Do you have experience working with call centers?

I heard, here in the Philippines, even highschool graduates can be a call center agent, as long as they passed the screening. Besides, training will be provided.

call center work is very challenging and in the Philippines there's a lot of openings but only a few are hired because of strict requirements. What I can say is that getting a call center job is altogether a lifestyle and I think employees should make the most out of their earning and should not go to waste buying non sense stuff. My target is to work for call centers or BPO for ten years then save money so that i can establish my own business afterwards because of the health risks also.

Personally there are a lot of different types of jobs like this here in the US. It really depends on what type of job you are really wanting as to what type of Call Center experience and job you will get. I have applied and worked for places where there is a lot of expectations and demands and quotas expected in order for you to keep your job, and then I have been at a Call Center for a Taxi company for over 5 yrs. now that is pretty much laid back. So it really depends what a person is looking for, and what type of work will work Best for them.

Hello from the Philippines. Our country is the second country in Asia that has numerous call centers. I used to work in call centers for a few years and decided to stop 2 years ago because I was getting sick 1-3 times a month from the graveyard shift job. I work for inbound accounts so the customers will call us. In my country, the minimum qualification for call center applicants are at least 18 years old and reached college level, and has very good English communication skills. In that kind of job, you should know how to handle pressure and do some multi-tasking. My work is not hard but I am not used to work at nights so I became sick and it was threatening my health that time thats why I decided to stop working in that kind of field.

I haven't worked in a call center but I have worked on a switchboard. I have faced many callers who were irate. Many callers who would talk their heads off. The rest of the callers were ok. With working on the switchboard, I try to understand how they feel. One thing I always keep in mind when some one from a call center calls me is that time is money. If they are not going to get a sale from me, they shouldn't waste their time and move on quickly. In stead they keep persisting and trying so hard to get a sale. What I say to these people now is that I don't want to waste their time just in case they may have a sale on the next call.

Well i have worked for a call center and i guess you got a wrong info about that qualification thing.......i did my first international call center job at the age of 17, ie after my 12th and i was working for mortgage process and cell phone process........and you are right you get a lot of abuses from people and their abuses are justified. imagine you are not the only one to pound them with calls they get dozens of such calls everyday......and specially if they are in middle of work they have to leave that to attend to this call of yours.......also many a times they are awaiting someones call impatiently and when you call them in middle......you get abused royally.......most of the people are kind though and will try to explain and tell you to put them on their do not call list.......you have to oblige with that......and yes there are targets you have to sell so many products for that day......or else you get pressurized by your team leader...... Although i don't find night shifts to be a problem......they can be fun.......the environment there is quite youthful.......but i would suggest call centers are not for long......just make some quick buck and find better job if you are lucky enough you get promoted and if not you stay where you were when you joined.....i have known people who are there since years just taking calls as agents......but the pay that you get is amazing......no industry will pay a fresher such a huge amount.......it is worth it as long as you know good English and a flair to sell........ have a nice day !!!!

i don't actually... my hubby had been working in call center for more than 4 years now and he always complain to me how stressful it can be... he has to deal with many rude and unreasonable customers everyday and it makes him really stress when he goes home... and yes, i think they need to be at least hold a diploma or bachelor degree here too to be considered working in a call center... take care and have a nice day...

I work in a call center. I only take incoming calls. Occasionally I will call back a customer if a call is dropped, or if I'm asked to call back to discuss sales options. I've heard it is difficult to get into the company where I work, but I was one of the very fortunate ones who was hired on the spot. Then I had a 5-week training class, and then I was assigned to a team. We have daily and monthly numbers we have to meet. We have to meet average handle times, productivity times, monthly sales quota, and other things. If your numbers are good, the pay is great. I was earing a lot of money in commission. While I have occasional days when I get cranky and verbally abusive customers, I still love my job. When I log off my phone, I can go home and not have to worry about being called back in to work or asked if I know where such-and-such file is or anything else. I can keep work at work.

call center for me is the easiest job i'd ever done..i worked as a call center agent for 3 years till i gave up because i got bored of it..call center have many fields of department and markets..there is a collections department and sales..i worked with collections before..its an inbound outbound work.

here in my country, you need to be at least second year college to apply in a call center. you need to have good communication skills of course and good in solving problems. the job is hard. in fact, seldom stay in that kind of job becuase of the task and the schedule. you get to get out of your bed in the middle of the night. you don't see your friends and family that much anymore because they go to work when you arrive from work and they're asleep when you go to work.

