Call handler evening weekend WFH

[lovehawaii]

Sorry posting here for a traffic here , i posted somewhere on flexible jobs but cant see the post somehow.
Anyways I work 35 hours a week 9 till 3 weekdays and 9 till 1 on saturday in customer service role face to face. very easy job doing this for 12 years so dont feel it's stressful.

I have moved house and i have put £6k on credit cards 0 percent purchases to buy various things for house.

i am thinking of getting a part time call handler job to work from home in the evenings to pay the debt quicker.
Has anyone did this or any thoughts please ?

Call centre life can be very stressful and I've found the staff where I work who do short part time hours find it considerably more difficult to get to grips with the job, especially if they are working around another full time role.

are you sure the stress of a second job is worth the impact it could have on you?

i am not sure tbh . i have never done the call centre job . May be i am over estimating it . I thought it will be like picking the jib , update notes and signpost it. if you are saying stressful it must have more involved

It’s horrific, don’t bother, I did a decade on the phones in a variety of jobs in a plethora of companies and every single one was shite; repetitive, zero autonomy, micromanaged, stat driven, bullied, sexism.. save your sanity

nhs 111 health advisor role?

thank you for the insight. perhaps i need to do more research before start applying

i did look at that but nothing is available in our area also i am applying my main full time role with other companies see if i can have more salary then i dont have to look for part time

I've worked in a call centre for 9 years now, I started as a call handler and it's pretty relentless. There's usually a lot of targets relating to times, amount of calls you take, wrap up time, quality assurance. I would agree that it is the norm to experience lot of micro management when you are on the phones. We have a high level of staff turnaround, I've lost count of the amount of new employees who leave shortly after starting. We actually expect 40% not to stay.

wow , i am not used to micromanaging . I was not expecting that. Thank you for the insight

@lovehawaii the micromanagement is insane honestly. There used to be big tv screens in one place I worked with everyone’s name and how long it had been since the last call it was sometimes called ‘wrap’ or ‘after call work’ and it was basically after 30 seconds your name goes red and they start asking wth you’re doing. Then there’s ‘productivity’ which is how long is your acw (after call work) compared to total time on call. Then there’s another stat to say how much you’ve stuck to schedule for breaks/start/end of shift. Then there’s another one for the quality of your work (the survey after).

Attrition rate is enormous as PP said.

Tesco express are usually good for shifts like that, I worked at one of those to save for a hols once, or maybe a zero hour contract in a retail shop?

2 women I know do chat moderation for a Bingo site. One does days, the other does a 4 hour late shift I think. Both like the job as far as I know so might be worth a look

I've done call centre and like previous posts have said, micromanagement etc it is relentless. Was not so bad in the office, I found when you have the company of colleagues, but had home can be draining. I now work in a contact centre which is live chat and emails, hybrid working, very relaxed, although still targets obviously. I only work four 5.5 hour shifts a week and start no earlier than 6pm, those are the shifts I asked for. Thing is I have yet to find a part time role which doesn't require at least 2 weeks training at full time hours.

In your shoes OP I'd definitely do it. I do work in a call centre and work from home, and echo a lot of what previous posters have said about it being a bit shit. however for you, it would be temporary, part time and you don't NEED to do it so could hand in your notice at any time (which makes any shit situation easier to handle!) if you can get a part time job you can work out that it would take you X time to pay off that debt, maybe 12 months or something, and plan to do that job for that long and that long only. If it turns out you quite like it and want to do it a bit longer to build some savings too, great! If you hate it, do 3 months and then leave, you've still chipped away at that debt.

I'm working a lot of overtime in my job for the same reason

@Workyticket I wouldn't even think about that being a job until you said. I mean, obviously I know it is a job but you (I) just forget there's people behind those boards ...

I work in similar roles and have been micromanage in the past. I am not in my current job but actually there's a complete lack of management which also makes everything impossible! I don't recommend it. I took call centre work thinking it would be simple too, it's really not. I couldn't do this with another job.

Could you do a couple of evenings somewhere?

yes i only need something temporary so hopefully i wont feel that pressure . i have not applied anything just yet . i am more inclined towards 111 NHS role

I worked in call centres for about 25 years. It is a different world in many ways but I enjoyed it. The shifts were flexible and the management was fair.
I'm now retired but @lovehawaii your post has made me consider going back part time.

you mean in supermarket etc ?

The NHS 111 role is generally a six week full time training course which is pass or fail, before you are live on the phones working the shifts you want.

(Atleast, it was like that, 7 years ago when I worked for 999/111, however could be different where you are - as that was working for the ambulance service. Definitely look into it before you apply)

I work for 111. They have only just started to trial wfm for the very, most experienced call handlers (well, at least in my area, may be different in different authorities.) I had to undergo 10 weeks, full time, classroom based training, having to pass various exams on the way. The minimum hours you can do, are 16 hours per week, when you've passed training. It's not job you could do as a secondary role.

@lovehawaii yes supermarket maybe.

I think the challenge will be the training. Ours is 4 weeks 9 to 5.

Did call centre work for a couple of years when I was younger. On the outside it looks ok, sat down drinking coffee in a warm office and helping people. So it is hard to convey to people how would destroying it can be. However, some people are better suited to it and it depends on your expectations.