A Call Center Career Thrives on a People-Centered Culture
By Cora Llamas
Loving one’s work and inflaming it into a passion is one formula for success. Another is appreciating the culture of the company and planting oneself in it while nurturing closely-knit professional relationships that can translate into friendships. Make no mistake about it: a relationship with one’s colleagues is critical to one’s ascent in the career ladder, especially in the call centers.
Take the case of Sitel Philippines, which screens roughly 150 people a day to fill 1,200 seats at least for the first quarter. Many of the employees who have stayed in it for years do so because of the relationships they have built and the system of support that these in turn create. Ciara Ampuller, Sitel’s Recruitment Sourcing Supervisor, speaks from her own experience, “I didn’t like my work when I first came here. But the people were friendly and supportive. I didn’t feel down whenever I was with them. After getting along with my colleagues, I realized the worth of my work – and I was given more challenges and promoted.”
Actually, Ciara has been promoted several times since she first signed on Sitel in April of 2006 as a recruitment assistant. By June of the same year, she had become a specialist. She was awarded officer position in February of this year and as of this interview, is now a sourcing supervisor.
One thing she emphasizes to the many applicants, “You have to be a people person.”
This paradigm also guides her recruitment process. In screening potential candidates, Ciara takes a look at “how they deal with other people. The last question I ask every applicant is that, given a choice, what would you choose: your people around you or your work? This question doesn’t have a correct answer but for me, I prefer the applicant who answers that he prefers the people he works with. Because even if he doesn’t love his work, but if the group around him is supportive, he’d stay on the job. He’d find a way to love it.”
The Psychology graduate from San Sebastian College who is currently taking her Industrial Organization Psychology post-graduate studies in the Ateneo de Manila University belies the beliefs that all call center work is agent-centric. Ciara’s work is concentrated on sourcing or tapping the many avenues of recruitment that can bring in quality candidates who are then subjected to the screening process. Finding fresh talent can mean weekend travels to provincial job fairs in places like Batangas, Dagupan, La Union, Tarlac, Cabanatuan, and Laoag. She also deals with media sources and does career talks.
Ciara says that she does not just look at the numbers. “I also measure the interest of the candidates, if they really want to work in call centers. I want to take a shot at their interest level.”
She also says that she hopes to become an HR director one day, which again corrects another wrong assumption that call center work is a dead-end job. “An agent can apply for a higher position after three months,” she points out. “He can transfer if he gets the approval of the manager and passes the processing. He can go to departments like quality assurance, training, workforce, and support. He can move up to team manager and then on to operations manager.”
Sitel also provides the infrastructure and the incentive that motivates people to seek career advancement. The online university, for example, gives them free online training in courses that are technical in nature or can deal with values and attitude, such as developing self-motivation.
Although the need for customer service agents and technical representatives is non-stop, Ciara encourages jobseekers to apply for jobs that make use of what they had learned. “It would be better if they apply for work related to their particular course,” she says as one way to keep the interest of the applicant high.
Bonding agents comes through regular team-building. Sitel also keeps the energy and enthusiasm going through various incentives that add a bit of fun to the working experience. Sitel employees get gym membership discounts in Fitness First. Those who make successful referrals – or refer people who do get hired – are given a P6,000 bonus. The referral promos can change, from Starbucks gift certificates to movie passes.
As healthy employees also make for happy ones, Sitel employees are also entitled to free medical, dental, and eye check-ups.
“We make the work environment fun-loving for our agents,” Ampuller says, “and as they work together, the relationships deepen.”
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