Give the Day a Chance to Start

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

And so it begins

I just came from work, today being my third official day on the job. Actually,I haven't really been getting down and dirty with my main responsibilities so far because I'd spent the whole day in orientations and the like yesterday. Monday was fun, too, because I was immersed into the whole application process. I tried interviewing applicants, listening in and observing their exams and role plays, as well as going through some of the tests myself. I now have more respect for people who work as agents in a call center. Believe me: IT'S TOUGH. Not only do you have to have excellent communication skills, but you also have to possess the ability to think on your toes, mulit-task, and learn everything about a specific account/service provided by the company in a limited amount of time. Applying is hard, training is harder, and taking calls on the floor, well, is the hardest--the real deal. I'm very blessed to be in recruitment, where the working hours are in the daytime and where I don't have to deal with irrate customers. Still, my job is no walk in the park. We HAVE to implement the extremely stringent process of employing the best among the best of the applicants. And it ain't no easy task assessing people with so many unique traits, much less rejecting people with such hopeful dreams of landing a job in our company.

What about you guys? I wanna know what you think of call centers. I understand there's this misconceptions that agents are but "glorified telephone operators." What's your stand on that?

All this just made me realize how important jobs are. All forms of employment, all types of jobs--be they managerial or rank and file--are respectable. Besides, what gives us the right to judge or nametag seemingly demeaning jobs when we don't even have a full understanding of what they really are about? I only got a glimpse of what it's like to be an agent, and already, I am convinced that it's one of the most difficult, honorable jobs there is. Sure, working at night isn't the most desireable schedule, but it CAN work for some people. Plus, the fact that they can handle the stress of the hours on top of the challenge of dealing with all kinds of customers says a whole lot about their skills, and more importantly their character.

So much for that. There's still so much to learn and observe as I go along. But I'm really happy about where I am. Work doesn't seem like toil, and I actually look forward to getting up to go there in the morning.

By the way, I tried and failed yet again to secure my NBI clearance. Apparently, someone has (or STOLE!!! grrr...) my name, so I will have to come back on Monday for them to verify information, bla bla bla.