Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) is one of the most well-known business industry in the Philippines. It has helped a lot in our country's economy throught the years.
Unfortunately, the employees in this industry are often misjudged by the people who have no idea how hard their job is. Being a call center agent is very stressful. It requires a lot of energy and patience and most of the time, you'd need to forget about the word "sleep."
Whether you're in the BPO industry or you're planning to enter this world because of its promising salary offer, here are a few unsolicited advices that might help you. Let's call this a "Survival Kit of A Call Center Agent."
- Caffeine. Trust me, coffee is a call center agent's bestfriend. It's something that keeps them awake on a long and stressful night shift. A coffee's aroma will awake your senses and keeps you energized. But it's like a beer, you should drink it moderately. It would be weird to finish five cups of coffee in one shift, right? You might palpitate or it might affect your sleep.
In speaking of sleep, it is important to get as much sleep as you can. Whenever you have a free time or during your day off, don't forget to sleep a LOT. You need to relax your body and regain some lost energy.
Take care of your voice because it's very important in your job. When you're not working, it is important to relax your voice. Preserve it. Avoid talking when it's not necessary. Remember that you've already had more than enough of talking when you're taking calls at work.
Patience is a virtue. The people who calls you over the phone can be rude oftentimes. They're mostly irate customers who would curse you to death as if it was your fault that their bill went too high. They would demand as if you're a slave. They would insult you as if you have no feelings. The worst part is you still have to smile, be nice to them and apologize for something you haven't done. So, yeah, you should bring at least twenty kilos of patience at work.
Never let office politics affect you. Your manager or team leader can be rude or insensitive or whatsoever. But don't let them get into your nerves and affect your job performance. You're both employees on the same company, just different positions. They're not the ones who give you salary, so let them be. Quite hard, yes. But possible. Agree?
Don't stop learning. Always aim to improve your english-speaking skill because it's a part of your job and it will help you a lot. Listen to feedbacks from your supervisors, absorb them and apply them until they become a part of your system. Always try to improve your pronunciation, diction, grammar and accent. You should improve as you grow older because that's an evidence that you never stopped learning evethough your job requires you to do the same thing over and over again.
A call center agent's job is very prone to sickness. So, it is important that you take care of your health. Eat healthy foods, rest well, exercise and take vitamins.
Be strong. There's no such thing as an easy job. Don't give up. Fight. Believe in yourself. Always believe that you CAN.
Being a call center agent is truly hard and extremely tiring. It will really drain your energy. But it can be very challenging and exciting and will allow you to improve your verbal skills and other capabilities. This job is very difficult and I do hope that call center agents get the due respect they deserve.