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With her youthful features, Karen Quinia can be mistaken as a fresh graduate. But once she begins to talk, you soon realize she’s no novice in her line of work. She knows every aspect of her department’s responsibilities. No wonder, at the young age of 26, she holds the position of senior recruitment manager.
Karen must have been destined to work and grow in the call center industry. A few months after graduating from De La Salle University in October 2002, she landed a job as an outbound call center agent for Contact World and worked there for a year. She was later hired as a recruitment assistant in Client Logic (prior to the merger of Client Logic and SITEL). Four months after, she joined Sitel (still prior to the merger) as contractual recruitment assistant, was absorbed as probationary employee after three months, and was promoted as a recruitment officer six months later. Her promotion doesn’t end there, though. In January of last year, she went up to assistant recruitment manager post; in May 2007, she moved up to recruitment manager and in January 2008 after the announcement of the merger, to her present senior recruitment manager position.
She admits she applied as a call center agent primarily for the for the experience. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” she jokes. “I was hungry to get a job. I learned that they would provide me training and that I would get to work with people my age. That interested me.”
Challenges
Her experience both as agent and recruiter, although different in terms of responsibilities and challenges, made her learn a lot of significant things. “As a call center agent, it was more of a day-to-day challenge meeting my quota since my account was outbound. I didn’t really excel (as an agent). In fact, I had a hard time. But the experience helped me gain confidence as a new employee. In recruitment, I learned a lot. Even when I was still an officer, I was trained to deal with clients.”
The challenges were tougher in recruitment, though more stressful. “When I was an agent, my scope was very limited. Everything was laid out for me. In recruitment, I have to be creative. Our boss would ask us for ideas on how to get people. And back in 2004, Sitel was not yet a big name so that effort requires marketing the company. Of course, given that agents are the cream of the crop of the business, if you don’t get to hire the right person, the business or account will not be successful. That’s where the pressure is,” Karen explains.
And as she went up the corporate ladder, the pressure increased. As senior manager, she is challenged to make the right decisions deliver efficiently on commitments in terms of hiring people. “It includes motivating people, too,” she adds. “We (in the recruitment) have to make sure that we give our best to all our employees and that we know the ins and outs of the business; even if they (agents) are already regular employees, they would still come to me when they have problems about employee and labor relations.”
More so, given the company’s diverse clients and programs - telecommunications, technical support and sales - it is imperative that each of her recruiters knows exactly the requirements of the accounts they handle, as well as each aspect of the process of recruitment.
Passion
Stressful her job may be, Karen has managed to maintain her composure. After five years, she still holds the same zeal for her job and has learned to love the industry that shaped her career. “It’s a matter of handling the stress. Yes it is stressful (to work in a call center), especially if you experience difficult customers and can’t solve the issue. But if you like what you do, you can manage. Since I love recruitment, I don’t look at it as stress,” she says.
Passion is what keeps her going. She believes that if a person is committed, he will not look at work as simply a job to perform but a life to enjoy. He will be open to learning and to improving himself.
She stresses that call center work is not just a job, but a career. “In Sitel, we pride ourselves in developing people. We have a lot of managers now, who started out as agents. We have a robust management program and succession planning programs. We identify high-potential people who can be promoted after six months or one year. We have them undergo training to prepare them for bigger responsibilities.”
She feels glad about the change of perception concerning the call center industry in the country today. With a promise of higher-than-industry pay rates and a rapid career growth, it is now one of the booming industries in the country. Karen recalls the time when she first joined the industry: “A call center was not on top of everyone else’s mind. Today, more fresh graduates want to join the industry.”
Karen gives this advice to those who would want to apply: “Understand what the job entails. Read articles about the industry. Love the job. There is a lot in store for you in this industry. If serving is your passion, the call center isn’t going to be a stressful job but a fun working environment for you.”
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