It’s been almost five years since I left the call center industry at the moment I am writing this. I still remember some of the calls I had that marked me in different ways and, of course, I still hold dear the people I met who helped me to grow in all aspects of my life.
In 2024, I had the opportunity to teach an “English for Call Center Diploma” course to high school students in a private school. It was the first time I was going to teach something related to call centers to high schoolers.
I was excited and was ready to start sharing all the knowledge I got from almost six years of experience in the call center industry.
Most of the time, when you ask people who have worked in a call center before or who are working in one, they will tell you to run away, to not even try it. Some others may tell you to give it a shot because you will learn a lot.
Certainly, there are different opinions about it, so my goal was to provide a non-biased opinion to my students, being realistic and of course encouraging them to work in a call center, but not forever.
My First Call Center Job
It was in 2014 when I got my first job at one of the call centers located at El Salvador del Mundo in San Salvador. I was so nervous because my English was not that good, but I was more nervous to know what a call center looked like.
Expectation vs. Reality
If you search “Call Center” in Google Images, the results are far from reality: well-dressed people smiling with headsets, sitting in front of a computer ready to help customers. In reality, people indeed are in front of a computer, but most of them are with their heads covered, drinking coffee, stressed out, partially sleeping, holding their breaths, or cursing the customers on “mute.” Not going to lie, it looked depressing, and I wondered what I had gotten into.
Not everything is like that; there is, of course, the general vibe, but most of the time, agents (that’s how employees who take calls are called) are watching TV, having conversations with their coworkers, or going out for lunch.
Depending on the account (the company you take the calls from, e.g., FedEx, Sony), the calls are not that complicated.
The Skills You Really Learn
During the almost three years I worked in that call center, I learned a lot about troubleshooting Internet Service Issues like slow speed, intermittent sync, and a connection that can’t browse; how to reset a router; and many other things. I also learned a lot on how to improve the Wi-Fi signal by changing the channels, the difference between the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz network, how Fiber Optic was required to be installed in a residence, and many other things too.
Most importantly, I learned to be patient with people, because believe me when I say that even if you think that everybody knows something that is common sense, not everyone is as sharp as you think.
I had to take a call where a customer called in because his TV didn’t turn on. He said he pressed the power button on the remote control and on the TV itself, and it didn’t work. He was upset because the previous night the TV was working. He had a party with his family, the kids were watching TV, and the next day the TV didn’t work.
He argued that it was a very expensive TV and how it was possible for it to break down just a couple of days after buying it. I let the customer vent and asked him to check if the TV was connected to the electricity.
He got upset and said, “Do you think I’m stupid?” – In my mind, he was stupid, but I couldn’t say that to him – I asked him again, and when he checked it, there was an awkward silence. He apologized and said it was working. You see, not everyone is as sharp as we may think.
The Difference Between Tech Support and Customer Service
Just like that call, I had many more that were identical and some others that were very difficult. It was not an easy task to try to resolve most of the problems in less time than the account metric required because some customers took longer than others just to power cycle devices or even accept troubleshooting because they directly asked for a technician to be at their home.
In tech support, you master patience and the manners to provide instructions to people because you are not in the customer’s house, nor can you see what they see, so you have to ask the correct questions, give the correct instructions, and sound sure about what you are asking them to do.
Customer service is almost similar, just that you deal with frustrated and pissed customers who had issues with a payment and wanted a refund, who booked the wrong hotel, or were charged more than “they expected” just because they didn’t read the policy nor the taxes and fees. In customer service, you are the problem and the customer is never the problem, or at least that’s what customers think.
Beyond the Headset: Climbing the Ladder
There is a department called Quality Assurance, who are in charge of making sure the agents follow the rubric of call compliance and avoid committing mistakes, providing false information to customers, and many other things.
There are many opinions about this department where agents say that if they don’t like you, you immediately get a bad score; some others say that they are just doing their job.
The truth is that they just do their job. As someone who worked as a Fraud Prevention agent, I had to evaluate agents’ calls, and if they did something wrong, it didn’t matter if they were close to me; I had to submit the claim.
I worked for three years in another call center where I also began as a tech support agent, but in nine months I was promoted to “Fraud Prevention Agent,” where my role was to, as the name goes, prevent fraud.
It was no easy task because I had to start from scratch, and I had to have huge product knowledge and be proficient in Excel and other reporting tools. Luckily, a couple of years before, I had taken an online course to learn to use Microsoft Office Excel, where I learned the basic formulas and also how to use VBA to program and use Macros.
During that period, I also learned a lot about how business meetings were held, how to send formatted and well-structured emails, how to take meeting minutes, how to deliver information in presentations, and many other skills.
I surrounded myself with people I knew were going to help me to keep on growing, and it worked because I was selected to start two projects from scratch, and both were successful in preventing fraud. I’m not going to say what it was, but due to my audits, a huge loss of money was avoided.
Both jobs helped me a lot because I learned how the business world is, and they also helped me to grow as a person by being patient and boosted my confidence when speaking in English and how to deliver good and bad news.
Final Advice for a Future Agent
In a call center environment, the most important thing is to go to work, do your thing, don’t mind other people’s business, and go home. Yes, you can go out and have fun with your coworkers, but don’t engage too much. This is because some people may get you into trouble if they do something wrong, so to cover your back, it’s best for you to mind your own business only.
Most of the calls are easy; the most difficult calls are the ones where you lose control of it. Don’t let customers drag you into their game so that you do whatever they want; remain strong but polite and advise customers that you are there to help them and will do all in your power to resolve their problem.
Be assertive, use critical thinking, and learn how to say no and rebut customers because these skills will indeed help you get around the calls and won’t let you feel frustrated all the time.
I am not going to lie to you, it is a stressful job because of all the things you have to handle, the huge amount of calls you receive, and the unachievable metrics that management sets during some months. You just need to learn to play the call center game, and you will be OK.
Is It Worth It? My Final Verdict
Do I recommend it? Yes, I do. At least for six months to a year and no more than that, because you learn a lot, and it will boost your confidence and your English skills. However, don’t let it be your main income source.
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