Customer service agents are among the most sought-after candidates in the Quebec labour market. They can be found in all types of organizations and are essential to the smooth functioning of a business. Do you have what it takes to succeed in the field?
1. Excellent communication skills
Whether you will be working in a company or a call center environment, in order to excel in a customer service position you must enjoy interacting with people. You also need to possess excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
“Increasingly, customer service agents are working with clients using different platforms: they not only speak with customers by telephone, they are also chatting online and using social media to engage with customers and to answer questions. This is why we prefer to call them ‘contact centers’ as opposed to call centers, which are considered to be more old-fashioned,” says Dina Guralnik, Director of Corporate Communications at Atelka.
2. Bilingualism
If you are interested in pursuing a career in customer service, you must be bilingual, especially if you want to work in Quebec. “In some of our contact centers, such as those in Ontario, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, being fluent in a single language is acceptable, but generally we consider bilingualism or fluency in multiple languages to be an important strength for candidates,” says Guralnik.
3. Comfortable with computers and the internet
In addition to being bilingual and an excellent communicator, a career in customer service requires a good understanding of digital media and an ability to deal with large amounts of information.
“By the time someone contacts the customer service department of a company, often they have already tried to solve their problem through online channels. Because they did not solve their problem or find an answer to their question, they reach out to customer service. These problems can be more complicated to solve. Customer service agents must be able to respond using the medium that best meets the needs of the client, whether by telephone, online chat or otherwise,” explains Guralnik.
Despite these challenges, a career in customer service can be very rewarding for people who enjoy interacting with others, and who view problems that need to be solved as exciting opportunities!