A few weeks ago I turned 31 so I had this idea about 31 tips on how to do well in a call center.
The first ten are about how to get hired.
The second ten are about how to pass training and eventually become top agent.
The third is how to do well and eventually leave the call center for bigger opportunities.
Here goes.
1. Start early
Even if Call Center Companies work at night.
Call center hiring starts in the morning.
If you want to get hired fast, you need to work hard.
How do you work hard?
Start early.
Go to two call center companies per day instead of one.
That way you’ll be able to double your chance of success.
2. Practice English all the time.
Speak, think, pray in English.
Watch Anime.
Read One Punch Man.
Read Naruto.
This will get you going.
Anime does a lot of character introductions.
Maybe you’ll learn something.
3. Use your notebook wisely
Document your process.
People fail because they put little thought into their problems.
Sometimes you think you’re a genius and try to solve the problem mentally.
That doesn’t work.
You can use paper so you can properly think about your problems and get to a solution.
All you need to do is write your questions and answers.
What time did you leave the house?
What time did you arrive in the Call Center?
Why do you want to work in the Call Center?
What’s your introduction?
What questions are you having a hard time answering?
What do you think are possible answers?
What is the best answer?
What are my best traits?
What are 10 call center companies that I will apply at this month?
And so on.
4. Ask questions
90% of call center work involves asking questions.
Here’s a little secret.
You know the part in the interview where the interviewer asks if you have any questions for me?
That’s actually a test.
If you say no I don’t have any questions then you’re guaranteed to fail.
In fact, at the beginning, you are being tested about asking questions.
Your interviewer is secretly noting how many times you ask questions.
If you didn’t ask a question your resume is going to the trash can.
Ask questions.
What’s it like working here?
What traits does a person need to have in order to be successful at this job?
Did you notice any English errors that I made? What do I need to improve on?
5. Expound on you answer Practice answering the question why.
People don’t always understand one-word answers.
It’s your job to explain well.
Why do you want to work in a call center?
Why are you looking for work right now?
Why did you pick your course?
Why did you answer the way that you did?
Many people think interviews are a one question one answer event.
So they try to make the answer short so the interview will be short.
Wrong again.
If the interview is short, you are not considered to be hired.
The longer your interview, the longer they spend time with you, the higher your chance of getting hired.
6. Practice telling stories
What’s the story of why you’re looking for work right now?
What’s the story of how you learned a skill or how you learned that you have a skill?
What’s the story of your family?
Telling stories are important.
That’s how you prove your point.
It doesn’t have to be extremely long.
Three to five sentences is good.
7. Take a deep breath and smile before you talk
That makes you sound more confident.
Always remember to do this.
Taking a deep breath activates your brain.
In case you haven’t noticed you weren’t breathing properly when you did all the stupid decisions that you did.
So it’s a good idea to notice your breathing.
8.Practice with someone
You need somebody in your life who will help you succeed.
That person should inspire you to aim high and to correct you if what you’re doing is wrong.
If you don’t have a person like that, consider hiring a person like that.
Like an English tutor.
Sometimes I do that for others but I’m busy with my job now, Send me a message if you would like to inquire.
9. Pay the price of success
I’m turned off by a lot of people who message me.
They complain about the cost to get a job that pays them Php 20,000 a month.
Do I have to go to sixteen interviews?
Do I really have to speak in English all the time?
Do I need to buy a book?
Do I need to reply to the text of the recruiter?
Do I need to print 30 copies of my resume?
Take a guess genius.
You can just wait for Duterte to go after you for being lazy and you become a drug addict.
10. Perfect attendance
In a call center, people get fired over attendance.
Don’t be absent.
Arrive on time.
No missed days.
Commit to always being there.
11. Get enough sleep.
Cancel your lakad.
Cancel your other racket.
Watch that TV series on weekends.
Now is the time to focus.
Success requires energy and your body produces energy after it gets enough sleep.
12. Pick your crowd
In a call center there’s a good crowd and the bad crowd.
The bad crowd are the people who gets fired sooner or later.
Your goal in a call center is to make money.
Not friends.
Pick the right crowd
13. Make your TL your friend
Your TL’s performance is based on your performance.
So it’s your TL who would benefit if you do the job well.
Ask your TL to give you tips, pay attention, practice it and to it until you master it.
14. What are the two top metrics?
Focus on it it doesn’t matter if it’s AHT or Customer Feedback just get that done right.
Learn everything you can to master this.
15. Copy from the best
I started as a problem agent in the call center.
I was bad at everything.
I worked on it one by one.
I also became two time top agent in the call center.
That was awesome because all I did was copy what the best was doing.
The fastest way I did this is by learning from top agents.
I sit next to them and listen to how they talk and slowly copied what they did.
16. Continue to improve yourself
Read my website. Read the website of other smart people.
Watch people who are good at what they’re doing and copy them.
I didn’t finish college but I’m more competent than my batchmates who finished college because I continued studying after I started working.
The average college graduate has fourteen years of education.
I’m 31 as I write this.