Yes, I've the experience in the Call Center job. There basic qualification for most of the Call Center Jobs is 10+2. However, the basic qualification for some companies requires Bachelor Degree. The working in the Call Center at the night shifts is some what hard. However, on experience it will be easy for you to do night shifts.

I spent eight weeks working in a call center where we contacted people for magazine renewals. It was such a horrible experience for me. Even though we worked on commission, I came to prefer the hang-ups to the people who would let you read throught the entire script only to say no and then hang up. I'm certain they were trying to be polite (indeed, much better than the angry ones), but the hang-ups allowed me to move on to someone who might be more interested without having wasted my time. The supervisors were very pushy about the hard sell, so many times I would have to push on through so many "no"s that the answering party who was trying to be polite would get angry. I'll never work in an outbound call center again if I can help it.

Interesting you did change my thinking on call centers. The next time I will be more friendly. I usually have to call call centers in India when I have a technical problem and usually I'm already upset because I couldn't fix the problem. So, when I call I end up speaking with to a person with an accent and since I have an accent myself the communication gets difficult. Now I feel really bad about having gotten upset with the person on the other end.

The work is not that hard. You will only answer calls for inbound campaign and make calls for outbound sales campaign. Of course, with call center training you are being oriented on the kind of people you are going to deal with and you have to maintain patience in handling different customers. http://takingyouforward.com requires excellent comprehension and communication skills aiming to satisfy and meet client's expectations. They have friendly and relaxed work environment to lighten your work mood that adds positive attitude on how you tackle task.

I have lots of experience working in Call Centers, some of them were bad and had strict quotas but the one I work in now is great. The hours are flexible, I make my own schedule, I can work as little or as much as I want, the people I work with are great and there are no quotas to meet. I have been there 5 years.

I have worked in a call center for a telecommunications company for the past 8 years. It is great pay and flexible schedules allow me to work whenever I need to. This is great with a family and trying to go to school. They prefer a degree, but experience can be used.

I have worked for call centers for many years. Business Travel Call Centers. I started as an agent and worked my way up. I now run a call center. not every call center is open 24/7. The one I am running now is open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. No nights, no weekends. The last center I was in was open from 8am-8pm and the one before that was 7am-10pm. It all depends on what kind of call center you are working in as to the hours and the amount of training. For business travel they give you 6 weeks training and then 4 weeks in a 'learning lab' -controlled environment and you are not released to the main floor until they feel you are ready. You can make alot of money in specialized call centers. I see many out there where you do customer service and they only pay you 10 dollars an hour. That is too low. My highest paid call center agent is 48,000 per year USD right now. My least is 28,000 - it all depends on your experience in the field you are going into. Yes, you need to obey the call center rules. you need to meet certain projected requirements. number of calls per day, amount of time on each call, number of transactions, and your phone monitors must pass. every call is recorded and you get about 4 random phone monitors each month. There is a script that they ask you to stay close to but you do not have to be a robot. you just need to hit the main points sometime in your conversation. i would not like to work somewhere where they tell you exactly what to say and if you do not say it word for word you get marked off. That is hard to do and stressful. I try to make work fun in my center and hold monthly contests and diversity celebrations. Ask me anything you wish to know about call centers and i will try to answer for you.

working with call centres is a tough job according to me. last year i got job in a call center as tech support trainee. The phone calls were flooding and there was no time given for me to document the calls. There was no time to relax . i was tired talking and quit the job first month itself. call centers are for people who love to talk nonstop.

Hi daliaj I have never worked in a call centre but I think the work is interesting as we get to interact with people of other countries.And I have a friend who has told me that we get a very food payment but of course has to work hard and also have knowledge of different languages.

I have worked in a few different types of call centers. Both Outbound(you call them) and inbound (they call you). They are completely different worlds. In outbound, it is a lot harder as you have to keep the persons interest to keep them on the phone. Inbound is very easy, but as mentioned before can get boring if there are no calls coming in. With inbound they are calling you, so they are already interested in the product and need assistance purchasing it. In the United States you do not need any degree, but the hours can be bad. After working both types I would never take a outbound job again. Also I would only take a call center job that you are guaranteed a salary each week and not just getting paid by sales, and there is those out there as well. It is not hard work, but you really have to have the salesmanship ability and you can not let things get personal.