in a call centre, you will need to show the boss that you are up to the job. Always be polite when speaking to a customer and never be afraid to ask for help when things are getting heavy. As long as you follow these tips, you should fit into the role quickly, and hopefully will be looking at an exciting and rewarding new career path.
Chloe Sharpe works to offer useful career advice through http://www.jobseekersallowance.net. Apart from blogging, her interests include cooking and swimming. Her Twitter id is ChloeJSA.
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