"Call centre work trained me to be a CEO."
Steven Bartlett
British businessman, entrepreneur and television personality. Not only is he the co-founder of Social Chain and the youngest judge to feature on the BBC One show Dragon's Den, he also hosts and runs the Podcast 'Diary of a CEO'. In this BBC interview for 'CEO Secrets', Steven explains "that working in a call centre teaches you the personal skills, the verbal skills and the persuasive skills that I ended up needing for the rest of my life."
Many people, including some of those interviewed for this feature, would never have considered a role in the customer, experience, or contact centre industry. However, the opportunities that present themselves go far beyond life in a call centre and this role is often the gateway to many a successful and diverse career. This content has been produced as a free to use to anyone who may find it a help to attract more talent to our industry. Please contact us if you would like help making this content your own for your talent acquisition strategies. A big thank you to all of our contributors.
Contact Centre and Customer Operations are the gateway to and the beating heart of every organisation, employees across the functions develop a vast and varied set of skills which can open up and lead to a wealth of opportunity which transcends industry functions and is at the forefront for many business innovations and future strategies.
It is the stepping stone of opportunity, should you wish to take that first step and explore the myriad avenues and opportunities which are available. Not only is it the gateway of every organisation, it can also be your gateway into any organisation.
Ten years ago we wrote a feature, Contact Centres - The future leaders training ground and we felt it was time for an upgrade. The team at Douglas Jackson has recently carried out a series of interviews within the customer service / contact centre and experience sector which we would like to share with you, to help potential talent learn more about what these roles may be able to offer them in their future career, whatever that might be.
We are extremely grateful to our contacts who have kindly agreed to participate in these interviews:
Mark Billingham - Managing Director, Telco, Media & Technology, Capita Plc
Andrea Gray - Managing Director, PPL PRS
Alex Mead - Chief Customer Service Experience Officer
Ian Parry - CEO/Founder - Future Leaders Mentoring
Kiran Uppal - Senior Digital Care Programme Manager, Global Online Retail
Jamie Thorpe - Head of Experience Management, Ipsos MORI CX
Russell Hutchison - Business Programme Manager, Yorkshire Water
Martin Teasdale - Founder - Get Out of Wrap Podcast
Vikki Williams - Customer Experience Officer, Banking
Jason Roberts - Director, Appropriate Consulting
Sarah Garton - Managing Director, Accenture
Lily Monk, Director of Customer Operations, Southern Housing Group
Continue Reading and please feel free to use this report and content to help your talent acquisition strategies
