A lot of people have been saying " there's no future in working in a call center" or "it's a dead-end job". Even some people working in call centers are saying the same ignorant remark. But is it really?
Let me just share with you stories of people who have made it big in this industry. Please take note that all of these people started as agents in their call center. They have either worked hard to achieve what they are right now or they searched and grabbed a big opportunity.
Success story number 1 - Vince, Senior Delivery Manager in RMH-NCO, Quezon City. Vince started in former Clientlogic as an agent. In roughly 5 years he stayed in CL, he rose through the ranks and in his last year in CL he was a Senior Operations Manager. Vince was probably the most experienced senior manager in his time in CL. Not to mention well-liked by all of the people he worked with in almost all of the accounts in CL. He was so good, he has handled several accounts with success and sometimes handled multiple accounts at a given time. Just like a good employee with a "regular" job, he persevered and found success through hard work and continuous improvement. A real role model for all call center agents.
Success story number 2 - Gae, Account Manager in Teleperformance Philippines, Pasig City. Gae started out in local Citibank collections. She moved to Etelecare where she spent most of her career in leadership. She is one of the most loved team leads. People loved the way she handled her teams and herself. After spending some time in Etelecare Cebu and with several years of leadership experience gained from Etelecare, she moved on to become an Account Manager in TP. The last update I had, she is handling 2 accounts for TP. Like Vince, she also started as an agent. She persevered and worked to be the best at what she does.
Success story number 3 - Nestor, Project Manager in Advanced Contact Solutions, Makati City. Nes started as an agent in VXI Phils. This guy, due to his innate leadership and management skills, did not spend too much time being an agent. He quickly rose through the ranks and achieved success in being a manager in several call centers he worked for. After he moved through a few call centers in Manila. He grabbed the biggest opportunity of his career yet. He was offered to lead the Verizon DSL account of ACS. Verizon being the biggest telecommunications company in the U.S. pays ACS well, therefore assuring Nestor and ACS a very good future. In less than two years, Nestor's account has grown in multi-folds in terms of number of employees. He has also expanded the account which now has a location in Lipa, Batangas. Nestor is a perfect example of somebody who searched for an opportunity and grabbed it.
These 3 people are only a handful of call center agents who persevered and found success in their call center career. Like in other job, one has to work hard, persevere and grab the opportunity when presented. Now who says there is no future in call center.
If you are a call center manager who'd like to share your success or if you feel proud of your call center manager and would like his/her success story featured here, email me a short but concise story about her career. I would gladly post it here to show people we do what we do because we are living proof!
14 comments here!:
well i also have a friend who made it big time in the industry. she started out way back when call centers were just emerging.
i am in no doubt on the success stories of those who were pioneers and veterans of the industry but is the same case still possible in today's generation of agents?
oh and btw, i think bookmarking is supposed to be ctrl-D.
hi.
thanks to destiny for leading me to your blog.
I and my brother are planning to apply in a call center in Bacolod City here in Negros.
Unfortunately, many people are discouraging us and most of them reason out healthwise.
can you direct me to a post about that? or if not, what can you say about this?
i must disagree with you, if your a team leader, operation manager doesn't mean your successfull, wether you like it or not your still an employee.. you still dont have the luxury of having your own time as you want it, you still have boss and you only have a fix salary. when will this employee mentality of filipino stops? lets stop being inferior! lets learn from the chinese... when they go to a country they dont look for work they do business... bring out the entrepreneural spirit of the filipino people dont work go create your own business
Being a Team Leader or an Operations Manager does not make anybody less successful than people running their own business.
I see you picture success as being entrepreneurial. But is that success? I don't think so... Okay so I have 20,000 here and I'll quit my job and I'll invest in a small business of a squid ball station near a flea market. It's my business and I'm my own boss. But does that make me sucessful? NO.
Success is gained through years of perseverance and hard work.
Not everybody can be entrepreneurs my friend... some people need to play a role in a company and be successful in it before venturing out.
We are not inferior against the Chinese. Just like NOT all Chinese are entrepreneurs... Am I right?
The people I mentioned are successful. Don't take that away from them. What we really need to get rid off is the crab mentality....
To Quincy John,
Bacolod City has a lot of callcenter already. I just read yesterday Teleperformance is expanding to more than 800 seats over there.
I must agree that callcenter work is not for everybody. Much like working in a nuclear power plant or being a fisherman or any other work that has some health risks.
A lot of people has survived and thrived working in a callcenter. Don't let discouragement get the best of you. The best reaction to that is PROVE THEM WRONG.
To Oman,
I'm definitely sure the playing field for being successful in the callcenter industry is still even these days. This industry is has just passed the infancy stage. If you have read 1 of my posts, the biggest problem of the callcenter industry right now is not having enough good managers to lead the way. Adding to the fact that the industry is still expanding and the Philippines has just been eyed as the best hub for voice-related outsourcing, there's a lot of room to be successful.
Remember, the successful managers right now will not remain where they are for the next couple of years. They will be taking the next step of being successful. They will need successors too.
im not talkin about having your own fishball stand, having your own fishball stand doesn't mean your already an entrepeneur... that's the problem with you people all you can do is think about fishball stand, candy stand blah blah blah.. for 20k you can buy an hectare of land way up north or way down south...these land are on a CLOA... plant it with a plantain, apple cactus etc etc... these are rare fruits just like the now becoming popular dragon fruit when you harvest it turn it into a candy.. there's none in the market that offers rare fruit candy... entrep is about inventing, about fussion. Lets say i have 30m i franchised a jollibee does that make me an entrepreneur? NO! that's capitalism.. im saying these things bec. i know there ae lots of people there that have money and instead of working why not put a bus. in these way your helping your fellow filipino too and this will curve the unemployment in our country... And one more thing about the chinese yup they are not all entrepreneur but most of them are...
