Contact Centre - first aid for customers

Have you ever wondered what it is like to work in the customer service department - the contact centre of a courier company? When you hear this question, you can probably imagine busy employees with a telephone receiver in one hand and a pile of documents on their desk, looking for parcel statuses, customer data or complaint documents in the computer. As you can rightly guess, working in a CC is not an easy job, but it has many advantages and can be very rewarding! We ask Agnieszka, who has been working at our branch in Krakow for two years, about the details of working in the contact centre department at In Post.

Agnes, to start with, please tell us how big your department is?

A: Our Department is very large, with over 100 people working here! But this number of employees is necessary because we have a lot of work to do in handling enquiries and complaint statuses. Can you believe it when I tell you that we handle almost 2 million phone calls a year? Our work is made easier by the fact that we are divided into teams: one just for the telephone service, another for the internet service and a third for overseas, serving Italy and the UK. This division protects us from chaos, as we are not able to talk on the phone and reply to emails, Facebook messages or chat messages at the same time. There are three leaders in our Division who support us strongly all the time and often soothe our shattered nerves (laughs).

A separate unit, but also operating within the CC, is the Claims Department, which has 50 people working under the watchful eye of four leaders. They work here in Kraków and at the Main Sorting Plant in Wola Bykowska. They deal with complaints, refunds and corrections.

Do you only help clients, or do you also provide in-house support?

Absolutely - internal support for couriers, courier branches and sales representatives is an important part of our work. But first and foremost, we help customers who call to check the status of parcels, ask how to complain about a service, order a courier , set up an account in Parcel Manager or how to open a box - this is a very common question, especially during the winter season when it happens to start freezing.

And what do you answer them then?

To pop the cache. Mostly this way works. Apart from that, we are contacted by people who are interested in working with the sales or marketing department. We then redirect them to the right place.

Do you remember any unusual cases or reports?

Of course, probably everyone in our Department has heard of a cat being accidentally locked in a cache. There was also a situation where a small child entered the cache - fortunately, we intervened quickly and all ended well.

Tell us now what kind of aptitude you need to have to work in a contact centre. Is it really the case that mainly students work in CC?

It depends. In fact, working in a Contact Centre may be associated by many with working for students, but the truth is that it is a job for a person of any age. Certainly, due to the rather flexible schedule, for some of us it is a side job. We work in two shifts, from Monday to Friday until 10 p.m., on Saturdays until 8 p.m. and on Sundays until 4 p.m. This is what benefits students who need to reconcile their professional activity with their studies.

We are also waiting for people who are looking for a job "right away" in Krakow. Work experience is not as important as soft competences, i.e. for example the ability to cope with stress, communication skills, persuasive skills and so on. These competences are checked during the recruitment interview, but unfortunately, I cannot say how.

Let's assume that I have passed the recruitment process. What next?

Then an angel takes you under his wing (laughs). An angel is a long-serving employee who introduces you to your responsibilities step by step. Beforehand, you undergo a series of training sessions, without which you can't move - to actually help the customer, you need to know the company, procedures and processes; to know how parcel machines work or what the difference is between the various courier services. You learn the rest by assisting the angel with the job, and then he assists you for a while, checking how you are doing.

And are there opportunities for promotion?

As much as possible. You can be promoted to team leader and then, if you want, you can take part in internal recruitment for other positions. When you leave the Contact Centre, you have a great knowledge of the processes going on in the company, and this is very valuable for managers of other departments.

Is there anything else you would like to add about working at CC?

Working in a contact centre is tough at times - unfortunately, there are 'difficult' customers, and this is where your ability to handle conflict situations and your composure comes into play. You must always be polite and never allow yourself to show impatience. This attitude pays off
and is able to placate the most angry customer. For people who enjoy interacting with other people, this job is sure to be developing and interesting.

Thank you very much for the interview.