If you’re looking for a job opportunity that will allow you to flex your communication, listening, or sales muscles, a call center may be the perfect place.
Call center job opportunities are growing for professionals at all skill levels. In fact, 215 call centers were opened or expanded in the United States alone in 2017.
But what exactly is it about call center roles that make them attractive to job seekers? What are the specific responsibilities and what can you expect to learn while on the job?
If you’re interested in working in a call center, but still aren’t clear on the day-to-day job duties or how it can help advance your career, we detail them for you down below.
Duties of a Call Center Representative
Call center representatives or agents are the friendly folks answering and placing most of the calls within a call center. Depending on the type of call center (inbound or outbound), they may need to be an expert salesperson or a master problem-solver.
Some common call center representative responsibilities include:
- Politely answer inbound calls and respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner
- Generate customer interest in the company’s products or services
- Provide personalized customer service by responding to the needs of customers
- Document and report on customer feedback to improve the customer experience
- Manage and update customer databases with notes for each customer
Given the amount of communication required of them, working as a call center agent is a great way to practice customer interactions and listening skills. Both are crucial talents that can help boost your career in customer service or sales. In addition, call center agents need to be very knowledgeable when it comes to the company’s products or services, which gives agents greater company knowledge that can help them move up the corporate ladder.
What do you need in order to be a successful call center agent? Read up on the top inbound call center agent skills.
Call Center Supervisor Duties
Call center agents do a lot of the heavy lifting within call centers. But while agents are focusing on customers, call center supervisors are focused on the agents to make sure each professional is trained and motivated to execute their jobs.
To support call center agents in their roles, call center supervisors need to:
- Hire, train, and prepare call center agents to solve customer problems or promote the company’s products and services
- Ensure agents are equipped to reach call center objectives and goals
- Answer agent questions and assist them through challenging calls
- Identify call center operational issues and suggest improvements
- Prepare operational reports and analyze data to assist and advise management
As a supervisor, agents will look to you to lead the team and equip them for success. In demonstrating your leadership skills each day on the job, you’ll impress your superiors and become a more attractive candidate for any future promotions.
Call Center Manager Duties
Managers have more riding on their shoulders than their supervisor and agent co-workers. Where supervisors may only have teams of agents to look after, managers often have the entire call center organization to oversee.
What exactly are call center managers overseeing? Take a look at the common job responsibilities listed below:
- Forms call center operational strategies through needs assessments, performance reviews, capacity planning, and cost/benefit analyses
- Evaluates call center technologies, customer service standards, and organizational structure
- Monitors call center performance to identify operational problems and solutions
- Meets call center financial objectives and explores opportunities to add value
How do these duties help your career? Well, management experience is a sought-after qualification for any senior-level position. And working as a call center manager will certainly help you gain the ability to lead a whole department and make more strategic operational decisions.
Answer the Call of Duty
Given their integral part of modern business, call centers represent a wealth of opportunity for job seekers. But before you apply to become a representative, supervisor, or manager, it’s important to know what each job entails and to set your expectations.
Having helped job seekers find meaningful employment in some of the nation’s leading call centers, we hope you found the above call center duties informative and helpful.
Still wondering what life in a call center is like? Discover what it’s really like to work in a call center day in and day out.
