Trapped in a call centre

BK123

I had a pretty detailed response written, but as i'm on my phone i pressed a button by accident and lost it all ��. Anyway, I'll summarise (also, I speak from experience, as my experience was almost identical to yours about 3 years ago).

Re: getting through a tough day- make the most of your breaks. Either have lunch in your car, or have lunch with others but save 5-10 minutes to have a wander and think about something personal. Ideally with a chocolate (that always works for me). Completely take your mind off work. It helps to divide the day into 2, and therefore, I find, its easier to get through.

Re: final question about being "chained to your desk"- its absolutely possible to achieve your goals. You have to, metaphorically of course, take a step back and go again. I quit my job at a call centre, the first FT job I had and one where promotions were entirely possible for me, and spent 6.5k, plus accomodation costs, to go through one year of uni with no loan. Yeah, sure i depended on my family financially for a while, but within a few months I have paid them back and am continuing making gains in the area I always wanted to. I'm happier, therefore work better, therefore earn better.

Also, have a vision and then use your current jobs "menial tasks" as positives. For example, when speaking with customers, both happy and angry, I thought to myself "that's some extra communication skills right there for my CV for that job I'm going to apply for". Looking at things slightly differently can make the world of difference.

Good luck, chin up!

pinpin

BK123 wrote: »

I quit my job at a call centre, the first FT job I had and one where promotions were entirely possible for me, and spent 6.5k, plus accomodation costs, to go through one year of uni with no loan. Yeah, sure i depended on my family financially for a while, but within a few months I have paid them back and am continuing making gains in the area I always wanted to.

What area is that? What uni course and job?
ta

Kynthia

Your doctor won't laugh at you at all. Please go and see them

Look for another job now. I know you don't know what else to do but call centres are known for overworking you with no breaks and monitoring your every move and this had ground you down. A change might do you good and re-energise you to then find a job you'd enjoy long-term.

Start socialising and getting out more. See friends and family, go for walks or to the gym or swimming, go to talks or local interest groups, or get back into your hobbies. When your work is awful you need things outside of work to look forward to and activity is good for your mental health.

I hope things look up for you soon.

BK123

Wouldn't like to go into too much detail pinpin, but suffice to say its a government job. To date, I've only worked via an agency with the rates of pay that you can get (in exchange for job security, pensions and benefits etc). The point I'm making is it's more what I wanted to do and it meant making a big jump to get it to happen.

Maybe wasn't totally clear there, please don't get the impression i paid 6.5k back in a few months lol. It was paying back for expenses (insurance, food etc).

Pound

CP26 wrote: »

Are there are any internal job opportunities you could apply for?

Where I work, the call centre staff are some of the most knowledgeable people in the business and lots of my colleagues have used this background to get into other areas.

I think this is a good idea. I used to work in a call centre and there was loads of jobs all the time, I got a job of dealing with complaints which had its downsides but I found it satisfying resolving problems compared to reading from a script. Eventually I moved into a back office position which helped me start a proper career.

daytona0

Pound wrote: »

I think this is a good idea. I used to work in a call centre and there was loads of jobs all the time, I got a job of dealing with complaints which had its downsides but I found it satisfying resolving problems compared to reading from a script. Eventually I moved into a back office position which helped me start a proper career.

In contrast, the call center I worked in made up fancy role titles for people to apply for.... This involved a considerably more amount of work (usually the team leader's work) BUT WITHOUT any pay increase.... Also, the majority of (young) people took at least 2 years to go any higher than that, and the next step up was a team leader (£1 extra an hour?).

It depressed me just watching it all unfold! Unless you (or OP) has a specific skill which is beneficial, or a specific department in mind, then I'd actually be inclined NOT to suggest internal roles depending on the type of call center they are in. Why? I get the impression OP would be much better suited AWAY from a call center (although they seem to show an ability to grind which is good!).

marginalone

I can relate to the OP. I left my career in marketing due to similar feelings, the last straw was setting up as a consultant and not getting one client. Quite simply my heart wasn't in the field anymore.

A year on I can't find anything that interests me or gets me out of bed (my savings are drying up fast )

I have been looking at options to retrain, but in my experience I have found if you have little experience or not a recent graduate then its near impossible.

BK123

@marginalone- perhaps look at studying again? Maybe a conversion course, or go the whole hog in a different field altogether. I certainly wish I had more experience and knowledge of what I wanted to do when I went to uni (not that I'm unhappy about what I did study, it just would have been nice for it to be a more informed decision).

A lot of people I speak to say they are put off studying by the debt. If im honest, this isn't an argument that I really understand. You don't even begin to pay it off until you're earning something half-decent (22.5k now i think), and even then what you do pay is relatively small (although constant enough to be infuriating for some I suppose). Having that extra bow to your arrow at the end is a major asset too, especially if you already have an experience of the world of work (sounds like you do, and this is likely to be more than a lot of graduates looking at the same time so gives you an advantage), so know where to concentrate your efforts.

marginalone

BK123 wrote: »

@marginalone- perhaps look at studying again? Maybe a conversion course, or go the whole hog in a different field altogether. I certainly wish I had more experience and knowledge of what I wanted to do when I went to uni (not that I'm unhappy about what I did study, it just would have been nice for it to be a more informed decision).

A lot of people I speak to say they are put off studying by the debt. If im honest, this isn't an argument that I really understand. You don't even begin to pay it off until you're earning something half-decent (22.5k now i think), and even then what you do pay is relatively small (although constant enough to be infuriating for some I suppose). Having that extra bow to your arrow at the end is a major asset too, especially if you already have an experience of the world of work (sounds like you do, and this is likely to be more than a lot of graduates looking at the same time so gives you an advantage), so know where to concentrate your efforts.

I have been looking at entering a different field and doing training but from my research I would most likely be overlooked for graduates with little experience compared to me who is the wrong side of 35.

BK123

That's totally contradictory to what I've seen happen myself (and i think i might count as a recent graduate. Graduated 2011, graduated postgrad degree in 2014). Employers definitely value experience more than most things, so a degree for you would be good as the experience is already there. I've also noted a lot of people in this forum talk about the neverending cycle of "i need a job to get experience, but experience to get a job". If that's whats holding you back, go for it. Seriously, the amount of people who have degrees nowadays is so much that employers really do value actual experience over a degree.