All contact centres will promote themselves positively and offer awesome benefits to recruit you. Not all will, necessarily, be a good fit for you. Location, company culture, shift times and language requirements are also things to consider. There are ways to make informed decisions, as a newcomer, that will make your life easier.
Here are some suggestions
- Check Career Planet regularly for updates and BPO company news.
- Check to see if the company is a member of a professional body such as:
- BPeSA (Business Process Enabling South Africa)
- CCMG (Contact Centre Management Group)
- Contact Centre World
- Wesgro, (the Official Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for the Western Cape)
- Dti SA (Department of Trade & Industry South Africa)
- Check location. Choose a contact centre that is as close as possible to where you live – or one that is on a reliable public transport route. Most contact centres provide their own transport for night shifts.
- Talk to as many people as possible in the industry. Try friends, relatives and anyone you know who is working at a contact centre. Be careful to get more than one opinion, and ask about different positions as well.
- Visit company websites and read about the companies policies and corporate culture.
- Look up HR and recruitment companies that specialize in Contact Centre and ask loads of questions.
- Join Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media contact centre forums where you will get valuable and unbiased real-time feedback.
- Check online to see which centres have been winning industry awards. This will give you an idea of which centres are on top, and which are promising rising stars as well.
Article by: Valerie Grace Roscoe
