more about call and contact centre jobs
The call and contact centre industry in the UK is immense in its scope and scale: in spite of popular perceptions, more and more call and contact centres are opening every year. Currently, there are around 6,000 such centres in this country, and the number is predicted to rise to over 7,000 by 2013. Best estimates put the number of people working in the industry at over 500,000. Randstad anticipates that new jobs will continue to come on stream in this sector for a considerable time to come.
So, this is a major growth area, with an equal increase in temporary and permanent positions for outbound & inbound call centre operators, customer service advisors, team leaders and call centre managers. Randstad supplies call centre staff to some of Britain’s best known high street names with clear opportunities for long term career progression.
Randstad handles a stream of part-time positions which are advantageous for people needing flexibility in their working arrangements. The company also deals with a considerable number of permanent positions at all levels. Generally, the business sectors involved cover banks, financial services, utilities, retailers, and specialist service providers.
You could dip your toe in call and contact centre work by taking on a temporary position as a call centre agent or a customer service advisor. Some roles are inbound, some are outbound, and some mix the two. Which side of the inbound/outbound split you sit is very much about personality and temperament: Randstad’s consultants will soon identify which suits you best.
It’s a very people-based, service-led business, and if that’s the kind of work you like, it’s well worth considering, whether in the short or long term. The industry is dynamic, flexible, and friendly, and you could easily find yourself moving into a team leader role and on towards call centre management in a relatively short space of time. There’s quite a demand for multi-lingual call centre operatives as well, so if you’re fluent in at least one foreign language there are often good opportunities.
It’s a varied sector which could provide you with a long term career, or (at the other end of the scale) an opportunity for interesting, short term, flexible work to suit your lifestyle. Take a look at what’s on offer: see whether call and contact centre work is the kind of work that is likely to work for you.