Working in a Call Center

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I graduated from college this past summer with a bachelors degree in computer networking though I don't think I really like the computer networking aspect as much anymore but want to work doing something with computers.

I ended up (after a professional apprentice position with computers at a company I really liked) finding a 1 year contract position working through an IT staffing company at a well known auto insurance company call center. It is an IT Service Desk type position, not talking to people wanting insurance policies or calling in about an accident. It is for employees to call in having various problems with their computers and or problems with network access or software on their machines.

I know I have Aspergers but have been getting much better at social interaction and had to call up people at my previous job even overseas and it wasn't so bad so I thought a call center job to start out with might be something I'd like to try. The thing is I kind of do like it and am pretty good at helping out the people that call in. The thing is that every single thing is monitored, recorded, measured, and graphed by the call monitoring system especially the call times, first call resolution, call back ration, ticket to call ratio and all that stuff. Anyway I was having a hard time getting my average call time to what the company wanted and got talks about that with my manager. She ended up pulling an actual employee off the phones on certain days to listen to calls with me and give advice. That was last month and I got better and to the target call time average and my manager became happy with me. That month there was a forced upgrade to the main claims management software which was a big mess and we had calls pouring in about that. One day there were around 180 calls sitting in the que waiting to be taken all with problems with the upgrade. The procedure to make the upgrade go through was pretty much the same for most of the callers so I got that down pat and it helped with my times. Now I also got better with other things too and all that made for good call times.

Now this month it is back to the regular calls about a wide range of problems that take me longer. Sometimes they call with a list of problems which require multiple tickets to be entered into the computer but since it is the same call it registers as a longer call and counts against me. This happens with everyone but for some reason I get screwed over more than the other people do regarding call times. I think I've gotten everything understood pretty well now and don't know how much more room their is for improvement. I supposed I could offer to document the calls that were particularly difficult or long and see if my manager wants to have someone pull them up on the system and listen to the recording but I don't know if she will want to have that happen or if that is going to make me look bad even mentioning that.

Basically I'm beginning to think if maybe Aspergers is making this more difficult for me to get good call times consistently. Perhaps I focus too much on helping the people and not trying to creatively help them just enough and push them to call back in about other problems or I'm just not learning things fast enough and going through the steps to fix things fast enough. It's just I don't know if there is a whole lot of room for improvement. Sure I can get better but maybe not to the extent the company wants. I'm starting to look for other jobs at this point and if I find something else before my contract expires I'll put in my 2 weeks and get out of there. There is also the issue of staying on the line if they need to do a reboot which sometimes I do an sometimes not depending on the situation,t hat also has a big affect. I'm just so sick and tired of all the factors and the battle for good call times compared to all the other people.

I get paid really well (more then all the others because of how I applied for the job multiple times through different contractor companies not being aware of that) then I got called by all of them and they competed with hourly rates to get me to pick a company to go with so I got a good rate. I have to pay almost $600/mo though for health insurance through the contractor company which I selected to do so I would have coverage. If I wanted private health care it was more like $1,200/mo with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield because of my Aspergers so I said no way to that. I take only one prescription which is like $100/mo without insurance and require nothing else.

Anyway do you people think that really my best option is to look for something else instead of trying to stay with this call center to try to work up to a non call center position within the company? Can't move to a different position until I get good enough call times consistently.

it would behoove your finances, to sign up on a state or federal health insurance exchange, and get your IRS tax credit which, if you sign up for a bronze plan, could reduce your monthly premium to ZERO. btw, pre-existing conditions clauses are history.

Hi Roberto

I also work in a call centre, and have recently moved up from being an advisor to being a coach. I think your manager is being very unfair in asking you to improve in an area but not telling you HOW to improve. She really needs to be listening to your calls to determine what it is that makes your calls last so long, and discussing with you an appropriate solution.

How focussed are the company on customer service? For example, are you monitored on quality too, rather than just quantity? Does the quality of your calls give some insight into why you aren't performing well in the area you are in? You sound very conscientious and thorough, so I would imagine that you have some very satisfied customers, and take away the need for repeat calls into the centre. The company may be able to male reasonable adjustments if this is the.case - are they aware of your AS? Is there an in house occupational health that you can use at work?

Kate

As a general rule of thumb, it looks bad on your resume / CV if you leave a job within the first 12 months (unless you are on a short term contract). Also, for some strange reason, it is easier to get job when you already have one. So I recommend waiting until about the 8 or 9 month point before you start applying for other jobs. In the meantime, try to act like a good, motivated employee, who is trying to improve (even if, in reality, you have given up and stopped caring). In your spare time, you may also want to work on expanding your skill set (if needed for future employment).