I’ve been labelled a talkative person as long as I started opening my mouth. My teachers in school would write in my report card:
“Kally is very creative but she needs to talk less.”
“Her work is good and she can focus more in class and be less talkative.”
“Kally has shown improvement in her studies but she talks too much in class.”
My parents didn’t really discourage me from being a talkative young child. If anything, I think they are secretly glad that I’m not shy and withdrawn. You see, when I was a baby, I did not cry much and that frighten my mom so much she actually feared I have hearing or speech impairment.
Blabbing as a Job
My blabbing peak in teenage years. I would hog the telephone at home for hours. I would go on phone marathons with my best friends the whole night, hogging the line even my relatives can’t get through. Mobile phones are just new technology in the market then and it was really expensive to get one.
Well, at least I was at home yakking away and not out on the streets hanging out with boys or doing drugs.
My mom had the most brilliant idea when I turned 15 and got me an after-school job as a telephone operator. Her aim is to put my love for talking into good use and of course, to earn some allowance and gain some work experience. It was my very first job and I totally rock it!
There was a time that I was lost in my career path. I know I don’t love what I was doing at that time and I do know I want to be happy at work. Then I remembered my first job as a telephone operator and how happy I was at that job.
Even though it was a low first entry position, I had learned so much and I couldn’t recall any days were bad (maybe through my naive 15 years old’s eyes) everyday I worked there, I was happy.
So I quit my job as a student counsellor at a nice prestigious school (but hated my management) and applied for an executive role in an IT call centre.
It was the right move.
I excelled at the interview that I was hired on the spot. I was really good at my job (see, what passion did to me!) that I was promoted to customer service manager after a year in the company.
Blabbing as a Career
The excitement of nonstop ringing and the ability to communicate with another faceless person combined with my capability to make someone’s day over the phone just feels so right for me.
Even until this day, I can feel the underlying vibes and juices flowing whenever I entered into a call centre.
Of course, there were other jobs that I’m great at and I love doing them but there’s no denying that I enjoy working in a call centre. Plus call centres have a wide scope of different roles that you can apply for.
Data analyst, phone sales, customer service, call quality assurance, call project management, telephony specialist, trainers and many more. Many of those positions are filled by entry-level call agents who upgrade their education over the years.
The diversity means I can learn as much as I want and dabble in as many different kinds of tasks and projects.
The cons of working in a call centre
I’m actually pretty okay sacrificing my holidays and weekends. Sure, all my friends will be partying or resting at home but I will be saving a lot of money by working. I don’t like squeezing with the crowd anyway.
Plus holidays and weekends are the busiest periods, that’s when the call centre floor comes alive. It is almost like a stock market trading floor.
The voices and calls ringing can really drown out any other noises. Sometimes I can barely hear myself shouting across the centre.
One of the two cons is the loss of voice. It’s terrible. I had it a couple of times when I started out as a telephone operator. Now I know how to take care of my throat in order not to lose my voice. Hot honey lemon helps tremendously.
The other con is that working in a call centre isn’t as glamorous as say, working in a law firm. It is deemed by many, that a job in a call centre is likened a job in the retail.
So a call centre manager is never going to be good enough comparing to an office manager, the pay scale will reflect that.
And it’s ridiculous.
Both are different roles that manage different needs.
My current life is very much different now. The most I babble to is my daughter. She babbles along with me. I’m pretty sure if I ever go back to the corporate world one day, a call centre will be my first choice career workplace.
Do you feel as passionate about a job as I am? Please share with us so I’m not alone in this.
Talking about passion. What takes to feel passionate about your job? Find out here:
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