You’ve probably wondered “What is the work of a call center agent?” many times in your life, and you didn’t even realize how often you encounter it. Calling a taxi, making a doctor’s appointment, ordering home delivery, getting advice on using a bank card – these and many other questions are the issues we address to the call center. The call center agent finds out what the client’s problem is and either solves it on his or her own or transfers the call to an employee who is competent in the situation.
The responsibilities of a call center agent partially depend on the scope of the organization’s activities, but there are also general functions:
- receiving incoming calls;
- providing information on the company’s products and services
- documenting applications and orders;
- processing customer requests from the website;
- preparation of reports on the work performed.
Also, agent calling may occur in the form of outgoing calls to attract potential customers, inform clients about new services or promotions, and conduct surveys or polls.
What skills does a call center agent need?
But in order to find out what is call center agent, it is necessary to understand not only their tasks, but also the characteristics they should meet. Contact agents should have the following skills:
- Competent speech and diction.
- Sociability, friendliness, and the ability to establish contact with people.
- Patience, ability to perform routine work, and perseverance.
- Emotional stability and the ability to quickly navigate difficult and unexpected situations.
Advantages and disadvantages of being a call center agent
In fact, the pros and cons of a call center work environment are closely related to the skills we listed above, because it is not necessary for a call center operator to have all of them at the beginning of their career. While already working, he or she finds new skills. However, there are some drawbacks to the job. To help you better navigate through the call center jobs pros and cons, we have created the following list for you.
Advantages
- An ideal job for students, because you can become a call center agent without experience and education, everything will be taught on the spot.
- Contact agents can choose any convenient schedule for yourself: it can be a five-day week, part-time work, or work only on weekends.
- Call center agent can either operate in the office, from home, or in a hybrid way.
- Most employers send agents to various trainings, workshops and courses where they can learn new skills or develop existing ones.
- Career growth, as contact center employees have an advantage over external candidates not only due to their universal communication skills but also their knowledge base. Customer support center specialists become marketers, analysts, category managers, and logisticians.
- After working in a call center, no other job will be scary.
Disadvantages.
- Quite serious stress, most likely constant. The ability to abstract yourself from rejections or even insults is very important here.
- Constant repetition of the same phrases may seem quite routine.
- Working in a call center, like most office jobs, is sedentary, which can affect your health.
- Due to its accessibility and low requirements for the candidate, the job of a call center operator is not considered fancy or high status.
- For the same reasons, the work is quite low-paid, both for full-time and part-time employees.
How much are call center agents in demand?
Today, call center specialists are in demand in a wide variety of companies. Such employees are needed in help desks and technical support centers, consulting, sociological, and trade organizations. Specialists in telephone services work for companies that provide mobile communications, TV, and the Internet. Analysts say that the profession of a call center agent will always be in demand because any technology and answering machines cannot replace live human communication.
Where to study to become a call center agent
Call centers often train their employees on their own in accordance with the specifics of their business.