I have a chance for either a job, or at least an interview with ACS (Affiliated Computer Services, a Xerox company) to work at a phone bank giving customer service for iPhones. Here’s what I know about the job:
The building I would work in is an hours drive away, one way
I would get three weeks training at $9/hour, and then once on the job, performance based pay for time of calls and customer satisfaction. I was told the average is $10 - $11/hour and the minimum is $9.
It’s a full time job and the hours periodically change, but they don’t change from week to week. It would be an 8 hour a day, 5 days a week job.
On Mon-Fri the earliest shift would start at 4:00am and the latest shift would end at 9:00pm. On Sat and Sun the earliest shift would start at 6:00am and the latest shift would end at 6:00pm.
The closest I came to working in a call center was taking political surveys and I only lasted a few months before quitting because I didn’t like it, but I know that receiving calls from people who want to talk to you is different then calling people who don’t.
Inbound call centers are totally different. I lasted 3 weeks selling AT&T long distance service but I had an inbound call center job I would have kept all the way through college if I could.
Hugh. I just accepted this same job today (At a different location though - our call center opens at 9:00. You must be on the west coast).
My husband has worked for ACS for about a year and a half, and I went ahead and took the job there, so that should tell you someting.
ACS isn’t a bad company at all, but they do churn through people. They’re very, very concerned with punctuality and timliness, so if you think you might have a problem with that, you might want to reconsider.
Based on your performance in the training class, you’ll be able to bid on a shift, then new ones are based on your on-floor performance. They have a pretty sporatic schedule for when they do new shift bids, so it may be only a few weeks with that shift, or it may be several months.
ACS’s benifits package isn’t stellar, but it’s not bad. The health insurance is affordable for my husband and I, and covers our basic needs (regular female stuff for me, removing a nasty infected splinter, and the occasional sinus infection for my husband), but probably wouldn’t hold up in case of something seriously catastrophic, like cancer.
I got a temp job with an inbound call center years ago, same pay ($9/hr flat, though), hour fluctuations (with shift bid) and commute. It was all right. Call centers are definitely a grind but if you can show up on time and not be a jackass you can usually get by no matter what you do for at least a while.
High turnover is to be expected. It’s a high stress job and most people either take it and can’t hack it, can’t show up regularly or move into something else. The nice thing is that turnover tends to be high at all levels so it’s relatively easy to get promoted. At our center, people got moved pretty often into Quality Assurance, Workforce Management, training or supervisory roles.
The cons: working random hours (I worked pretty much every shift, from days of the week to hours – in my time at a call center, I worked 6am-3pm, 7-4, 8-5, 9-6, 11-8, 12-9, 1-10, 2-11, 3-12, 5pm-2am, 8pm-5am and 10pm-7pm at various times, all within four years. Granted, several of those were as supervisors. And there were some 10 hour a day, 4 day a week schedules too; can’t remember the specifics anymore.) Lack of professionalism. Constant change. Inconsistency. People screaming at you. Constant pressure to minimize call time but maximize customer survey results (or whatever quality gauges are used). Lots of stupid rules that are enforced with no real reason.
Hey, it’s a job. But I won’t romanticize it, either. Working in a call center (inbound or not) is hard work which wears you down. But if you have no other prospects, take it; at least you can pick up some skills and a paycheck. When you’re new, chances are you’ll be working not-completely-business-hours (most desirable shifts for us were 7-4, then 6-3, then 8-5) so you can still interview other places easily and continue the job search.
You’d be surprised. My husband works at a call center on inbound calls, and he still gets people hanging up on him. Usually wrong numbers or pranks, but sometimes people get mad, like when he asks them how to spell their name or what their address is. He is required to take that information for any call. These are people calling in to get into educational programs at a certain college. At the very least, he needs the zip code to even determine which campus to route them to.
A slight aside: If your state government uses civil service, find the appropriate website and take as many exams as you can, when you can.
If you score well, the interviews usually roll in. Most state gov’ts are in a hiring freeze, but the beauty of it is that you don’t have to manually look for jobs with that outlet. While looking for something else, you’re always on the list, being noticed by potential agencies which are hiring.
I recently got hired as a clerk typist II for the PA State gov’t, and I can’t complain whatsoever. Great benefits, pay, perks, etc.
Not suggesting that you’d be interested, but it’s a well-kept secret by most State governments.
If you select a wide range of counties around you when applying for the exams, your net obviously increases in size. The government is always hiring, freeze or not. Obama, Bush, a random monkey dancing in his cage at the zoo, it doesn’t matter. There is work in the government if you’re qualified and intelligent.
Double, sorry. I always think of something to add a little too late.
Absolutely take the job. The commute will be annoying but any income is better than no income any day of the week (especially in this fledgling economy).
There are other factors, of course, such as children/spouse/etc., but I’d say go for it.
I apply for state jobs left and right. Sounds good if it will help. I’m seriously considering taking it. I have an alternative plan if I run out of unemployment and can’t find another job, but I’d rather use it as a last resort. I just wonder, if I don’t make it through training (paid training for 3 weeks), or I while during training I decide I can’t do, or really really don’t want the job, could I tell unemployment that I wasn’t fired from, or quit a job, because it was just training and I didn’t actually do any work?
