Inside a call center

I often wondered what it’s like inside a call center? I’m sure some of your friends are call center agents, it’s one of the popular careers in the Philippines since the boom of call center industry a few years ago. Fresh from graduation 6 years ago, I received a call from Etelecare and right then and there, the caller interviewed me and invited me to come to their office for another round of interview. Apparently, I passed the initial phone interview but I didn’t go to their office because I don’t want to work on a graveyard shift. I’m grumpy when I lack sleep, and I hate answering phone calls.

inside a call center
inside a call center

But my curiosity still hasn’t died down about a call center environment. With thousands of employees, I’m sure it’s noisy out there. So I asked my sister-in-law who works as a call center agent and she helped me visualize and satisfied my curiosity. They call their working area as “floor”, and once an agent enters the floor, he/she is not allowed to bring his/her mobile phones and any pens/pencils/writing materials with him/her. It’s only their computer, phone, coffee mug/tumbler and jacket because it’s freezing cold out there. But she laughed at me when I thought that the agents are the ones who are dialling the numbers with the help of a list. She made it clear that they are not geeks, most call centers use a hosted automatic call distribution service to take care of incoming and outgoing calls. Aside from the hardworking agents, the computer also is working hard to contact phone numbers in the database before it gets passed to an available agent. Cool!

Despite the pressures agents deal with, the call center’s environment is always bubbly and dynamic. Bright-colored interiors and furnitures, unlimited coffee, bean bags and other unique perks are the things agents enjoy. How about you, care to fill me in with your call center stories?

Comments

  1. Hi sis! Hubby and I work for a callcenter din. Pero not as agents *wink*. Eto lang masasabi ko, 90% ng mga nagwowork dito sa callcenter sa amin ay smokers (Hubby and I don’t smoke by the way). According to them, they need it to release stress. Napakastressful nga naman ng work namin. Tapos, uso dito ang office spouse. Hays, kakainis! Good thing that Hubby and I are faithful to each other.

    By the way sis, I’m from Baguio nga pala. *wink*
    .-= Golden´s last blog ..Dress Dilemma =-.

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  2. Office spouse, that’s unacceotable =)

    [Reply]

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    Kindly update your listings/blog rolls/ link list/ blog directories..
    pehpot.blogspot.com is now GOSSIP MOM

    MAKE OR BREAK
    now have its own domain:http://www.pehpot.com

    PLease update your listings and add or change the said blogs.. rest assured that your link/ blog is listed on both blogs..

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    Make or Break

    [Reply]

  4. I can’t work in a graveyard shift either…maybe nung bata-bata pa ako like in my 20’s pero now that I’m old, I feel like I’m dying when I lack sleep for so many nights in a row.

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  5. i worked for over a year for one call center company.. it was ok.. sad at times kasi when everyone is sleeping you’re awake.. we did have sat and sun off which was a plus but darn, lahat ng tropa di naman kapareha ng sched so basically hanging out with batman people and office peeps..

    i thought it would be easy na sagot lang ng sagot but learning to dos and dont’s privacy laws etc mejo mahirap.. kasi life insurance ako for AIG.. so pag bad trip yung client sayo puputok 😀 but im proud i never once yelled at a customer kahit pinag mumura nila ko hehe.. naka mute lang ako inaantay ko huminahon hehe
    .-= aBIGwhale´s last blog ..Sore Eyes =-.

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  6. I applied for a call center work about two years ago. I passed the written, computer exams, and the initial interview. Then the final interview was for the hiring na. But I declined because working in graveyard shifts will be very difficult for me. So I courteously back-out.

    Marly
    .-= Workplace On The Web´s last blog ..EntrepreMOM Is The Winner =-.

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