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What’s it like working at a call center?
- Thread starter Kaelan
- Start date
I haven't worked at one but I have heard absolutely nothing but terrible things about working there.
I feared that. Only other thing hiring is like cashiers for multiple places but I suck at handling money and doing that kind of stuff
Call center work is better than retail but worse than pretty much anything else. There's very limited room for advancement and the only skill you learn is customer support. If you need to make rent or something take the job, but keep looking for something that has more room for growth.
Depends on what exactly it is you're doing and how patient you are. Do you know what the company is that Adecco is hiring you for?
For a low level position you'll be given minimally sufficient training and may have to deal with angry customers, but you'll likely be able to transfer them to a supervisor or team lead if they get too bad.
For a low level position you'll be given minimally sufficient training and may have to deal with angry customers, but you'll likely be able to transfer them to a supervisor or team lead if they get too bad.
I worked for a few months doing phone collections for unpaid gym memberships. It wasn't particularly fun.
I work in one but I've never taken a call. Really depends on what kind of CS your doing will depend on how the customers are. You'll have bad days and good days.
It can be a thankless job and it will depend on the work environment, most likely you'll get shit pay so even if you're comfortable in the job it's not worth it, and specially if it's in costumer service (yes, there are call center jobs that aren't specifically customer service), but the experience will triple in toxicity if you're doing it for a foreing country (ie, if you're out of the USA doing CC jobs for americans) because you'll get all the usual frustrations with an added side of racism.
Largely depends on what company you're working for. I like my current employer, even if I constantly looking for something better. I worked for a cable company's call center as a temp, and boy howdy was that one of the worst jobs I've ever had.
Depends. If the call center is for employees of your company only, it's alright (most of the time), thanks to people being respectful, patient and professional.
But if it's a call center where you answer calls coming from strangers having little to no patience or respect towards other people, it's going to be hell and you'll want to be out before a month.
But if it's a call center where you answer calls coming from strangers having little to no patience or respect towards other people, it's going to be hell and you'll want to be out before a month.
Depends on what the call centre is
I worked at a call centre for my gap year to get money for uni. Payed £9.50 an hour , so bout 12 dollars same as you.
Our boss was leniant and whilst dialing numbers and receiving calls would let us watch youtube etc and it was simple since we had dual screens, and honestly you eventually get used to the angry people. It was great for the few months i worked there.
But just like retail, it can range from okay-decent, to hell hole. I did retail before that and it was disgusting.
I worked at a call centre for my gap year to get money for uni. Payed £9.50 an hour , so bout 12 dollars same as you.
Our boss was leniant and whilst dialing numbers and receiving calls would let us watch youtube etc and it was simple since we had dual screens, and honestly you eventually get used to the angry people. It was great for the few months i worked there.
But just like retail, it can range from okay-decent, to hell hole. I did retail before that and it was disgusting.
I worked at a fundraising call center for a few years after college. Generally, the work sucks, but I do feel that I came away with better communication skills than I had previously. Also helped to develop sales and negotiation skills.
I've done tech support via call center a few times. If volume is low and you're dealing with internal calls, it's not so bad. Dealing directly with the public will ruin your life. It's the only time I quit a job without having another one lined up.
Honestly if you can afford to hold out don't do it! I worked at an awesome company's call center and was able to move out of it to a much better promotion within a year but that fucking year sucked balls. It was customer facing tech support for web design which was actually fun at times but 90% of my calls were billing after a pretty drastic price increase and auto renewal so yeah that was fucking horrific.
I worked for one for about a month while searching for a better job. I lasted through the one month training but quit right away. It was horrible and I didn't like it at all.
Depends on the job type within the call center. If it has no Sales element of it go for it. But only do it for part time, otherwise you might get sucked into it, and not study anything ever again in life. Worked in call center in Hungary, luckily was in a back-office role, moved out to the UK, and these have sales elements to it. The whole experience makes me want to shoot myself, and contemplating on just studying something to get out of this situation.
