With unemployment at all-time lows, the job market is extremely tight. This means it is more challenging than ever before for graduates to connect with good entry-level jobs. With student loans coming due and goals to achieve, it is a frustrating time to be a recent graduate. While you might not consider a call center to be your dream job, the truth is, call centers have a lot to offer and they are worth a second look.
“Mastering the phone is critical to any position and to your personal development. Learn how to handle difficult conversations and always bring a return on investment to any call will bring you forward in your learning. Call Centers are in every industry!” says Sharon Tsao, CMO, Contemporary Staffing Solutions.
Jobs Are Plentiful
Once upon a time, call centers outsourced their positions overseas to save money. However, customers are now demanding a better experience, and the new trend is to bring those jobs back onshore. Today, customers want to connect with companies through more than just the phone. They want email support, social media support and chat support, and organizations across the country are expanding their customer experience centers at a rapid pace.
Earning Potential
While it is true that “telemarketing farms” tend to pay on the lower end of the pay scale, customer experience centers are upping their pay rates in response to the higher-level skills required for today’s call centers. If you can bring social media and email communication skills to the table, you can often command a higher pay rate.
Many customer experience centers offer bonuses to reps for things like upselling customers, retaining customers, exceeding quotas, referring talent, and more. Always ask about bonus opportunities, which can increase your annual earning potential.
Transferable Skills
Customer care agents talk to hundreds of people every week. Over time, you will learn a host of transferable skills that include – but are in no way limited to – sales, empathy, multi-tasking, independent thinking, technology skills, prioritization, problem-solving, critical thinking, flexibility, efficiency, verbal communication, written communication, confidentiality, and more.
Even if you decide not to make customer experience your career, you can leverage call center experience in nearly any other job, in any other field.
Career Advancement
If you find you have a knack for the work, there is a clear career trajectory in customer experience. Call centers are always in need of reliable and talented management, and good people can often quickly parlay an entry-level role into a lead or supervisory position. Over time, you can continue to climb the ladder on the customer experience side, or you can move into a related field like training.
Customer experience is also getting a seat at the executive table. Customer experience is critical for achieving strategic goals, and customer service leaders have more of a voice than ever before. Over time, you can advance into leadership and use your hands-on experience to help design effective programs for your organization.
Ready to Learn More?
The way companies approach customer experience is evolving. If you are ready to explore entry-level call center jobs, contact to the recruiters at Contemporary Staffing Solutions (CSS) today to learn how we can help you achieve your goals.