Backpacking Australia

Working in a Call Centre

Location: Melbourne City

Pay Rate: $14ph inc tax

Work Visa: Required

Employer Prefers: 3-12 months

Hours: Shift Work, I got 11am-7.30pm but there are heaps of different hours, and the later at night, the easier the work and the more pay you get

Staff: 300+



Bring: 

- pen, writing pad

- mobile phone or watch for breaks (no lateness tolerated!)

- something to read in-between calls



Indoors work: 

- Catch everyone else's diseases via the air conditioning system

- Sitting on your butt all day 

- Sometimes so flat out that you don't get a chance to stop talking or go on a
loo break, and other times so quiet that you get tense from boredom.

- Being another nobody in a see of monkey faces :)

What to expect:

I've worked in different call centres over the years, but the one I'm working for now would have to be the easiest (on the brain), and the most likely kind of job that backpackers will apply for since the harder call centre roles usually require a good english accent. I can't imagine any backpackers actually doing the same job that I'm doing now.. it's hard enough trying to understand what towns/cities/business names and last names over the phone when you actually know your own country and speak the same accent, let alone if you were foreign, however we did have a couple of Indian workers there and the place looks pretty multicultural but I wouldn't recommend this job to backpackers for that reason alone, there is nothing more frustrating than having to ask the customer 4 times exactly what he was saying because you didn't understand their pronunciation or spelling.

That being said, for Australians backpacking around their own country like myself, you might seriously want to consider doing this as a job, it's one of the easiest, most pleasant jobs I've ever had. You feel like a mini-private
investigator, hungrily seeking the desired phone number in the shortest amount of time.

Whats involved: Answering phone calls constantly all day (8hours) with an
hour break (2 x 15, 1 x 30). 

Each call goes for 8-27seconds. (about 700-1000 calls a day) No phone call should be over 30 seconds but sometimes you can't help it, and most phone calls will be about 15 seconds when you get the hang of wildcard searching. When starting out, they don't mind that each call is about 1 minute, because you are still getting used to knowing what Woy Woy is, that some phone books are in the wrong state, and that many things are spelt several different ways, and that the customer usually has no idea of the exact spelling or exact name of the business.

Firstly, you have 3 days training, this is to familiarise yourself with the company, its products, the programs on the computer, what you're supposed to say, and tips on how to look things up faster. (Residential/Business/Government/Police/Hospitals/Shopping Centres, etc)

The first week you'll say your own greeting every time: "Hi this is NAME at COMPANY Directory Assistance, what Name Please?", but once they get organised, they'll get you to record it, so that when your phone auto-answers, it says that bit for you so that you save a bit of your voice box! 

I think I could do this job for about 6-12 months before I got bored with it, but will see!

You don't need to be a very fast typist, but it helps. I can type really fast but people with half-my-typing speed could still come up with names faster than me when we were doing speed tests simply by using wild cards (instead of typing the whole word, such as McDonalds in Sydney, they would type Mcd. Syd. and get
it faster)

I'm contracted with Westaff at the moment, so get about $17an hour even when I work on weekends (which is every weekend at the moment), but once I go full time with Pracom, the wage will go down to about $14 an hour (which is crap), but the weekends will get paid heaps more, sundays double time so that my wage will probably work out the same. Usually people who work for temp agencies get offered permanent work within 6 weeks, however its been longer than that and apparently that's normal for Westaff.

There is stacks of work and stacks of opportunity for overtime - I could work
overtime everyday if I wanted to.. so if you learn to love the job and don't
have a life outside of work, then this job is perfect for saving up. (If ya
don't catch everyone's filthy colds and flu's)

Here's how to find work where I am.........

Apply at CK, apply at Westaff, and if you can find a way, apply direct to Pracom (then you go on the books straight away - if thats what you want)
I've noticed that CK get paid a bit more than Westaff and usually get put on permanent quicker than Westaff.

You will have to have previous customer service experience (not necessarily call centre), Westaff wanted me to say that I'd be available for 12+months, they also wanted me to prove that I wouldn't find myself bored in a position like that based on my past experience (since my past work was much more involved than this position).

Apparently Virgin Blue get paid the same amount and are also great to work
for, so if you want to work in Richmond, instead of the City, it might be worth
taking a look at getting work there instead (still a happy, young, friendly
environment).

Or you could try for Telstra but I can't think of a nice word to say about
the robot staff that lead you to believe they have to cut you off straight away
(not so, as many ex telstra staff work where I am now). The service sux and I
hate calling it, I hate the computer, and I hate the snappiness of the voice on
the other end when you finally get one :)

Maybe Optus would be good too, never really thought about them.

The company Three only hires in India.