Also open office sucks and whoever came up with an idea needs to be shot.
Also open office sucks and whoever came up with an idea needs to be shot.
You're in grad school and looking for part time work? They are way worse gigs out there.
You're in a climate controlled setting, sitting all day, doing almost brainless, although emotional taxing work. Do it.
If you want more money but also more headaches, try waiting tables.
Cable/sateliite companies are the worse to work for here. People love their TV.
You're in a climate controlled setting, sitting all day, doing almost brainless, although emotional taxing work. Do it.
If you want more money but also more headaches, try waiting tables.
Cable/sateliite companies are the worse to work for here. People love their TV.
Depends on the place I guess (as most jobs do), the one I'm at is a fine place to work. You walk in, sit at a desk and answer the phone. Sometimes people are shitty but you're not getting paid to take it personally and it beats the shit out of retail or food service.
I will say though if you can work for a well known and respected company's call center it can be a decent foot in the door if you work your ass off and meet your goals. Then you can get into more interesting stuff just don't say call center or customer service while interviewing elsewhere.
It's generally terrible, but they are not all equal. Dealing with shitty entitled customers is pretty much a given. What changes is how much bullshit metrics you have to hit and your ability to hit them. Some call centers will bury you in that bullshit so not only do you have to deal with the customers but you also have to deal with you supervisor getting on your case if you don't hit them. Perhaps even with the threat of termination getting tossed in. Other call centers are more laid back in that regard.
Another key factor is if you can deal with shitty people and not care after the call is over or not.
Another key factor is if you can deal with shitty people and not care after the call is over or not.
I also want to add that it also depends on the pay. Obviously you don't want to be there if you're making peanuts but I'm at least making decet cash for a call center since the company decided to give all of us raises.
Its exhausting. I worked in an inbound call center for att wor about 4 years. 100 calls in que all day every day do as soon as you hang up the next call comes right in. Depending on the standards of the call center, you'll probably have a limit they want the call to last and if you go over you get talked to. If you put someone on hold too long you get talked to. If you aren't taking calls when you're supposed to be you get talked to.
It's very stressful. Someone said better than retail but worse than everything else and that's pretty spot on. You do learn how to talk to people though, which is a valuable life skill.
It's very stressful. Someone said better than retail but worse than everything else and that's pretty spot on. You do learn how to talk to people though, which is a valuable life skill.
Tough jobs, but the best place to learn how most businesses operate. A good starting point for lots, but a dead end career for many others.
Horrible.
Worked in a bank call center for several years. Being on the phone with customers all day is soul-sucking and I'd basically have to clock out at my computer every time I got up to go to the printer, talk to a coworker, or take a shit, and everyone could see everyone else's status. Take your break at 10:15....no wait, Joseph isn't back yet, go at 10:17 sharp today and don't be a minute late back!
Worked in a bank call center for several years. Being on the phone with customers all day is soul-sucking and I'd basically have to clock out at my computer every time I got up to go to the printer, talk to a coworker, or take a shit, and everyone could see everyone else's status. Take your break at 10:15....no wait, Joseph isn't back yet, go at 10:17 sharp today and don't be a minute late back!
It's a job. You have to kind of be able to leave your body though. The more robotic you are about things the better it will be.
I worked at a call center in sales, and everything but the fact I was cold calling people to try to sell them shit was cool. There was a culture of celebration and taking care of the callers, so asshole customer got you shook, talk a walk and get some free food.
But yeah it sucked cold calling
But yeah it sucked cold calling
Did it for two years. It's not great on the whole.
The guy who said you'll deal with racism if you're in a foreign country is spot on btw. I'm Irish and have a fairly strong culchie accent (I guess it's like being a redneck) and some of the lines I worked on were for UK business and I got plenty of shit like that flung at me, plenty of "You'll be out of a job once Brexit happens and we take our country back!" bullshit. I even had it within Ireland itself to be fair, even with people from Dublin asking why the office wasn't in the capital and such.
