Ten Decembers in the Call Center Industry

source: https://www.pinterest.com/sharon55408/philippine-history-culture/

No carols, no going around to see the joy that Christmas brings to the Metro. Ten Decembers ago, I was desperate. I needed a high paying job. I heard of the Call Centers. Confidence brought me to the doors of ELJ building in Quezon City. I had to ask my uncle the directions because I did not know anything in Manila or Quezon City to be exact. I was desperate. I was scared of a Christmas with nothing. I endured the recruitment process that went on for a day. In the middle of it all I was asked to comeback for a final interview. Urrrrgh! Tired but still desperate for a high job I was still hopeful. What attracted me the most was the "sign on" bonus of ten thousand pesos only to realize later that I will get it on my first month and not when I literally sign the contract. I passed and was scheduled for training. I was wave 29 of Amazon.com. I was a call center agent. 

Ten Decembers

I sit in a comfortable chair surrounded by a team of sales people on a crunch time to hit their individual quotas. It's a new job. I spent five years with my previous company. That's half of my entire career! But that's a different story! I sit and watch the darkness outside the window. Ten Decembers later, I asked what changed in my life. I am still in this cut throat industry with the desire of being on top consuming me. Maybe the intensity is there. I have people now ready and waiting for the direction that we will take, who to hunt and what to do next. That's a significant change. That's a significant upgrade. 

Ten Decembers

I was in a chair asking people how I can help them. Thinking of the next resolution. Lull moments make me think of the past years when I was at home but no longer can. When my mom would cook a lot of food: sweet, juicy, nice and delicious. No more! I am stuck with a headset on my head taking calls and finding a resolution streamed with unending supply of irritated customers.

"How can I help you?"

"Can you tell me more?"

"Please verify your email address."

"What is your order number?"

"Do you want my supervisor?"

"The previous agent was rude?"

"I am sorry about your experience!"

"Let me help you."

Chanted it like a mantra of a dying person hoping that it would save him. If I could get out then I would. I can't though. Christmas offers a lot of guilt to management prompting them to give you stuff to make you comfortable. Good food in the pantry, free stuff on the floor, the bonus and of course the premium pay. 

Ten Decembers

Teaches you a lot of stuff. Teaches you that the only way for your family to be happy you have to sacrifice. If you want them to have a sense of heaven then you have to be ready to take shit. Accept this if you want to succeed. It is not an easy job. I know because I spent...

Ten Decembers

Confessions of a Call Center Agent

by: Silver

In an industry where hopping from one company to another is a subculture that's natural, working in one company is something that is admired, adored, amused and all the good words that goes along with it. I used to ask my mentors for reasons as to why they stay longer. Whatever the reasons were, it did not make an impact that time. It did not make sense. I mean, who wants to stay longer in a company for a long time. I just could not imagine it. Perhaps it was the millennial character in me that was kicking in. It diluted my appreciation of tenure and being anchored into a single place. Loyalty was not a word rubbing into me.

Here's my career summary. I started working right after graduation and that was 2007. So it has been 7 seven years since then. Seven years and I have been with seven companies. My shortest stay was three months and the longest is with the current company that I work for. I have been Claims Handler, Customer Service Rep, Hybrid Tech Support, Travel Specialist, Trainer, Team Lead, Universal Agent and a teacher.

So what made me stay?

The environment! Working in big call centers meant that you are a dot. Being able to mingle with the owners or the top executives of the companies is impossible. The distance between you and them is bigger than the pacific ocean. In eBusiness, you normally see the CEO going around and talking to employees. It's an everyday sight to see him asking the agents about their challenges. Sometimes if you did good you will find a note on your station from him with praises like: "Nice work king of sales!" eBusiness and the leadership team can mix the pressure and leisure of working.

The company! I know that I mentioned beforehand that the company looked small. With 70 FTE mostly doing telemarketing, it was small back then. That experience was humbling considering that I have not worked as a telemarketer. I was a good seller but for people who called in to inquire not me calling them and asking if they would want to buy something that they don't need. So I asked for them to let me start as an agent. I needed to get my bearings straight. Interacting with the agents that I will lead was worth it. Knowing their pain was something that numbers can't describe. But what really helped me was knowing that I did not belong to a team. I was part of a family who cared for each other. Everybody knows everybody. It was in here that I felt human. I was not a seat filler with an 034276 employee number. I felt my individuality amidst the conglomeration of everyone. The pain of adjustment that I normally feel when I start with something new was never felt. Having no relatives here in Cebu that time the company became my family.

Being young! Working for a young company meant that I have an environment with newbies from provinces around the Cebu or Mindanao. Other centers might consider this as dreadful. But I actually felt good and as part of the leadership it was better to work with them. Their concepts and ideas of the industry has not been tainted with the practices of veterans. Training and leading them is a challenge but they will always follow. It makes working easy because you know that they trust your every move or decision. Being with young minds also means being in the presence of people whose concept of the world is different. Their idealism and dreams makes leaders like me remember my college days. It challenges me to seek for better ways. Like them I am millennial but it is really helpful to lead characters like this. They learn from you and I learn from them.



My feet brought me one morning to a company located on the 15th floor of a building near Ayala. Their ad was on a corner of the Sunday paper that I borrowed from my friend. I was desperately looking for a job that time. I have to admit. When I saw the production area I was not thinking of staying for six months. I thought of making it as a stepping stone. The company was obviously small. My experience was shouting out so loud that I don't belong. But I wanted a job. Three years later, I'm the Operations Manager of eBusiness BPO. Looking back at my chaotic past I could not wish to change it. My failures were a potter's hands that made me the person that I am today.