Ever since the digital transformation across India, Call center jobs have grown exponentially over the last few years. Today, most top companies utilize call centers to call prospective leads and even cold-call them to market their products/services. But it is often a lot more than that, so you need to check out the rest of the post.
If you are still wondering what is a call center job, the chances are that you would have a rough image of an executive sitting in his cabin with headphones and fielding calls. But these call center jobs are often much more than just picking up the phone and answering calls. It often delves into inbound and outbound calls – one where you would receive calls from customers and the other where you would essentially be cold calling viable leads.
When it comes to the eventual query of what is a call center job, one of the first things you need to remember is that there is no specific time constraint. In other words, call center jobs are among the few where employees work in various shifts, both day and night. If you are keen to get employed by one, then you need to understand the process of applying for one along with the prospects of a career as a call center employee.
● What are call centers?
It may surprise you that call centers are essentially a vital component of research, marketing, and sales. It is one where companies often utilize viable leads to cold-call customers and promote their various products/ services.
Think back to the last time you had received such a call from your mobile service provider, Airtel, Jio, etc. Such calls are termed outbound calls and are generally placed by a call center employee. A few companies have even used automated machine programs to place such calls.
One of the common terms used for such call centers happens to be BPO, which stands for business process outsourcing. And essentially, these call centers are third-party companies often hired by the original company to market their products and even to help boost their sales – and hence the term, BPO.
● What do call center employees do?
Once you are employed as a BPO executive, you would be required to handle inbound calls or outbound calls, depending on your specialty. And as mentioned earlier, inbound calls are generally generated from existing customers with product-required queries and issues that they need help with right away.
As a customer support executive, you would be required to provide assistance, which defines your current job responsibilities. And if you are assigned to marketing, you would be required to cold call viable leads, wherein you would be calling prospective customers and marketing your company’s products/ services.
As a call center employee, you would be required to work in shifts to handle either inbound or outbound calls. But essentially, you would be working for the customer services/ marketing department depending on your job responsibilities. At times, you may be required to handle both, in which case, you would be required to modify your approach to handling such calls.
● Demand for call center jobs:
Given the peak demand for call center jobs, freshers and even high school dropouts can get hired by a call center. The only requirement would be that they need to have completed at least their 10th grade and be extremely proficient in English and any other native language.
Since most calls are held in English, the requirement for fluency in English is a must. As a high school dropout or even as a fresher out of college, you can check out some local call center companies. You should be able to assess their websites online and review their listings for jobs, their requirements, and the process.
Granted that this is bound to differ from one company to the other, but most of them would require you to fill in an application online, attach the required documentation, and even upload a video or audio file introducing yourself. You should be able to hear from them within a few days.
And this is what a call center job is all about, which is becoming more competitive by the day.
