Call Centers.

[CaptainPlanet]

When will you start school?

 

If you have it all set to go - and the job you have now will be of an advantage to your schedule, sounds like you're all set.

 

I'd start next year. I'll have to apply for something soon (I'd get in).

[ImThatGirl]

I'd start next year. I'll have to apply for something soon (I'd get in).

 

Well get a move on it Brotha!!!!!!!

 

You gotta find something to do instead of having this anxiety about jobs all the time.... And all the switching around from job to job and interview to interview.

 

Why you going to apply?

 

Find a good job and gain some experience working there until school starts. Heck, the call center company may even pay for some of your schooling. (Not sure how schooling works over there...)

[Day After Today]

I've worked in call centres before and some of my colleagues were literally making thousands purley in commission….didn’t enjoy the experience myself…to much obsession with competition and back stabbing….but if you can hack it, it can prove to be profitable...

[CaptainPlanet]

?

(Not sure how schooling works over there...)

 

Schooling here is really good. You get seven years paid for by the government on a loan scheme that is only adjusted for by CPI. There really is no reason for anyone to be paying for your schooling and call center certainly wouldn't.

 

They all cost the same too. So if you get the marks you get to go to the best schools. However it is expensive $8000 per year anywhere you go even at the bad schools. They're all basically all the same however. We've got TAFE that is a lot lot like going to community college. Very cheap too at $900 per year.

 

But the repayment system depends on your income and does not go higher than 8% of your income. Most students pay about $50 a week on their student loans once they earn over $38,000 in a year. We really have a lot of good things going for us in Australia.

 

I'm not facing any sort of poverty the thing is that I just don't want to waste my life and work a painful cruddy job like my parents did because it basically has ruined them in the end.

[CaptainPlanet]

But - isn't that usually the case with change and moving out of a comfort zone?

 

So I get all the points you mention and by all means, don't mean to seem pushy but this is how I see it.

 

- Retail, pizza delivery - - - > those are dead end jobs. Where will they get you?

 

- Call Center - - - > start of a possible true career.

 

- And of course college - - - > Is always good but will that mean you have to stay at home longer?

 

Want to make one more point. Often when a company has people that stay for years (low turn over rate,) it's because the company treats their employee's well!

 

I'm capable of making a decision. I'd just like to be a real person at work. Move around to talk to other people face to face, smile, lift things. Not sit at a desk all day and talk to computer.

[arrowbee]

I worked in one for eighteen months.

 

Pro's:

-Easy to make friends - it's full of oddballs and friendly transients and if you hang in long enough, someone you get along with will turn up

-Flexible-ish hours

-The profound lack of perfectionism

 

Con's:

-Meaningless and humiliating work that impresses nobody

-Anyone who tells you there are lots of opportunities for advancement is being disingenuous

 

I didn't enjoy a single moment of it. But I am thinking of going back there for a while anyway, because somehow, it was a good fit for me.

[CaptainPlanet]

I'm worried it will be even a worse stereo type than retail.

[thejigsup]

Call center work is not the worst job you can have. I had a friend who made very good money doing it. Call centers are a step up for drop outs and the like. If you are ambitious, you don't need schooling to make some money. The worst job in the world is fast food. HORRIBLE! I love working with the public, I'm very good at it, but fast food was beyond me. Of course, it was a great catalyst for getting my butt back in school. With degrees come cool jobs that you will love and other people respect. Not a bad deal.

[sidehop]

Office drama exists everywhere in any corporate environment.

 

Yes I've worked in the call center but we had professional clients (doctors, etc) so we weren't exactly dealing with customers who were complaining about their bills or yelling and screaming. That made our job x10 easier.

 

Granted I had few frustrated customers but we were there to dispatch service. Sometimes we'd have Priority-One call where a patient is going through surgery and one of the equipment has malfunctioned.

 

So it depends what company, type of customers you're dealing with and what training/benefits you get. For me, it was one of the easiest jobs I've had after graduating to get my foot in the door (eventually hired full time with another department).

 

My 1,000th post

[CaptainPlanet]

I can't sit on chairs with wheels. I'm too heavy. My seat needs to be firmly planted.

[itsallgrand]

A call center is my idea of living hell, too.

 

So don't do it then.

 

But at least use this opportunity to zone in on what you do want. If you hate that atmosphere - start applying at the opposite side of the spectrum.

 

Call centers can be a jumping point or a nice place to float in for some people, hell, I've seen a relative of mine LOVE it and move up in record speed.

She, however, is a pure people person and to her what I'd consider the stress of it she thrives on. It's challenge.

 

It depends where you want to go. To me it would be purgatory of the hell realm. lol. The only place to go is various higher levels of hell!

 

But that doesn't mean you can't learn something by showing up. What's the worst that can happen? You leave soon after taking up the job. It's not you are committing to a long haul investment simply by trying the job on.

 

Going through some jobs I thought I'd never stand a chance at helped me to learn a lot. I learned that sometimes what we think we will hate is just the opposite - you might find it your element.

 

Never know til you try, is the point. And trying is better than hanging out in limbo land of never finding out.

[Superfreak]

The only nice thing I can say about call centres is that I prefer them to working at warehouses.

[CaptainPlanet]

The only nice thing I can say about call centres is that I prefer them to working at warehouses.

 

I can't work out if retail is the pits or not... all I know is that after a busy Saturday and Sunday I end up asking myself; why am I doing this ? There are almost no redeeming features - on the weekends. Weekdays aren't so bad because I can be slack.

 

I hate to say it but some people really are stupid and annoying. At least in a call center I won't have to look at them.

 

Call center is in doors, sitting down, air conditioned and I only have to deal with one thing at once, no cleaning no silly shift duties either. I hope that I get the job now. (which means I will almost certainly be rejected). I'm sure I'll get over having to talk to a computer all day.

[Raistlin]

I work in a call center, and have for just about 1.5 years now. I work in the hospitality industry and I do customer service and take reservations.

 

Personally, I've been stonewalled with transfers. For some reason, they wont let me leave the floor.

 

However, my best friend's fiancee works for the same company, and in the same amount of time, she went from the floor to a position just under management (5 steps above me) and is on salary. She's also 1 year older than me.

 

I can see how for SOME, it is a nice stepping stone. I work very hard and put 110% into everything there, and yet my supervisors tell me I'm not doing anything right. At the same time, someone who sits 2 seats over YELLS at guests and got a bigger raise than I did last year. Go figure.

[melrich]

with a grudge against anything resembling human joy.

 

It seems to be a common characteristic.

[Crovax]

worst. summer job. ever.

 

I worked in an outbound call center doing telephone surveys. Yep, I was one of those annoying people who call you during dinner and other inopportune times badgering you for your opinions on various consumer goods. Obviously that made things a bit different than your typical telemarketing or information gig. I don't know about those others, but this one was a complete dead end. About the only benefit I received was real motivation to avoid ever ending up in a job like that ever again.