Of Call Center Outsourcing, Happiness, and Work

I have a friend working at a call center outsourcing center. He says that it is such a great place to work. I on the other hand am doing freelance right now and doing jobs where all I really need is a working personal computer and internet connection. I could do my job anywhere, that’s the perks of doing freelance work online.

Whatever one’s job is, it can get boring after some time. There is nothing that can stop this. It is just natural. People seldom love their work, that’s why it is called work. There is no need to be shy about it. But the more repetitive the work, the more hateful it can be. And also, the more restricted a job is, the more boring it can be. So if you want work that is enjoyable, then you better be sure that the job requires fieldwork.

Call center outsourcing companies require their agents to be stuck in a chair for a whole day while talking to either disinterested, irritated, or even angry people through the phone. This can of job can really test a person who seeks freedom. More so, if the person who works this way lacks a lot of other sources of happiness in his or her life, then it can be a problem.

But despite this, getting a job as an agent in a call center outsourcing company can still be quit rewarding. All that needs to be done is for one to find ways in order to keep oneself happy. This is why call center agents love to go out during the weekends or after work. There are also many benefits in getting a job in a call center. The pay is definitely competitive and the job, though repetitive, is relatively easy to do.

FHA Loans for Our Flooded House

Our family had to get refinancing through FHA loans programs recently. This was because there was a great flood in our area. It was such a horrible experience, something that will haunt me for some nights to come. Not only did I almost drown, my family was also in the brink of annihilation.

It all started one day. There was a storm warning but the weather report did not require us to take shelter somewhere high up. There was no flood warning. And I slept though the night. Turns out, it rained and rained through the whole night. I not home; I was sleeping in our condo near my college. When I woke up, I was surprised to see that the grounds of our condominium were already under water. The whole first floor was submerged. The water was a little higher than four feet. I was really scared. The good thing is that my room was in the second floor. Later we would discover that the storm dumped nearly two and a half week’s worth of rain water in just seven hours. Also, there was some trouble in the dam and it over flowed dumping a lot of water in the whole area. That was when I thought about my mother and little sister in our house. I quickly braved the floods and went as close to where our house was. And just as I have feared, the flood was very bad in our area. Our house was submerged. I used my binoculars and saw that my mother and sister were on the roof. I quickly called for help because the two of them did not know how to swim very well. Some rescuers even used surf boards just to reach them. Good thing we got them just in time.

So our house was in ruin. We had to fix a lot of things. That’s why we took an FHA loans refinancing and took some of our equity out to use for the repairs.

Call Center in the Philippines: The Worst Types of Callers

There are many annoying callers. When you work at a call center in the Philippines, you get to meet them all. But there are annoying customer callers, and then there are really bad callers. These are the types that you would dread to have.

The time Consumers
In every call center in the Philippines or anywhere else, there will always be a time limit set for the call center agent. Generally, each call should just amount to five to ten minutes each. When an agent takes to long to close calls that consumes time and money. It also means that the agent might not be that capable of handling explanations and what-not. But there are time consumers out there that just break one’s track record. Those callers who ask about everything, who are too chatty, or who are clueless and undecided are usually the culprits.

Lost in Translation
There are people who are lost in translation. This means that they either have very incomprehensibly thick accents, or they have very bad English, or both. This is one tough challenge for anybody who works in a call center. There is just almost no chance for an agent to make this call go smoothly.

Angry
This perhaps needs no explanation. A lot of callers call angry because those who are having problems with their product or service are the ones with the most reason to call.

Angry and Irrational
This is the deadliest combination of them all. This is very different from people who are merely angry. The angry people, you know have some reason why they are angry. However, those who are angry and irrational are just enough to make any agent from call center in the Philippines or anywhere else to want talk back. Imagine if a person yells and cusses you on the phone while spouting irrational statements. It is truly the worst type of caller.

Do you Have what it take to be a Philippines Call Center Agent?

A lot of Filipinos have already considered working in a Philippines call center. And this is perfectly acceptable. There is definitely a lot of perks when one decides to work in a Philippines call center. For one thing, you can be entry level or you do not even need have finished college to work in a Philippine call center. All that one needs is the right stuff and good English speaking skills and you will become a definite candidate to be accepted in a call center. However, this is actually a big misconception. Not all call center jobs are easy. And not everyone can get in. There are many other details that one needs to keep into account.

First of all, just because one can speak fluent English, it does not mean that one is already a good Philippines call center candidate. One also needs to be able to process English speaking skills quite well. This means that one must be an excellent communicator who can quickly comprehend what the caller needs and issues are. One also needs to have a neutral English accent. Those who speak with a heavy accent and with bad pronunciation will have a difficult time getting into a call center. This is because it may get in the way of the communication process. Fortunate for us Filipinos, our English accent is a lot more neutral as compared to other countries. And this can also be developed and improved through training.

Secondly not all call center accounts are the same. This means that there are different skills that are required per project. One might have to do a lot of computations in some accounts. Computer literacy is a must as well as typing skills for any Philippines call center agent. Some accounts such as trouble shooting accounts also really on technical knowledge.