Got a job interview at a call center for a major financial company

[Roger32]

I would hate working in a call center, but I would love to get involved with this company (fortune 500, right in line with what I went to college for)

It is essentially a customer service job in a call center to help people with their credit cards, (they call you), but you are required to try to upsell some useless shit to them (identity theft monitoring, balance transfers, etc)


Pays $30,000 and this would be my first full time job if I am offered it. I do not want to be stuck working in a call center for a long time though. That would be terrible. But 6 months to a year before a transfer I could deal with.

 

[junglejuice]

Sooo...what's the discussion here?

If you are just telling us about it, post it in your blog

:D

 

[Fawkes]

congrats! but is there a question here? otherwise, this might be best suited to blogs...

 

[Roger32]

Sooo...what's the discussion here?

If you are just telling us about it, post it in your blog

:D

Should I take the job? How long do you have to work at the company before they will be open to a transfer within the company?

 

[PoOkIeHeAd]

in this economy you should probably ask yourself if you can reasonably afford to wait to find something better. opportunities are pretty thin right now so even-though this may not be the ideal position it does get your foot in the door. these big corporations are pretty good at identifying top talent and then making reasonable accommodations to retain them if they were to become unhappy. so its up to you to prove how good u are once ur in then requesting a transfer at the right time. also be smart dont request the transfer from your direct supervisor b/c they are looking out for their best interests and wouldnt want to lose their best employee. just saying. good luck

 

[badandwicked]

Is that 30k basic or plus bonus? You'll be heavily targeted so you need to be good at sales, customer service will take a back seat to upselling additional products. Have they told you how many calls per day you'll be expected to handle, and how long you can spend on each call? Ask about call volumes as well, what are the gaps between calls (if any). All these can give you an idea whether or not how pressuired it'll be.

Call cenrte work is unique in that its the only job in which the employer knows exactly what the employee is doing 100% of the time, and that in its own right can be very stressful. Two minutes late? They know. Go to the bathroom 'too often'? They know. Take 'too long' working off the phone between calls? They know. Don't offer relevant product to relevent customer? They know. Its called micro-management, and its definitely not for everyone.

 

[Roger32]

Is that 30k basic or plus bonus? You'll be heavily targeted so you need to be good at sales, customer service will take a back seat to upselling additional products. Have they told you how many calls per day you'll be expected to handle, and how long you can spend on each call? Ask about call volumes as well, what are the gaps between calls (if any). All these can give you an idea whether or not how pressuired it'll be.

Call cenrte work is unique in that its the only job in which the employer knows exactly what the employee is doing 100% of the time, and that in its own right can be very stressful. Two minutes late? They know. Go to the bathroom 'too often'? They know. Take 'too long' working off the phone between calls? They know. Don't offer relevant product to relevent customer? They know. Its called micro-management, and its definitely not for everyone.

it is $30,000 salary, plus "monthly incentives". What those incentives are, or whether I would receive them is unknown.

I do not have any intentions to work in a call center long term, just to get my foot in the door with a strong company relevant to my degree.

Do they really expect you to sell a lot on the upsell or be really pushy trying to sell those useless services? Asking "would you like to transfer a balance from another card onto your account?" or "would you like to enroll in our identity theft protection services?" is not a big deal to me. But when they say no, It should mean no. I do not want to have to give a lame sales pitch even if they are clearly not interested

 

[kaywholed]

Are you directly working for said company, or is it through a third party.

1st party vs 3rd party call center experience is way different and its not always obvious who you work for.

 

[L2R]

^good question.

i say do it, try it before you knock it. you might be surprised. if not, at least you have some experience and you've learnt some things.

 

[badandwicked]

it is $30,000 salary, plus "monthly incentives". What those incentives are, or whether I would receive them is unknown.

You need to find that out. Also how they will measure your performance.

