All over the world, many people work in call centers, whose offices are located in many countries and where native speakers are often needed. Many young people practice this profession, more than two thirds have a diploma and more than one fifth have a college degree.
Working in a call centers
Call center work is divided into inbound and outbound.
Inbound: Calls are not made, but received. In practice, these are customer service or technical assistance activities, where the employee gives customers information about the products and services offered by the company, answers questions or solves customer problems. In this case, it is necessary to know the product or service very well in order to be able to manage and solve the problems that may arise from time to time. For certain types of products/services, it may be necessary to complete special training before beginning work.
Outbound: the telephonist calls customers or potential customers, for example, as part of telemarketing, telesales, reservations, surveys, reminders, product sales, or other services. In this case, in addition to the fixed salary, there is a variable component that depends on the results achieved.
Call center operator, requirement and skills
To work in a call center, you must:
- have an outgoing personality and good communication skills
- be able to handle emotional stress and have a lot of patience
- be a team player and have computer skills
- sometimes knowledge of another language is requie
A good rule of thumb to increase your chances of being hired is to research the company you want to work for and write a good resume. Be sure to highlight any skills that might be useful for the job (previous public relations experience, previous sales experience, etc.).
Working in a call center abroad could be a good opportunity for those who do not yet speak the local language. Many call centers have openings for native speakers. For these positions, previous knowledge and a B1 level in English are required. The curriculum is written in English. In-house training is usually provided for entry-level positions.
Looking for job as call center operator
To find work in call centers, you can use the Internet:
- use job search engines and type in the keywords “call center” “customer service” “etc.”. Remember that the search engines will only show job openings from your country. If you want to see the jobs in another country, you need to select the country you are interested in.
- create a LinkedIn profile and search for current job openings using keywords
- contact the call center companies and send your CV. In my opinion, this is the best solution because as soon as a job is available, the company will contact you and arrange an interview.
Working in call centers around the world
Here are some major call center companies that operate worldwide:
- Arvato, a global services company headquartered in Germany. It employs more than 70,000 people and provides services to customers including. In Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and other countries
- Atento, a multinational company based in Luxembourg that provides CRM (customer relationship management) and BPO (business process outsourcing) services. The company is one of the top three providers worldwide. Atento operates 93 call centers in 13 countries: the United States, Spain and 11 other countries in Central and South America. The company employs approximately 154,000 people
- Concentrix, which has a presence in many European countries: Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Holland, Poland and other countries around the world
- Comdata, a multinational business process outsourcing (BPO) company present in 15 countries with 75 operating centers around the world. The company employs more than 42,000 people and offers its services in 23 different languages. In Europe, it is present in Italy, Spain, Romania, France and the Czech Republic, as well as in some countries in Latin America
- CPM a multinational business process outsourcing (BPO) company that provides call center services as well as promoter, hostess, merchandising, etc. Services. It has a presence in 35 countries around the world. The company employs more than 34,000 people. In Europe, the company is present in Italy, Spain, Romania, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, United Kingdom, Poland, Germany, Greece, Russia and Asia·
- Emergia, , a Spanish outsourcing company based in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Córdoba) and Colombia·
- Konecta, a Spanish global outsourcing company. The company has offices in Spain (in the main cities and Canary Islands), Portugal, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Morocco and the United Kingdom
- PSS, Spanish outsourcing company based in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Alicante) and Perú
- Sales Land, outsourcing company offering promoter, hostess and call center services, present in all major cities of Spain, Portugal, Peru and Mexico
- Sell by tel, (now Web Help) is a German global outsourcing company. It has international offices in Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, Prague, Warsaw, Moscow, Bratislava, London, Valencia and other cities in Asia, Africa and the Americas
- Sitel, is an American company that has 140 call centers in 27 countries around the world. They are present on 5 continents, in Europe they have offices in Germany (Berlin, Nuremberg, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Munich and others), Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, León), France, Holland, Poland, Portugal (Lisbon), United Kingdom, Serbia and Ireland Spain empleospagna, Portugal jobsportugal, United Kingdom careersuk
- Sikes, a company present in several European countries with offices in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom and other countries around the world·
- Teleperformance, a multinational company based in France. Specializing in business outsourcing, Teleperformance employs 223,000 people in 350 contact centers in 76 countries around the world. The countries in which the company operates in Europe are Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Greece, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republicc.teleperformanceitalia, Spain teleperformancespagna, United Kingdom teleperformanceuk, Greece teleperformancegrecia, Portugal teleperformanceportugal, Russia teleperformanerussia
- Unisono, outsourcing company based in the UK, Chile, Colombia and Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Vigo, Gijón, Valencia)
- Transcom WorldWide AB, the company operates in Europe, North and South America, Asia and North Africa. Transcom employs 30,000 people in 52 contact centers in 21 countries and offers services in 33 languages. In Europe, the company is present in Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Spain, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland
- TTEC, an American company with offices in various countries around the world: Australia, China, New Zealand, Singapore, Bulgaria, Dubai, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Great Britain, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, USA