The guy who said you'll deal with racism if you're in a foreign country is spot on btw. I'm Irish and have a fairly strong culchie accent (I guess it's like being a redneck) and some of the lines I worked on were for UK business and I got plenty of shit like that flung at me, plenty of "You'll be out of a job once Brexit happens and we take our country back!" bullshit. I even had it within Ireland itself to be fair, even with people from Dublin asking why the office wasn't in the capital and such.
I worked in a call center for a healthcare advocacy organization for about four months before moving on to a better job.
The pay was decent for the line of work, but it was the most disorganized and depressing work environment I've ever encountered. The veteran employees were all highly-stressed and burned out, which was a bit of an added incentive to move on as quickly as I could.
The pay was decent for the line of work, but it was the most disorganized and depressing work environment I've ever encountered. The veteran employees were all highly-stressed and burned out, which was a bit of an added incentive to move on as quickly as I could.
I work in call center environment that's laid back away from the holiday season but excruciating during that time. My work also involved dealing with chats, help desks, and data entry; I like the data entry aspect of it but the I abhor the call center aspect of my job considering it's a snowball of interruptions.
It's an improvement from retail albeit marginal (for me at least); recommend seeking other options if you can find them (i.e. admin assistant)
It's an improvement from retail albeit marginal (for me at least); recommend seeking other options if you can find them (i.e. admin assistant)
I've been with the same company since 2005 so I've had one of the better call center experiences out there (travelled around the world, corner office, significant job skill enhancement, pretty much set my own hours) but the vast majority of that time has not been spent on the phone dealing with customers. And that was after having gone through some hellish call center work with 4 previous companies and the retail grind on top of that.
It's certainly not for everyone and there will be a learning curve if this is your first go at a customer-facing job. But if the campaign is right (ideally tech-support driven and inbound, you don't want to dive into sales in your first go) and the hours flexible enough to accommodate your grad school schedule, it's not a bad gig to keep your bills paid. And if the call volume is light (doubtful if they're seeking out a temp agency to ramp up staff), you can even get some studying/homework done between calls.
It's certainly not for everyone and there will be a learning curve if this is your first go at a customer-facing job. But if the campaign is right (ideally tech-support driven and inbound, you don't want to dive into sales in your first go) and the hours flexible enough to accommodate your grad school schedule, it's not a bad gig to keep your bills paid. And if the call volume is light (doubtful if they're seeking out a temp agency to ramp up staff), you can even get some studying/homework done between calls.
I worked 9 years Call center.
First off: You rarely "help" Customers, you help the company that pays you to "handle" customers.
Second: Customers are assholes, period.
Third: it is soul crushing.
Fourth: Don't help customers more than it is allowed, or you get booted very fast.
Fifth: Don't work faster than your individual goals, the company always finds ways to up the target if they see you can do better
Sixth: learn to manipulate customer satisfaction if it is one of your goals.
First off: You rarely "help" Customers, you help the company that pays you to "handle" customers.
Second: Customers are assholes, period.
Third: it is soul crushing.
Fourth: Don't help customers more than it is allowed, or you get booted very fast.
Fifth: Don't work faster than your individual goals, the company always finds ways to up the target if they see you can do better
Sixth: learn to manipulate customer satisfaction if it is one of your goals.
No idea tbh. The listing doesn't say - just says a "local" client. Is that a bad sign?
Thanks everyone else for their opinions. Another company that is hiring call center people is Conduent - anyone ever heard of it?
I did credit card applications and I hated it, but the pay was good and the hours were flexible, which I appreciated while I was in college.
It's just soul sucking, but if you can stick it out it has its benefits. It definitely made me a better public speaker and helped me with dealing with difficult people.
It's just soul sucking, but if you can stick it out it has its benefits. It definitely made me a better public speaker and helped me with dealing with difficult people.
Depends on the internal rules. Like some places can be really decent but if you end up in one that rotates your schedule, has bullshit goals to achieve your bonus, greatly limits your bathroom time, wants you to work extra time and stuff like that it can be horrible.