Vantaggi
Co-workers: Most customer service reps are between the ages of 25-35, most on the younger side (and since turnover is so high, they hire a new class 2-3 times a year). I've enjoyed being with most of the people I've worked with. We're all in this pit together so we're just trying to help each other out. If it weren't for my co-workers, I wouldn't have been able to make it past the first 3 months. GE Benefits: 3 weeks vacation, a good health plan, 8% company matching, and you get the employee discount for Electric Insurance insurance oh boy Good news, you are going to feel so productive. Bad news, that's because every ounce of productivity will be squeezed from you every minute. You won't get lethargic-bored, but you will definitely get stressed-out-bored just about ALL THE TIME, but I guess I prefer the latter. Cafeteria: I seriously love the cafeteria. I like the food, you get a free meal for every $50 you spend, and everything is reasonably priced. Fitness center: There's a small indoor fitness center you can use in the dead of winter. Internal hiring: The company hires internally so some reps have been hired into other departments, sometimes in one year, sometimes after a couple years. If you're lucky, you could be one of them. Leave your work at the office: You get your evenings and weekends to yourself.
Svantaggi
It's a call center. Call volume: We are seriously understaffed all the time because people quit frequently. They say summer is the busiest month, but it's been busy all year round. Summer is the worst though. Managers can't do anything about it, but tell you to get back to the phones when you've barely had time to catch your breath after the last call. You have to take notes after every call. For complex questions, you have to look into certain issues. It gets very stressful when you don't feel you have time to finish notes or look into an issue. Systems: It takes a lot of time to get used to the 12 applications you'll be using to access customer information. You'll be a master at it in the 6 months of breaking into the job. That's also 6 months you barely understand what you're doing. Insurance: You're handling lots of complaints. Price increases, generally angry/rude people, insurance mysteries, billing headaches, someone forgot to do something in the last call so you're getting yelled at it, the customer calls you (rather, what you represent) a blood sucker because their premium increased after their spouse died, and you just have to put your phone on mute, sigh or scream loudly, unmute and then sweetly apologize for your industry. Maybe I'm someone who likes to focus on the negatives so to balance out what I said above, 40% of calls are routine/you don't get yelled at, 30% are not fun but not absolutely terrible, and 10% are terrible. I admit that in once in a million, a customer will be awesome and you'll have a blast talking to them.