6 Misconceptions about Working at a Call Center
When in Manila, people would usually think that working at a call center is the sweetest escape to poverty. However, just like any other jobs, there are lots of misconceptions about it, too.
Photo courtesy of callcenterfocus.com
Business Process Outsourcing or BPO is one of the blossoming industries in the Philippines. With 400,000 employees hired last 2011; the country’s economy went up, as well as everyone’s self-esteem. It gave a huge amount of hope to newly-graduates and somehow, gave them a taste of financial freedom. There was a time that the only job opening that people knew of is a call center job. Although there are more alternatives (job offers) now than before, BPO jobs still remain a pleasant choice for most people. Truthfully, a call center agent’s salary is much higher than any rank and file employee of other companies.
Before embarking to WAHMhood (Work-At-Home-Motherhood), I’ve been to several corporate jobs, and one of which was working at a call center. Regrettably, I have encountered a lot of family issues, which then made me leave the corporate world. However, the friendships I made since then remain intact, thanks to Facebook. With that, every time I hear negative comments about someone working at a call center, I get extremely affected.
What are these top 6 misconceptions? Let us start reading them, shall we?
6 Misconceptions of Working at a Call Center
6. A Call Center Job is No-Brainer-Job.
The controversial line sa Teleseryeng, “The Borrowed Wife.”
Do you have any idea how hard it is to pass and get certified at a particular skill? I remember how people would patiently wait for their turn to be interviewed, especially, when I saw applicants’ faces being turned down or accepted. I can vividly remember the ‘proof’ of being hired – a long brown envelope. If you see someone walking out of the interview room with an envelope, this means s/he’s hired! But the agony doesn’t stop there; it is just the beginning of either a blissful or sorrowful experience of working in a call center industry.
Before you become a full-fledged Call Center Agent, one MUST surpass these stages:
Application:
- Initial Interview
- Series of Exams (Listening, Multi-tasking, Written and Oral Assessments, among others)
- Final Interview – This is either a one on one Interview with your future Operations Manager or Team Leader OR, a panel interview – which is more nerve-wracking!
If you fail in one of the 3 stages that means goodbye and better luck next time! Well, you can reapply after several months if you wish to. Otherwise, you get to move to the next step, which is: Training and Certification. Training is categorized into 3 stages: (1) Culture Training (2) Product Training and (3) Nesting.
Panel Interview is really nerve-wracking! All the stuttering, Uhms, will come out! If you ace this, “You Already!” 🙂
Allow me to elaborate:
- US or AUS 101- is a 7-day introduction to your client’s culture. Call centers are now diversified; hence, you will either learn basic American or Australian cultures. In short, you get a taste of their culture. For example, the slangs they use or how Aussies spell certain words, dictate their dates (Australians write their dates with this DD/MM/YY format), and a lot more. This could be a great way for agents to build rapport to avoid dead air. This is proven to be effective in understanding the person on the other line.
- Product Training- after a week of getting to know the culture of your client and co-workers, the next set of training is all about product knowledge. This training requires you to soak up all information in just 3 weeks. This is pretty challenging, as you need to become an expert on that particular product for such a short period of time. Here you will learn the line of business of the account that you’re going to handle. The last day of Product Training would be “the judgment day.” The judgment day is where you will have a mock call. It is a role-playing activity where you will be tested about your know-how of the account that you are going to cater. This exercise gauges the trainee’s capability to handle an irate call, so you have to think fast! Otherwise, you’re out!
- Nesting- this is the final test. This is where you’d be thrown in the ocean with no life vest. Just joking. This is where you get to experience taking live calls. Although, there are SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) to help you, I am telling you, whatever you’ve learned from Culture or Product goes right out the window! I remembered when I received my first call; I forgot to say my name! Golly!
- Certification and Probation- usually the probation is 3 months. If your performance is good, you get to stay, if not, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Now tell me, is this what you call a no-brainer job?!
ito ang trabaho na di ko kakayanin. di ko kayang mag-night shift ng matagal. maigsi pasensya ko lalo na kung sisigawan ako at mumurahin. ayoko ring magbigay ng instructions ng paulit-ulit… di ko kaya mag-market. in short, di ako pwede sa BPO. Kaya bilib ako sa mga agents.
dali malaman kung pinoy o pana ang kausap sa call center. may arte ang pinoy at paligoy ligoy pa bukod spunto nya na obvious naman na pilit. ang pana malambing at may pambobola pero nandun ang punto na parang kumakanta. nkakatuwa pag pinoy kausap ko tatgalugin ko pero ingles pa rin g ingles. wala sya magawa kundi sumagot ng ingles hahaha.
Its a dumb process though, why? Because the series of exams, interview and trainings are mostly not applicable on the work itself.
sharing my experience…. 10 years working in the bpo industry. hmmm minsan lng uminom and yes i smoke pero even before i worked s bpo.have my own family. s sahod i cant complain nmn since ok nmn im paying for my own house planning to get my first car. life style canya kanya lng yan dami tao dyan ndi nasa bpo pero kulay ginto buhok mga nag iingay s gabi kung umasta social climber tlga kahit alam n ndi nmn tlga social. wala s trabaho yan nasa tao yan. may mga ng work s mga banks same lng life style s mga ng work s bpo… its not about what you do its who you are. kahit anu p work mo lilitaw kung anu k b tlga lol
Mmm. Not entirely true but can be considered “semi-factual” for #4. Although these are all misconceptions, some of these can be applied to an individual working in a BPO company. I know few people who are working in Teleperformance, StarTek, and Transcom (since they are my neighbors) who live luxurious-crossbred-with-social-climbing lifestyle like home night life videoke without considering the fact that they’ve become the source of ultimate noise in the neighborhood, their mother looks so haggard as if they’ve been to battlefield and only give 500 pesos to them for “pamalengke” when they (mostly girls), themselves have blonde (or brown-tinted that makes them “pokpok” in the neighborhood) hair with gluthationized skin and other vices, calling their LV Bags (i don’t know if it’s authentic) “babies”, etc. Also, I’ve also met egocentric call center agents (mostly gays and brat boys) who call themselves Grammar Nazi and always criticizing people whenever they’d heard them spoke wrong grammar. SO FAR most of my friends from call center are very nice and when they mean GOOD HEALTH it’s not just the GYM (becomes the hang-out place of douchebags), they’re engaging with physical activity like hiking, mountain climbing, trekking, etc. They may not your typical or regular visitors of LaBORACAY and DISTILLERY, they’ve found that NATURE is the best way to correct their circadian rhythm or the internal biological clock. Kasi mostly sa kanila mataba talaga at aminadong lango sa alak (XD). 🙂