I have not been posting as much in this blog lately because a few months ago I started a new job in, of all places, a call center. The client is a health insurance company and I am helping members answer questions about their medical plans. A call center was the absolute last place I ever wanted to work, yet here I am and, perhaps even more surprising, I might actually be good at it. This past week I completed my first full week of 8 hour shifts on the phone.
I started training back in June. One of the things that put my mind at ease when I started was that the training course would last 11 weeks. To answer the concerns and questions of the customers, agents need to have a strong understanding of health insurance and the resources they use to find answers. In addition to learning about the business, I had to prepare myself for the idea of answering phones all day, every day. I have done phone work before, mostly reception work, and it has never been something I have enjoyed. Part of the preparation for this aspect would include role plays and presentations made before the class.
Then one night, several weeks into the training, I had an unexpected opportunity. Spending eight hours a day studying health insurance can be tedious, and so the trainers would often try to break things up with different activities. The day before we had did paper survival exercise; what do you do after a plane crash in the country in the dead of winter, with a list of available supplies. It was interesting -- first rule, stay by the crashed airplane. In any case, the next day, after several hours of study, the trainer asked what we wanted to do to break things up. I said I had an idea for a presentation that was sort of like the survival exercise, and could relate to active listening, and the trainer gave me the go ahead.
One thing that has interested me for many years is air combat, particularly dog fights between fighter aircraft. My presentation dealt with basic fighter combat maneuvers. Two planes, Ford 1 and Ford 2, are flying in a loose formation, which allows them to support each other; the wingman spots an enemy aircraft approaching from the left rear of his leader. The leader can respond to the approach by breaking into or away from enemy, by diving or by pulling up. Breaking into the approach is the best option, as the other three would still allow the enemy to approach and attack. It is the wingman's job to war the leader, and to do so in as few words as possible. If you are the wingman, what do you say over the radio to your leader?
Read that paragraph again, if you need to, because it contains the answer to the question. Still not sure? Okay, here is the answer: "Ford 1, break left."
The class enjoyed the presentation, and I really enjoyed giving it. When I sat back down, it occurred to me that something remarkable had just happened. I thought to myself that as recently as a year ago I probably would not have been able to do that -- well, I think I could have given the presentation, but I doubt that I would have been able to suggest the idea to the trainer in the first place.
Several times since then, as I have started taking phone calls, first a few weeks of two hours of calls a day, then an eight hour day, then a week full of eight hour days, I have been struck by the idea that I have been on a remarkable path for some time now, and not just since I started this new job.
A year ago I was working in Small As Is production at Deseret Industries. I had been out of work for a long time, and I didn't have much confidence in myself. In Small As Is, I learned to sort and price donations to the DI, including books, shoes and electronics. While I was at the DI, I learned to do everything on the Small As Is line, which restored at least some confidence. I also had the chance to interact with the people who were working with me.
I needed the confidence the DI gave me because my last few jobs had robbed me of confidence. Years before I had left the family business, after 10 years, because it was starting to fail. Working for companies owned by other people was kind of a culture shock, and somewhere along the way I got the idea that I had a communication problem -- I sometimes get tongue tied, but more significantly, I rarely have much to say. Thinking I had a problem was one thing, but then I started telling people in job interviews that I had this problem -- hey, I thought that I had to be honest when they asked about weaknesses.
I took a job selling knives, not because I liked sales, but because I wanted to prove whether I could do it or not. What I learned is that stumbling over my words occasionally did not get in the way of making sales. If anything, it put the customer more at ease, which may then have led to sales. I also learned that I do not have a communication problem.
From there I went to a temp agency and was assigned to a medical transcription company doing quality control. I went in with the attitude that I had something to prove, and that attitude paid off. I must have impressed my supervisors at the transcription company because they hired me to work from home. I thought that I had successfully started over, but after one year that company laid me off -- last one hired, first one fired.
I went back to the temp agency and was placed with two more companies. At the first I again appeared to impress my supervisors -- they said I was special. But then there was a miscommunication regarding an important project, and my supervisor threw me under the bus. She said that I had misunderstood the directions she gave, but she had failed to be clear in her directions. Still, the lesson was that I should have asked for specifics. Within a week my assignment ended with that company. At the next company I made a couple of silly mistakes, and that assignment, too, was short lived.
I didn't get any more assignments from the temp agency, though I kept pestering them to let them know I was available. It didn't help that the economy was struggling. The temp agency had worked once for me, but now I couldn't even get an assignment. It appeared that no company would hire me. I went back to school for a year, studying history, but I wasn't sure if it was worth the debt I was incurring.
Finally, I went to the DI, where I started rebuilding my confidence. The only problem was, I didn't want to leave Small As Is. I got to be too comfortable there, besides, I still wasn't sure if any company would hire me. Because of this, I might have stayed at the DI longer than necessary. Eventually, however, they put me into a program called Accelerated Job Search, which basically meant that they paid me to job hunt.
The daily goals of AJS are 15, 10 & 2. That is, 15 resources, 10 contacts and 2 face to face meetings with a hiring manager. Getting the resources and the contacts is the easy part, but the face to face meetings are more difficult. I spent 6 weeks in the AJS program, and got several interviews. In the end, however, I only got one job offer. And that is how I ended up in a call center.
It has been a long and difficult journey, and it isn't over yet. But I am on a good path, and I am willing to see where that path leads. Throughout this journey I have often reflected on a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt:
"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
If we are willing to do that thing, we may be surprised to learn that we can actually do it, and even do it well. But even if that doesn't turn out to be the case, we will still have learned something valuable. As the poet Robert Frost wrote, we will profit more by taking the road less travelled.