I do not have any intentions to work in a call center long term, just to get my foot in the door with a strong company relevant to my degree.

have they confirmed where people from your dept transfer to, and the frequency of these opportunities arising? They should be able to tell you what % of employees have transfered with the business & where they've gone. But even if an opportunity doesn't turn up it'll do your CV no harm to say you worked for them, but you must be sure to stay a decent amount of time so you don't look flakey.

Do they really expect you to sell a lot on the upsell or be really pushy trying to sell those useless services?

In my experience, yes. The upsell is often where the money lies (for the business). Its about money at the end of the day, and the financial sector is doing everything they can to improve efficiency & increase profits. They will have a clear business strategy and its up to guys like you to manouver the customers into place.

Asking "would you like to transfer a balance from another card onto your account?" or "would you like to enroll in our identity theft protection services?" is not a big deal to me. But when they say no, It should mean no. I do not want to have to give a lame sales pitch even if they are clearly not interested.

If you're applying you can ask to spend an hour or two shadowing someone on the phone to get a clearer idea of what the job involves & what will be expected of you.

 

[n3ophy7e]

I'm gonna move this over to E&C

 

[Roger32]

Are you directly working for said company, or is it through a third party.

1st party vs 3rd party call center experience is way different and its not always obvious who you work for.

It is directly for the company in their offices.

 

[Roger32]

have they confirmed where people from your dept transfer to, and the frequency of these opportunities arising? They should be able to tell you what % of employees have transfered with the business & where they've gone. But even if an opportunity doesn't turn up it'll do your CV no harm to say you worked for them, but you must be sure to stay a decent amount of time so you don't look flakey.

I am going to take the interview and bring up some of these points. Lots of good info for me to ask during the interview. Thanks a lot, and keep the advice coming. Excellent job guys %)

 

[alasdairm]

i can't work for a company whose product or service i don't believe in. if this is just a pragmatic stepping stone and you can live with whoring yourself out i.e. working in a cube selling useless shit for a paycheck, you should do it. if not, not

i understand that this is a challenging job market so taking the job for the paycheck, the experience and the networking opportunity doesn't seems like a bad idea.

alasdair

 

[Crack4Lyfe]

Should I take the job? How long do you have to work at the company before they will be open to a transfer within the company?

lol the answer is never. You won't move from being a call centre monkey and its pretty lol to think otherwise

 

[Crack4Lyfe]

I am going to take the interview and bring up some of these points. Lots of good info for me to ask during the interview. Thanks a lot, and keep the advice coming. Excellent job guys %)

Wait a second...you don't even have this job yet? Talk about jumping the gun. Also the interviewer is probably going to be head honcho of he telephone call making department and was once probably like you, had ideas above his station, thought he could achieve great things and 10 years later he hasn't moved. As such he would probably take great exception and you asking these sorts of questions and i doubt they'd be happy with employing someone who views them as a stepping stone.

 

[thujone]

lol the answer is never. You won't move from being a call centre monkey and its pretty lol to think otherwise

Not true. Let's just say I work the job Roger is applying for except I don't deal with the bullshit customer service gets but it's all fairly similar and grouped under the trade "IT Customer Service". This kind of experience is valuable in some fashion to most, if not all industries. Aside from the few veterans who climb the call centre ladder and are happy to settle into a management position for the rest of their lives, the turnover is huge because so many people are just using it as a stepping stone to a better job.

So contrary to what you for some reason believe, the interviewer/manager/head honcho is well aware that the best candidate he hires will be viewing this job as nothing more than the springboard on the ground floor of the corporate world.

Roger, if you have a college degree and this is the best position you can get then I recommend you do take this job. Many employers these days, especially in IT oriented fields, will help pay your tuition for further schooling. I got my job as a college dropout and my employer will pay more than half of my tuition, while providing me with flexible hours to work meantime, if I finish some type of education with relevance to the industry. You should definitely ask what the employer is willing to pay for and look at taking advantage of that to get more credentials if you really hope to rise up in the industry.