Help Desk Call Center

Currently being offered a position in call center for help desk. I dont have much experience in the field so would it be a good place to start? How do these jobs usually go?

Im studying for ccna and some comptia certs

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CodeBlox

My first IT Job was a call center helpdesk. I'd say that the first 6 months were great and I learned a lot. After that time however, the job began to drive me nuts and I hated it due to the fact that I really wasn't learning much else. It was also busy as hell. Non-stop calls coming to you is not fun! I eventually took another gig after 11 months and don't regret it one bit.

tstrip007

I started at help desk for a call center and I am still with the company doing mostly admin work now. I thought it was great but then again, I don't know what its like working somewhere else. I'll be happy to answer any specific questions you might have.

SpetsRepair

This company is saying that there will be opportunity to move up etc... but how accurate can a statement like this be? More than likely im going to take the job anyway.

Quick question, out of everything about working at a call center would customer service be top priority? Answering calls, getting tickets resolved fast etc...

tstrip007

If you are reliable and get your job done I don't see why they wouldn't move you up. Yah your going to be interacting with the users when their stuff isn't working. My advice there would be to not make them feel like an idiot. You may have to become familiar with their dialing platform so that you can configure new stations with their dialer so agents can take/make calls. This would involve inputting a sip connection string or and analog channel, depends what the company is using. More than likely sip. But after a couple months you will be so familiar with nearly everything that could wrong that you will know exactly what to do ever time. Once you get to that point go ahead and start trying to get yourself involved with bigger projects.

N2IT

Oh yeah top priority is customer service no questions about it. Real world and fictional management world. Metrics are a very close second but if a team lead, customer, manager, even co worker hears you talking down to a customer or acting like a fool that can be enough to bounce your a$$ real quick. I've seen average help desk techs get the walk of shame for one poor engagement with the customer. If you are a rock star and tenured you can get additional chances but why risk it. While I was a manager of a service desk if I heard a tech getting mouthy he would be gone immediately. I wouldn't even check with HR, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission sometimes. @ your first post OP, I think A+ or a Windows client certification is usually enough to get a help desk job.

CodeBlox

SpetsRepair wrote: »

This company is saying that there will be opportunity to move up etc... but how accurate can a statement like this be? More than likely im going to take the job anyway.

Quick question, out of everything about working at a call center would customer service be top priority? Answering calls, getting tickets resolved fast etc...

The company I worked for promised the same thing too about moving up. It was lies and thankfully I didn't believe it and moved on. I'd say that this particular McHellDesk was more interested in metrics than anything else. Specifically, they were were very big on how many calls you took and how many tickets you have resolved. I had pretty amazing call times and ticket resolution so I know it was a loss when I left for them. I don't mean to toot my own horn but that's how it was. Severely overworked is how I'd refer to that places working conditions.

markulous

I'd say definitely take anything you can as your first IT job. I wouldn't really be too worried with anything other than the fact that you are able to add it to your resume as IT experience.

I'm working at a call center now doing low-level tech support but there is zero room to move up unless they expand the IT department from the one and only person they have working there. I really don't get how it's just one individual when there are hundreds of users there. Unless I get that, and it's worth the money, I'm gone within a couple of months for a higher level helpdesk or PC tech job.

RouteMyPacket

SpetsRepair wrote: »

Currently being offered a position in call center for help desk. I dont have much experience in the field so would it be a good place to start? How do these jobs usually go?

Im studying for ccna and some comptia certs

Absolutely, look at it as "this is my foot in the door to the field I want to work in". Once through the door, be a sponge, be willing to listen and learn, take on new challenges and I promise you it won't be long until you are off the Help Desk and onto your next challenge.

Base your certification studies around what you want to do with your career. You want to be a System Admin? Go Server +, MS/VMware certs. You want to be a network engineer? Go with Net +, CCENT, CCNA, JNCIA etc.

Congrats!

markulous

CodeBlox wrote: »

The company I worked for promised the same thing too about moving up. It was lies and thankfully I didn't believe it and moved on. I'd say that this particular McHellDesk was more interested in metrics than anything else. Specifically, they were were very big on how many calls you took and how many tickets you have resolved. I had pretty amazing call times and ticket resolution so I know it was a loss when I left for them. I don't mean to toot my own horn but that's how it was. Severely overworked is how I'd refer to that places working conditions.

That sounds somewhat similar to the place that I work at, except their focus is on referring products. We are weighted by a couple of different things for our ranking and they weigh referrals at a higher percentage than reliability/attendance. When their top 5 employees are constantly late and have missed days seems like a pretty flawed system.

I'm very appreciative that I have a job and that I can put them down for IT experience, and I show up every day (on-time) to take care of our customers knowing I'm one day closer to getting a way better job.