Ok ba sa Sykes Asia, Inc.?

[scarab]

Yang mga company na yan, they work for the manufacturer as a tech support/CSA di ba? Client din ba ninyo ang HP?

...before, not anymore.

[Karding]

...before, not anymore.

is it because they moved it to India? Sana nag stay na lang sa Pinas. Naiirita na ako sa accent nila kahit na they speak english fluently. Mas masarap kausap ang pinay sa phone, ahi hi hi hi...gusto ko pa nga pahabain ang chikahan...hahaha.

HP Voice Prompt: Please say the model name of your printer etc.
Karding: blah blah blah HP Deskjet 9300 blah blah
HP Voice Prompt: Okay. I will transfer you to blah CSA blah
India CSA: may I have your name, etc. or CSO or CASE# printer model name please bal bah
Karding: blah blah blah blah (shet, di ba kasasabi ko lang sa voice prompt kung ano model name and number???)
India CSA: okay, I'll transfer you to the tech support line etc etc
Karding: Okay!
HP Tech Support: May I have your case# model name blah blah blah
Karding: model name deskjet blah blah (tangna, sinabi ko na sa Voice prompt, sinabi ko na din sa India CSA, uulitin ko na naman??)

Is it to make sure that they have my correct info? Maybe so, pero whats the use of me talking to the voice prompt? Tapos ibibigay ko na naman ang info sa India CSA tapos sa HP Tech Support.

shet, just give me the CSO# so I can ship this POS back to you :bwahaha:

[Babnoy]

Sykes for me is one of the best Call Center to work for! How do I know? coz i worked there as Tech Support for 2 years. Sarap ng buhay dito, wala masyado stress. Kung di nga lang nawala yung account(MSN) di ako aalis dito!

[Tiny]

Hi,

Sorry I forgot to put eTelecare there. Honestly please do not be slighted if your company is not in that list I made earlier, it is by no means definitive, there's way too many centers I've missed Teletech, C3, Parlance, ePLDT, Vocativ among others.

On a different note I'd like to write about something else and hope to change the impression that call center roles are limited to technical support and sales campaigns.

As long as a 1-800 number is provided for the product or the service anyone is using, there is a corresponding group that supports it or markets it and doing other processes for it.

The people we hire have different areas of expertise i.e. banking, insurance, travel, IT, sales, telecom, medicine, personal finance and even hr services just to name a few. The campaigns that come here in the Philippines are just as varied.

To answer the million dollar question, the compensation and payscale is just as varied, asking for the compensation package without understanding the nature of the support will lead to biased opinion of a company, other factors have to be considered as well like, location, hours of operation, language supported etc etc.

For questions like career advancement, growth opportunity, continuing education, medical and health care, personal life and disability insurance, retirement package each company has a different way of showing they care for their employees, determining value is a very personal choice.

For fresh graduates, understand that the interview is an exchange of information, please do not limit questions to compensation. Questions like organizational structure, financial performance, annual growth targets will give the interviewer the impression that you are a smart person and we do hire smart people.

Hope this helps again... if anyone would like general info on Call Centers feel free to PM me, I don't think I am any authority on Call Centers but a different opinion coming from one who has the benefit of experience usually helps.

Goodluck on the Job Hunting!

[Tiny]

Hi Karding,

I'm not an HP support, but if you tell HP directly that you had to tell them your product number thrice, someone looking at the overall process would change it.

For some projects we do change the menu on the recording if we think it adds up to customer frustration. It does take a little while of course.

Regards,

[fireblade]

Been there done that....Posted this in another site and would like to share the same here.

Work advice for Call Center riders

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Decided to join the industry two years ago and left recently. Here are the reasons why:

Upside:

1. High pay.
2. Women are aplenty.
3. I almost got pirated 6 times in two years.
4. So easy to transfer but I did not. (only twice)
5. Very nice work atmosphere.


Downside :

1. Possible to lose your family
2. Most of my Shift Managers and Operations Managers (reporting to me) have no moral authority.
3. If only I can share with you the stories of agents especially women, you will be so disheartened.
4. GRAVEYARD is not easy. Studies prove that you slowly develop memory gaps as you are tampering with your body clock.
5. Too much pressure from both external and internal customers. Day in/out they are harping on the smallest concerns.
6. Hard to look for another job outside the industry if you have not tried other industries. It is a good thing I had customer service, IT and FMCG tucked in all of 19 years.
7. Agents who are on displinary actions would rather transfer to another company than learn from the experience.
8. Etc.

My sysnopsis is that it may be worth the experience but my advise to you young agents and executives of the BPO business, as early as now prepare yourself to experiencing daytime jobs that are regular. It is very difficult if all they see in your CV is Call Center 1 to CC2 to CC3. What is happening right now is alarming, who offers the highest base pay get the agents momentarily and loses them again to another company. This is not good at all and can you imagine the catastrophe if the BPO business ends. Where do all these people go? Better be prepared to slug it out by continually improving yourself and learning to adjust to regular jobs. But mikafajardo (btw my name is Bong), it is what is available now, yes you are right. But it all depends on how you look at your career (short or long term). I am now leaving the industry feeling good as it was a great learning experience. Very fortunate to lead a service company that is M-F ( regular 8am-5pm)and values work life balance.

My conclusion, I was right when I started that there is a certain lifespan. Started as an Operations Manager and ended as an Assistant Vice-President. And that is within two years. After that, you get to realize so many things that you have missed out. Don't you guys even wonder why there is so much office politics in the BPO, because CC employees are being paid to talk. And believe me, we are paid for what we are missing in life. Now that I am back as a Sales General Manager with the mainstream (normal schedule 9am-5pm)and getting so much sleep, can't help but think hey it was still a good experience.

