“Self-confidence, the foundation of all great success and achievement”

Working in a call centre sometimes gets a bad reputation, when actually there are a lot of benefits you can get from this type of work, we’re not just talking the cash benefits (although that is a great perk), we’re talking about the personal benefits it can have on you and your character. In particular, how working in a call centre can give you confidence, as an individual and confidence in the work place. 

Don’t just take our word for it - We spoke to three people who currently work at Carpeo, a call centre based in Old Town, Swindon, and they described how working in this environment has improved their self-confidence....

“Working in a call centre is… thriving!”

Lorna Knowles, started as an agent at Carpeo and through determination she worked her way up through the business to become Team Leader of her own campaign. “I am a massive people watcher and I wanted to be one of those people I saw going for meetings and talking to the clients. I felt that I had the life experience, just not necessarily the work experience.” 

Before working at Carpeo Lorna admitted that she never had the confidence to speak up for herself as it was intimidating speaking in groups. To progress her career further she had to overcome this self-doubt and increase her confidence, speaking to people every day on the phone built up her confidence to approach the people she worked with. “I became self-motivated and built up the confidence to approach my senior manager and the higher management  within the call centre to tell them that I wanted to progress and I was able to explain to them what I was capable of.”

They listened and put Lorna on an independent development plan (IDP) and enrolled her onto a Team Leader Level 2 NVQ diploma to give her the training and guidance she needed to progress. Now, having been a Team Leader for over a year Lorna ensures she helps builds her agents self-confidence up by awarding incentives and giving honest constructive feedback, “I always deliver feedback in a positive way and treat it as a learning curve for the agents. I believe in praising my team’s successes and have shared this amongst other campaigns in the call centre to give the team the recognition they deserve.”  

How would Lorna describe this role? “It is hectic and crazy, you are always on the go but there is a fantastic buzz in the place where people help each other and it is thriving!”

“I’m more confident, more motivated and I have more ambition!”

Ashley Curtis was never motivated to get a job, he was lazy and had no previous experience however after a recruitment agency put him forward for a job at Carpeo he was given a chance and has now been with the company for 3 years. Ashley started as an agent on a sales campaign before moving internally to another campaign where his management recognised the potential in him and began his career development to his current position as Senior for a Customer Service Campaign. 

“I enjoyed being an agent as I enjoyed meeting targets and receiving praise for doing so, it felt great to get recognition and self-accomplishment. You knew you were doing well and you wanted to do better.” Working in the call centre gave Ashley a career focus and made him realise what he could achieve as a person, “Working here helped me gain confidence through the praise I received. It taught me development skills and soft skills and gave me the confidence to realise what I can achieve and gave me a platform to realise what I can do.”

Progression happened quickly for Ashley as he was motivated to complete his work and would keep asking to move to the next stage of his IDP. Now in his position as a Senior he is determined to deliver the best results for the campaign. “What gives me the confidence in the decisions I make as a Senior, is that I have been in the agents position, so I know what would be best for them as I can relate. If my team is happy then I’m going to be happy.” Motivating his team is very important, “We try and build the agents confidence through incentives, we hold 1:1 meetings to find out how they’re feeling and if they need some motivation then I will focus on building their confidence back up.” 

Ashley recognises that he has come a long way in three years and credits his career progression to his work environment. “I would now describe myself as confident, more motivated, more money driven and I have more ambition as I am keen to keep progressing.”

“I was scared to go on the phone for the first time, now I talk to customers all across the UK!”
Courtney Harle joined Carpeo as a part-time agent as she was attending college on a full-time basis and wanted to earn money to have the independence to pay for her own things. She previously had a job as a waitress and struggled to enjoy it , when she was given the opportunity to work at a call centre she jumped at the chance. “Part of me was a bit hesitate to work in a call centre because of all the bad publicity it has but a lot of my friends and family have worked in call centres and loved it so I trusted them.” 

Courtney described herself as being socially confident and can get on easily with new people however when working as a waitress she struggled with interacting with customers, “In my previous job you had to approach customers and ask them to fill out a survey and I would get embarrassed. Now I talk to customers from all across the UK daily and can confidentially ask them all the information I need and answer all their questions.” 

“I’m more mature now and I feel more confident in knowing what I am capable of achieving.” She credits the support of her manager for her boast in confidence, “If I’m having a bad day he will offer me support and will try to incentivise me to build my confidence back up.” Communication is also very important for Courtney and her continued progression, “Feedback is given every day and we have regular team meetings, as there are a few different shifts it’s important to make sure we all receive updates and team members receive praise. It makes me feel happy knowing I’m doing my job well.”

For Courtney, the one thing she enjoys the most is the environment of the call centre, “It’s a great atmosphere and a good culture, I enjoy interacting with different people and working as part of a team.” 

If you’re looking for a job that can give you self-confidence or looking for a new career challenge, take a look at our current vacancies.