It amazes me how much talent there is in contact centres around the country. Along with people who have changed course from their chosen career path, you end up with a small community of skilled staff.
I have had staff members who have been plumbers, electricians, nurses, hair stylists, musicians and singers. I remember one year when we had a talent show as our end of year celebration, as we had some fabulous talent in our centre. It was a great night, with many acts and all from a total of 45 staff.
And let’s not forget the creative people we all have wandering around our centres – they can whip up a poster, draw a mural, create some wonderful Christmas displays and are in their element when the desk decorating competition kicks in. These people are brilliant and amaze me with their creative minds.
People I talk to about this ask what a contact centre job offers talented or trade trained people long term. Well, where do I start?
Staff are given up to six weeks of training and I haven’t seen induction training that doesn’t include customer service and/or sales training and personality testing for individual development.
Staff are given structure and boundaries in their work day, this helps with time management.
The reward and recognition programmes created are fun and reward top performers and teaches personal motivation.
People skills – staff learn to work with a variety of people and learn to deal with a variety of customers.
The skills learnt in a contact centre are invaluable, and with my fingers crossed I hope the people who have chosen to move on can look back on their time in the contact centre industry and say “Yip, I learnt so many new skills which have helped me to move toward my dream job”. Hmm… or is that too optimistic?
Anyway, don’t let the creative or your trade trained people stay hidden, ensure they show off their skills in some way while they are in our industry. These people create the team environment and add that creative flare when required especially in busy times or for team building.
Footnote: If you are creative and/or a poet, check out our call for the best contact centre poem. We want to publish the top two poems before Christmas, show us your talent! For more details click here