Becoming a Call Center Agent - The Beginning

It is the beginning of 2013 and it is not unusual to see school children eagerly heading to school after a long vacation. For BagoSphere's 2nd pilot of 11 students, going back to school is very much different from the others. There is a strong sense of determination and grit that I sense from their faces, and I know it that they all have a single purpose - to get a call center job to help their family. And BagoSphere is going to help them do just that.

Out of the 11 students, 6 are high school students, 4 college undergraduates and 1 college graduate. For the college undergraduates, they drop out of school mostly by the 1st year due to financial problems. It is also not surprising that college graduates encounter problems in the job market. Many of them traveled from far away rural areas of Bago City; some take about 2 hours to reach City Hall, where our temporary training center is situated. To help the students attend the training, BagoSphere is subsidizing their transportation allowance. Allowance is given twice a week to ensure that students do not mis-use the money. 

The first week is usually a shock for the students. Usually in the Philippines, the timetable in first week of school consist of merely cleaning of the classroom and touring of the school. BagoSphere's training program has no time to spare. Instead, the first week of the training program lays down the expectations to the students bluntly - 100% pass in 2 months. There is hardly anytime to waste. Still, our training program allows  the 1st week for the student to acclimatize to the training program. Our trainers makes sure that classes are fun and effective. And trainers conduct interviews with the students just to check that they are feeling OK. In week 2 and 3, the pace will be stepped up. 

Our students are mature enough to understand that working in a call center environment is a vastly more stressful space than what they are used to. At BagoSphere, we help our students condition themselves, and toughen themselves up so that when they start work in a KPI-driven workplace, they can manage the stress. We know that getting a call center job is important for our students, and our experience has taught us that staying in one takes more than just grit and skill. Learning how to manage stress is essential too.

Our students might or might now realize this -  the next 2 months will be life-changing for them. BagoSphere will be with them every step of the way as they stride towards self-sufficiency.

- Zhihan Lee