I have over 27 years of education from a combination of school, books, classes, seminars, mentoring and daily reading and personal experiments.
I don’t read because it’s required.
I read because to make myself more useful.
The reason why I’m more successful than the average person is I have a bigger list of failures.
17. Practice finding solutions
Call center agents are paid problem solvers.
Managers are paid problem solvers.
Business people are paid problem solvers.
You see a pattern?
Being a problem solver involves asking what the problem is and asking what the solution is on paper.
That’s it
18. Form good habits.
Good habits enable you to build a future that you want to have.
Here are some examples.
Drink water Exercise Eat healthy food Get enough sleep Save money Go to church.
I feel I don’t need to explain these but those are good habits.
19. Quit bad habits
Bad habits are poison that slowly ruins your future.
Stop eating too much carbs and sugar.
Stop spending too much money or borrowing money.
Stop drinking alcohol or smoking.
Stop lying to people.
Stop staying too long on Facebook.
20. Don’t lend anyone money in the call center
If someone approaches you to borrow money avoid them.
They are scam artist.
Unless you see hospital pics and you visit the hospital.
Do not lend them money.
If you do you will never get paid back.
This happens a lot and I thought it was an isolated case.
I have Zenette Hizon, Charlon Harvey Punla, Rushelle Raj Ylannan, Edsil Pastoral, Jonelyn Manezze, Myca Nitura and a bunch of other people I met in a call center who’ve borrowed money from me and disappeared.
Lending money is the most disappointing thing in a call center.
Don’t do it.
Save yourself the heartache.
21. Save money
Money is important.
How much money you have determines how smart you are.
Money is power.
If you don’t have money, you can be put into a position that you’re forced to do something you don’t want to do. Not having money leaves you with fewer options.
Imagine a job offer that pays double but you need to spend and buy a computer but because you don’t have money, the job goes to your best friend.
Luckily, you have extra money because you work in a call center.
My advice is to live simply and don’t spend all of it.
Keep it in a bank account.
22. Stay away from mall sales
Sales are not really sales.
It’s just an invitation to spend more money.
The good items are never on sale.
The store is just trying to get rid of bad items that won’t sell.
So it’s not really worth it.
23. Buy good quality stuff
These days I only pay full price.
A few weeks ago I bought a cheap second-hand iPhone.
Turns out the iPhone is broken so the person who sold it to me got away with the money.
Time is more valuable than money.
In my stupidity, I took the phone to the repair shop four times to see if I could make it work.
It didn’t.
The repair people tried but couldn’t.
I spend two thousand more on the repair and parts.
I also went four times to the shop that’s about three hundred pesos per trip for commute and the Jolibee near the repair shop.
What I forgot to compute is that my work allows me to go on overtime and get paid by the hour.
If I only spent those hours working instead I could afford to buy a brand new iPhone 7. So yeah. Pay for good quality.
24. Write down your goals and plans
People who write down goals are more successful than people who don’t.
That’s a fact.
If you want to be like your poor friend.
Don’t write down your goals.
If you want to be rich, start by writing your goals and be specific.
25. Learn a new skill
Skills enable you to qualify for a job.
Here’s an example.
Call center agent gets paid 15-25k
Team Lead gets paid 24-30k
An entrepreneur gets paid depends on how good you and your team are.
You get the idea.
26. Invest in yourself
The only way to be better is by being intentional about how to build your life.
Work on your skills and use the best tools as you practice getting to the top of your field.
27. Build an emergency fund
Shit happens.
Houses burn.
People die.
Loved ones get sick.
You can also lose your job whether it’s your fault or not.
My mom lost her job because her boss died.
You need money in the bank for that and if you’re not prepared, you and your family are screwed so please make the wise decision and save money.
Separate some of it and form an emergency fund.
28. Watch Cooking shows.
A client told me I give really good instructions.
I got it from watching cooking shows on YouTube.
It taught me to give step by step instructions.
To pause at every step and to ad many details.
29. Look for a better job.
Your job is not permanent.
You might start with an offer of 14k a month.
That’s fine.
The thing is if you stay in the company, you won’t hit 25k in five years or less.
The idea is to switch every few years to a better offer.
Be loyal to the company but be more loyal to yourself.
Nobody deserves your unquestioning loyalty.
30. Build relationships with people who can help you
There’s no such thing as self-made millionaire.
We get our talents, money, clients from somewhere.
I got mine by treating people to coffee, gifts and so on.
I learned this from a boss who hated me and got me fired.
All she did was bring people food and everybody liked her enough to support her in whatever the hell she wanted to do.
So I copied her power and eventually got the same results.
31. Practice gratitude
Be thankful for what you have.
Start the day with recognizing what you’re thankful for.
Count your blessings.
Doing this enables you to always be able to train your eyes to see solutions to problems and find opportunities.
I’m thankful I turned 31.
That’s why I’m doing this.
As a form of giving back for everything, I have received.
Thank you for reading this far and thanks for your attention.
I am praying for your success. God bless!
If you made it this far, you should introduce yourself.
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