To the anonymous person who keeps pushing his entrepreneurial stand:
You are posting in the wrong blog my friend... There are other filipino blogs concerned with Filipino Small Businesses... BUT as a courtesy I approved posting your comment just to answer it.
I think we both agree that working in callcenter and buying land + planting + making rare fruit candy ( like you point out ) does not equate to success... Success comes from hard work, perserverance and grabbing an opportunity... THAT'S A FACT no one can deny... the point that I'm trying to get across is these people I mentioned have done that and succeeded. Period.
If you want to comment on how to be successful in buying land + planting + making rare fruit candy... then make your own blog about it... Mention names of people who have succeeded in doing so and how they did it ( I'm pretty sure if they have succeeded, they put in a lot of hard work, money, perseverance in it too ). Then you can claim in YOUR own blog that they were successful. Not being entrepreneurial is NOT a problem. It's never a problem. It's just a matter of choice. If they chose to be successful in working in a callcenter, that does not make them any less successful than entrepreneurs.
Though we may not be generating employment for our countrymen, we also contribute to our nations growth by PAYING OUR TAXES. And a very high tax rate at that. We support our subordinates ( our countrymen too ) by teaching them how to be better employees. That way, they continue supporting our nation by paying their own taxes. You see... we are just as important as anybody else in this country. We pay our dues regularly and that's how we help. If we earn a lot and don't invest as you say, that's because we have other priorities in mind like supporting our family, putting kids to school, saving to buy a house etc. I think those priorities come first before any investment...
SUCCESS - it's not how you do it, It's how you get there!
Lastly, about your Chinese people... How many Chinese are there in the world? 1 billion right? And how many in that 1 billion are entrepreneurs? And what's the ratio of the entrepreneurs over their population... You guessed it!
I guess the most that you probably are talking about are only the ones that you see... You don't see the majority of Chinese people in mainland China playing their own part in building their country as employees.
Broaden Your Mind.
To the anonymous person who keeps pushing his entrepreneurial stand:
If you're having problems convincing people to be entrepreneurial, that's your problem. Don't use my blog. It is really off-topic.
I don't really know why you have such a beef with us callcenter employees/normal employees. We are here because this is an honest living and that's the way we choose to live an support our family and country. There's NOTHING wrong with that. We contribute more to the Philippine economy than what your small business my friend. MY annual tax alone exceeds your annual profits. So don't belittle us callcenter employees.
I really am having a hard time understanding why you choose shove your point here. Is it because my blog has over-taken yours in the business category of pinoytopblogs.com? That's really shallow.
If you have a problem with that, I suggest you optimize your blog to increase more awareness and readership of YOUR blog. Your website looks OK naman e. You just need to take care of it and make it more popular. Maybe you want me to help you search engine optimize you website?
To the anonymous person who keeps pushing his entrepreneurial stand:
Sorry no interest in that.
That's probably the same reaction for most of your readers... no interest...
As you can see... I disapproved posting your comment. As I do not find any value to your point... Don't waste your time here...
My husband rose from being an agent to Team Lead to Team Manager and just recently to Operations Manager in a span of 5 years all without a Bachelor's Degree. Sipag at tiyaga lang talaga at malasakit sa mga tao nya. Now we have our own car and we just bought our own house in Paranaque. My child is able to go to a private school and we are able to help our other relatives. For me call centers are a blessing to us Filipinos and we should not take it for granted and should not undermine the capabilities of those working in call centers. IT IS HARD WORK. I cannot mention all the sacrifices my husband, I and the family had to go through just so we can at least get to where we are now but it was all worth it. I can now look forward to a good future. - jersey1210
Thanks Jersey!
Very nice feedback! Your husband is a rare breed. Take care of him and your family! God bless you more!
Yup i must agree. As a single mom, I am able to support my child alone because of my hardwork and discipline.
to anonymous (afraid to identify himself) , if you are so great, why don't you put up your own blog about your success? and also include your personal business advice? be sure to post the link here so we can visit you. (i bet you don't have the courage to do so)
I too benefited from being a call center agent at a direct-hired company working for 2 years now. I have a salary equivalent to my course as an ECE without having to work far from my family & without age prejudice.
If I am not working now as a cc agent, I cannot provide for the gall bladder operation of my wife last year. Our health card took over for the expenses; of course, provided by the company I worked for.
But business & investment-wise, I am interested with Anonymous' claim that you can own a hectare of land for 20K. Now, that's a good deal!
Email me at joelvalct@yahoo.com if you have the info, thanks!
Post a Comment
Hi! Thanks for reading this post. I hope this has enlightened you in someway about the call center industry. I appreciate your gesture of wanting to leave a comment for any purpose. However, if you are leaving a question for me, please click to subscribe to the comments feed here or to my blog feed here so my reply along with all the reader comments can be stored on your browser bookmarks for your easy access.
I also encourage you to connect with me through the following popular social networks so we can better interact with one another! :)
1. Call Center Blogger Facebook Page
OR
2. Call Center Blogger Twitter Page
Thank you for reading again and I hope you enjoyed this call center blog as much as I enjoyed writing on it. Feel free to contact me at callcentervet@gmail.com. Godspeed.
Reminder: If you leave a comment with an unrelated link or link designed to promote your website, it gets automatically deleted. Don't waste your time.
For the time being, NO COMMENTS will be published at this time due to idiot spammers who try to comment even with the warning above. For immediate concerns, email me.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.