Peter McCoy
Jun 6th, 2014, 08:36:37 AM
Got an email last week from an old work colleague asking me to call him. So I did on Monday. Turns out he's started his own business with a good friend of his who is a solicitor. He runs a small call centre with a team of agents who do various things on behalf of solicitors and legal firms in Liverpool - such as passing on claims cases, PPI etc, as well as marketing for solicitors by calling businesses and offering free consultations - which in turn leads to business for the solicitors, hence why they pay him.
So I went to his office earlier today for an "interview" - which was what I was expecting. What I got was a very informal chat about the business and how things work day-to-day and what I'll be doing at my desk. He also mentioned other things I could end up doing such as taking over management of the database once it's up and running since he's not happy with the current guy (that would result in a pay increase too!). When it came to the more "official" part of is he had a form to fill in with some questions that basically he just needed for records. Things like "Have you any experience of working in a call-centre" (worked at Virgin Media for 4 years), "What is your level of computer expertiser" (without me answering he wrote 'Advanced'). It ended very casually when he simply asked "Would you like to come and work for us?" to which I said "Most definitely!".
I was a bit taken aback by just how informal it was but my friend, Ron, reassured me. He told me the company was set up in February and has been growing steadily and now they're looking to ramp things up by more than doubling staff numbers. But he's disappointed with his current agents and wants to take on a higher calibre of person, which is why he emailed me - this is what he said, I'm honestly not blowing my own trumpet. He said he knows how I work from our time at Virgin Media and he knows I'm more than competent to carry out the admin and filing side of things, he knows I have great telephone manners and customer-focused skills, and he knows I'll be able to eventually take over the more technical side of things such as database management and IT support once they move to the next floor up with more space, which is happening next week before I start on July 1st.
Aside from a base salary which will result in almost double what I earn in my current role at B&Q, there's aolso some commision bonuses available based on referrals I generate for the legal partners he's in business with. He said the work really is easy to the point where I may eventually find it boring, but he hopes by that time I'd be willing to take over as a team leader for other employees.
So I went to his office earlier today for an "interview" - which was what I was expecting. What I got was a very informal chat about the business and how things work day-to-day and what I'll be doing at my desk. He also mentioned other things I could end up doing such as taking over management of the database once it's up and running since he's not happy with the current guy (that would result in a pay increase too!). When it came to the more "official" part of is he had a form to fill in with some questions that basically he just needed for records. Things like "Have you any experience of working in a call-centre" (worked at Virgin Media for 4 years), "What is your level of computer expertiser" (without me answering he wrote 'Advanced'). It ended very casually when he simply asked "Would you like to come and work for us?" to which I said "Most definitely!".
I was a bit taken aback by just how informal it was but my friend, Ron, reassured me. He told me the company was set up in February and has been growing steadily and now they're looking to ramp things up by more than doubling staff numbers. But he's disappointed with his current agents and wants to take on a higher calibre of person, which is why he emailed me - this is what he said, I'm honestly not blowing my own trumpet. He said he knows how I work from our time at Virgin Media and he knows I'm more than competent to carry out the admin and filing side of things, he knows I have great telephone manners and customer-focused skills, and he knows I'll be able to eventually take over the more technical side of things such as database management and IT support once they move to the next floor up with more space, which is happening next week before I start on July 1st.
Aside from a base salary which will result in almost double what I earn in my current role at B&Q, there's aolso some commision bonuses available based on referrals I generate for the legal partners he's in business with. He said the work really is easy to the point where I may eventually find it boring, but he hopes by that time I'd be willing to take over as a team leader for other employees.