Agent at 45 years old

November 30th, 2008

I’ve always wanted to try the then-new-thing call center industry. It was some years back when our country experienced this boom that came with the continued rise of demand for medical practitioners and teachers abroad. I was a graduating student already when I had my first taste of this job. Together with some of my friends, we applied to one of these call centers which had a Holiday-Temp promo then. I believe call centers still have these holiday-temp promos. They hired us for five days to answer calls and make sure that none of their calls won’t get unanswered. Yes, you read it right, it was only for five days, two for training and the rest was all for production. I didn’t get it then. As for myself and my friends, we had a couple of days free and earning while not getting tied to a months-long contract was a good deal for us. For if the company will benefit from this deal? We didn’t really care.

It was great experience. Finally, I’ve got my wish granted. I tried whatever could be tried then. I brought food then tried eating outside, slept for a couple of minutes stretched to a number of hours in the quarters, gone to work at 9pm for a shift starting at 3am, ending a shift and going home at noon, brought spill-proof containers and drank couple of cups of free caffeine-rich products, wore jackets as if it weren’t just the humid of Manila, spoke English over the phone, in the pantry, on the elevator, on our bus ride then back in the classroom when everything was over, laughing at our great experience in this industry that has, I say, changed our society at least a bit.

We were engineering students and everyone was either frustrated or amused with what our barkada tried out. For one, it was so far from what we are supposed to be trained for. Being Electronics Engineering students and all made it as if impossible for us to even try to consider. That is at least for some people’s point of view. But we had our reasons. Some of us need the money, some had different reasons but as for me, I was really interested and I hoped to try and I had it.

My next call center stints weren’t shocking anymore. I had tried answering calls for people who would wish to have their satellite radios activated. I am not really sure if we already have it here in Manila. These radios receive information through Satellites and are pretty much advanced than what we currently have. I had tried answering calls for people who needs help with their laptop units in terms of hardware, software and networking. This one’s my first technically-inclined post which made it difficult. I almost tried answering calls about billing concerns. I already experienced calls from Americans of various accents. I have tried speaking with people from different countries. Let’s say more than 20 countries.

Looking back, I remembered myself delved in argument with my own thoughts regarding people entering this industry. I could remember how I felt people who looked down on call center agents (or however these people are called) are. I thought they were sort of judgmental about it. To some, it is commendable to belong in this industry, concluding that it’s a feat to survive speaking in Conversational English all-day, all week as a profession. But to most, considering if you have already graduated, more so an Engineering course, or any somewhat-unrelated-course for that matter, being a part of a call center, is a disappointment. I consider that notion valid, though. That is considering the dogma stating the industry is but an alternative, an option. The ‘agents’ can’t blame the society, though for having this thinking. Besides, even some of those who are also a part of this industry has denied their participation to this industry.

The society has to know more in this industry. For one, people who are called call center agents are called such because their work is related to answering phone calls. This has quickly evolved, though, as agents also receive emails and chat messages from the end users as an alternative to the usual phone calls. Also, agents do outbound calls instead of just waiting for their phone to ring. Now, the question of what these agents and their end users talk about over any of these media must also be clarified. Contrary to most people’s belief, over the phone a huge variety of things could be the topic. It could range from directory assistance, technical inquiry about a faulty internet connection, credit card bills concern, sales, password reset, and a whole lot more. People thinking that it is a complete waste to be part of this answer-the-phone job and forgetting all what one person’s technical know-how might have to think twice. It is but hard to fix a networking issue of a certain office of 10 computers. Fixing this is definitely commendable. Now, I fail to see the logic in thinking that doing that same task plus the language barrier of speaking to probably a non-native English speaker by a non-native English speaking Pinoy, over the phone hundreds of miles away, literally not seeing the computers and cables, what some call center agents do, is at all not commendable.

The call center industry and the call center agents are called as such because they share the same job description of helping somebody over a medium, usually a phone. The lines of business are varied, but wherever one might be a part of, it must not really matter. For as long as your happy with it, why not? As the saying goes, “to each his own”.

I am currently working for a call center. I was hired as an agent. We were called Level 2 IT Help Desk agents of an account catering to more than 80 countries. Fortunately, I am now part of our account’s Incident Management. I have been an agent and not at all ashamed of it. My current job makes me not want to be an agent anymore. I am enjoying this. Definitely a lot harder, but more suited to what I wanted.

I am part of the industry. How about you?

~Fin

a thought from a conversation with a 45-year old mother of four who has been a tutor for 2 decades and decided to venture into this new industry:

This industry is good because it gives chances for people who would usually won’t get accepted. From people way younger than 18, way older than 40, non-high school grads, non-conversant English speaker, non-technical, of any gender, to those of any race, religion, political or social inclination. For as long as you know how to answer the phone and address the other person’s concern, you are good to go.