IIP Diaries @ Singtel

Ever thought of working at a contact centre?  If YES, I welcome you to join me in my journey! If NO, you’re highly recommended to join me too! Contact centres are not just about managing customers, you actually get to learn and discover all sorts of different personalities the customers have and you will never be able to predict what kind of customers will call in everyday! Before I forget, I am Isaac, one of the Customer Experience Cadets interning at Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel). I am currently working for the Singapore Contact Centre – Consumer Operations Fibre Premium Technical Helpdesk at Pickering Operations Complex.

 

Working at a contact centre has never been easy. It was pretty challenging and the majority of us initially had a hard time during the trainings. Who would have thought we would be assigned to the Fibre Technical Helpdesk? Hah! That is something exactly not related to our course but all of us managed to graduate from our mock calls with flying colours! All thanks to our trainers Faris and Khoi.

 

 

(Here’s a picture with our Team Leader aka Trainer Faris (on the left), posing with the Magnum ice-cream our Manager, Fanny (not pictured) got for us!)

A common misconception of contact centres jobs is that they have the worse jobs available in the market. Yes, it is extremely stressful as you have SOPs to follow while having to manage customers on the other end of the call. It is also true that agents are often the first people to take the scolding when the company performs badly or below expectations but it is also very fulfilling when customers are thankful to have you around. As we are the pioneering batch of Cadets cum Interns, we sit in for meetings twice a month with our Senior Manager, Frederick to raise concerns and suggestions.

 

Additionally, the management is very concerned on our wellbeing and progress. We often go for meetings with our Managers, Directors and even our Vice-President to raise our concerns and share our learnings for improvements. Networking sessions are also organised to provide us with opportunities to get to know Singtel’s business better and also to interact with our senior leaders. Below are some pictures that we took during our recent networking session!  



 

(Front Row: Ms Darrell Leong (far left), Director of Consumer Operations; Ms Candy Chua (middle), Vice-President of Consumer Operations; Mr Frederick Choy (far right), Senior Manager)

 

Two things that I learnt from RP and have put into good use here at Singtel are Multi-tasking and Time Management. When we are talking to the customers on the phone, we are also expected to type and record the entire call conversation at the same time. Similarly in RP, we have to take down our notes while lecturers are talking. As for time management, we have to complete our After-Call-Work (ACW) within three minutes! Starting work and coming back from our breaks on time also affects our overall adherence performance. Challenging huh?

 

Over here at Singtel, our calls are not only audited by our Quality Assurance (QA) team, customers are also given the chance to rate our services. If customers were to call in using their mobile phone, they will receive a SMS Poll to rate us, 1 being Very Poor and 5 being Excellent. And of course, we all strive to achieve Excellent! Every morning when we logon to our work stations, as we check our email, we will receive an email notification if customer(s) rated us Excellent. The first time I saw this email, the feeling inside me felt really good and I totally felt a great sense of achievement.

 Recently, one of my customers called in and was very distressed because her home telephone was down. Without the house telephone, she could not contact her elderly parents and young kids at home which left her very worried. I had to calm the customer down and gave her assurance that I will definitely do my best to help her restore her home telephone as soon as possible. She needed to rush out for her work and everything was done in a rush which means I had to think quickly! Thankfully, her services were restored quickly thanks to the comprehensive training that Singtel has provided us with. She was very grateful and what shocked me was when I came back to the office the next morning, I received an email notification stating that I received the “Excellent” rating and after checking, it was from this same customer! The sense of achievement felt really great!

 

(Here is an example of the email that we will receive for our “Excellent” ratings)

 

In order to keep us all motivated and in the perfect mood, the management actually decorated the whole floor with smiley balloons! Very thankful of that as it brightened up the whole place and always reminded us to smile even when we are facing challenging customers! Not to feel worried that you’ll be alone here! Although not familiar faces, but there are quite a few RP graduates in the same department too! No, they are not from our DCRSM family but from STA & SOI. See, a contact centre is so diverse that anyone from any courses or professions can work in! 

(One of the Smiley Balloons that were used to decorate the work floor)

(Here is a picture of our work floor and work stations)

“It takes six seconds to manage anger. It takes six seconds to create compassion. It takes six seconds to change the world.” – 6seconds.org

 

Customers normally call in only when they really needed to speak to someone. As for the next three months here, in order to endure the stress, I will practice what I learnt from Contact Centre Operations module which includes relaxation and self-care strategies. We are given breaks in between our shifts so we can take a rest from the long day of calls. As for self-care, I will need to ensure that I seek help when needed to in order to not over-stress myself.

 

After three months of training and working together, it is time to say goodbye to three of our cadets, Dhabitha, Eunice and Liang Yu. From December onwards, they will be transferred to the Serangoon Contact Centre to work for the Home Premium General Enquiries. Our Manager, Fanny and TL Faris organised a farewell party cum advanced Christmas celebrations for them and everyone. Everyone was treated to 4Fingers and Domino’s Pizza! They even got us a Christmas log cake to celebrate Christmas and also the December babies’ birthday!

(Here is a group picture of all of us with TL Faris. Fanny and Frederick couldn’t join us due to last minute work commitments)

xoxo

Yours truly,

Isaac Chiang

Customer Care Officer

Fibre Premium Technical Helpdesk

Singapore Telecommunications Limited