[fireblade]

Just to add ;

Thank you for all your valuable inputs. Let this be not misconstrued as a statement that the BPO business is bad at all. Admittedly, I have learned in the short two years that I stayed. What I am clearly stating here is that, do not limit yourself to the industry as your skill set will be boxed. If and when this sunshine industry fades, what will happen to the almost 200,000 employees currrently employed? Better be prepared so you may still be ahead of the pack. I do have a lot of friends who keep on saying that they want a career shift but are afraid to lose their title and high pay. Also they are afraid to face corporate people and be asked how do you manage your team given that the 20/60/20 rule on sales should be practiced. How many BPO people know what is the business lingo being used outside? Only a couple i must say.

The quick buck that we are getting may come to an end. Do you realize that the base pay has been increasing rapidly that it is becoming costly for the BPO to operate profitably. And this is where it all bogs down. This maybe a short enjoyment for most but for how long? What the hell am I trying to share here? It is just a concern that I am trying to raise as early as now without sounding like a prophet of doom. I can write at least 15 pages of how this industry flourished and 30 pages why it may not stay any longer. I am finishing a paper to share with most people to reeducate them of what the call center is all about, other than the high pay. One comment was, as long as I am happy I will stay. Fair enough I must say but very dangerous as it does not involve any planning at all.

And yes, I am looking forward to meeting up with you and doing a short ride. I remember the days when I would ride to work and come home with a smile not because of work but because of the ride. Now, I will be missing that as I will be returning as a weekend warrior.

Cheers to all By the way, only today I received at least four calls from headhunters who knew that I left and were offering opportunities with other centers. My simple answer was, I am going back to the mainstream and please do not treat us as commodities who have a price tag attached whether or not we are still connected with our present centers.

Trivia : Do you guys know that headhunters make P50,000 for Team Leader, P150,00 for an Operations Manager and around P400,000 for an AVP that they place with call centers?


And going back to topic, pay structure now is very distorted. Biggest threat is the labor margin that is affecting the bottomline of most centers. It is now becoming a dog eats dog market which is not good if you look at it on a long term basis.

[Karding]

Tiny, thanks for your reply. However, I have mentioned the process to HP but they said it's to ensure that my info was correct.

I didnt want to get into an argument with them so I just said "okay."

[ts1n1ta]

gusto ko na den mag call center! kaso i won't be able to speak for a few months ahahaha labo.... pede ba tech support through....chat? hehehe

[scarab]

gusto ko na den mag call center! kaso i won't be able to speak for a few months ahahaha labo.... pede ba tech support through....chat? hehehe

...there is chat and email support.

[Mojo]

ano nangyari sa boses mo ts1n1ta?


anyway most call center consider their compensation package a secret, but sykes can be considered, in terms of compensation,at the near bottom, yung sa pinaka baba is yung mga call centers owned by indians, sobrang kuripot daw ehehhehe

[marv0083]

well sykes is hiring associate engineer puros asp ms access and mysql anyone know the figures of the salary pls pm me ^_^

[sirkosero]

interesting.... baka naman may additional input kayo? di naman gaano kahirap pumasok sa mga call center pero im not sure what im getting myself into....

at bakit ang mga callcenter gusto nila offer sayo ngayon ang work tapos by tomorrow dapat napirmahan mo na ang contract at the next day u should start agad?

mga peeps, how much ngayon starting for technical accounts/ non-technical accounts. ive heard figures pero di ko rin sure....

to a fresh grad like me, minsan madali masilaw sa pera lalo na sa unang offer pa lang, grab na agad. any suggestions mga peeps?

[sirkosero]

thanks for the insight. appreciated it.

[chua_riwap]

When you say CALL CENTERs do offer high paying jobs, magkano ba talaga suweldo let's say yung sa mga newly graduates at yung medyo matagal na (5 years + with the company)?

Pag sinabing mataas, is it between P30K - P50K per month, o mas mataas pa? Kung strictly "confidential", yung salary range na lang.

[margaux]

i think that depends on your account and your job description. And if ever na you are promoted coz you are doing a goodjob and your stats are beyond expectation, then maybe your salary will range to even more than 60k

[fireblade]

i think that depends on your account and your job description. And if ever na you are promoted coz you are doing a goodjob and your stats are beyond expectation, then maybe your salary will range to even more than 60k

sorry but I will have to disagree with this. It really depends on your backround and the expectations set with the company. There are those who have started in the industry from scratch as their skill set did not match the requirement. It really depends on a lot of things such as, previous job exposure, fit that the company may see, how critical you may be to the account, your new designation and the confidence that you are showing them. If you are in it for the high salary, sorry to disappoint you but it just won't work.

[chua_riwap]

i think that depends on your account and your job description. And if ever na you are promoted coz you are doing a goodjob and your stats are beyond expectation, then maybe your salary will range to even more than 60k

Malaki nga. Sa hirap ng buhay ngayon, yang P60K monthly, wow.....

Thanx, Mam Margaux.

[margaux]

clarification......read my post again and focus on the last sentence I posted.

And if ever na you are promoted coz you are doing a goodjob and your stats are beyond expectation

and within that includes the stay for 5 years. I know someone who's working as an agent for already 1 and a half year and still hasn't been promoted to a higher position. And I also had a TL who started as an agent and she's staying with the company for 4 years and right now she's handling TLs.

[margaux]

BTW, based on personal experience as an employee of a call center.. I've been working hard ever since I started and right now, there has been some big changes in my job and I know I deserve it coz I'm working hard not just for myself but also for the company. And I have to thank them for trusting in my abilities. Coz sooner or later, I'm planning to transfer to IT dept.