A Call Center Employee’s Survival Kit- Career Management

Twenty years ago, the booming side of town in Cebu was the Mactan Export Processing Zone which houses  different multinational companies. Familiar and established names like Timex, Fairchild Semiconductor, Pentax to name a few hired as many graduates from different fields but mostly in the  area of Engineering.

The employment climate has changed quite a lot with the arrival of the Business Process Outsourcing industry in Cebu, specifically the call centers. Most call centers do not require a college degree, two years of tertiary education is sufficient to get one hired as long as one has the communication and computer competencies to pass the usual application process.

All is well with the world, as most call center employees feel. Despite the graveyard shift, they are paid way above minimum wage, collect a higher night differential than most industries, enjoy extra perks and allowances for transportation; gets to drink unlimited coffee, iced tea and mineral water in the pantry and the list goes on and on…

Check this actual scenario – I know of a former call center agent who did not know how to manage his new found wealth. After all, who would pay him P15,000 a month as a starting salary without a degree to his name? So he excitedly joined the sunrise industry workforce working on graveyard shift, slowly eliminated a regular excercise regimen and started puffing cigarettes in his building lobby during breaks.

Less than two years into this kind of work lifestyle, his physician not only advised him to quit smoking but to quit his job or his life would quit on him. He had no choice at this point but to look for a job elswhere.

Not only was he not very competitive in other markets (no college degree), he expected to get a similar salary range when he was an agent!

Based on this story, my friend and countless of other former call center employees failed to work on a fundamental strategy- career management. One can no longer rely on the “career path” your current company offers; one has to take the initiative to prepare his academic and work credentials to stay competitive.

Here is a basic checklist to stay competitive:

1. Have I completed an undergraduate degree?

2. Did I undergo further education in relation to my field? Trainings, graduate school

3. If Supervisor or manager – did I undergo a formal supervisory or management training

4. Do I have an excellent work record? – no incident of FRAUD, No Call No Show etc.

Always have a plan B, C etc in  your career. Anything can happen in a split second; you go to work and they announce the campaign pulled out, then you get your last pay.  This is a harsh reality in the industry.

That is the reason why One Core Business Innovations provide proper career management advise to its clients. People come and go during our corporate and call center trainings but OCBI still makes it a point to share valuable career management guidance to every trainee. This becomes a value added benefit to its clients from multiple industries especially from the call centers.

One still needs to be a scout at heart…BE PREPARED, make your survival kit always handy!