-how it started-
i guess most things are born out of necessity. finding this job is more of a necessity than just a mere requirement - an expectation that one has to fulfill because the whole world expects a college educated person to have a job. i needed to have a job because i was to ashamed to let my parents pay for the year that i have to spend in college - a year outside my supposed to be 4-year course.
i entered an industry which for many people in my university found repulsive if not a total waste of time and talent. i entered the booming callcenter industry. at that time, all i know is i am going to a callcenter i have the faintest idea what this industry is all about. all i know is i'll be taking calls, what kind of calls, i do not know. so, there, i blindfoldedly landed on this job.
i started out as a billing representative for a webhosting account. it was easy for me. bragging aside, it was not as difficult as i thought it to be. i spent the happiest 6 months of my life as a billing representative. yup, i got my own share of heaven and hell back then (which can be another blog topic).
after six months of heaven, i entered what i thought to be hell. i was promoted to a level 1 manager. well, it is elating yes. being recognized that you can perform in a better field is a sweet sweet ego food. but life as coach(kots) is just a day of heaven and a lifetime of purgatory-like existence.
i handled a team of 12 agents - all of them new - all of us new! yes, i might be a good agent, but a good kots takes time to hone. and time is something that i did not have at that time. i was forced to learn the things that i should know in a very short time alongside being compared to more tenured managers. i made a number of mistakes as i complete my learning curve. but unlike an agent, whose mistake can be forgiven or can be given time for improvement, i was epected to commit as little as possible. and when the misfortune comes that i commit a mistake, unfortunately i blindly grope for solutions or answers to resolve my predicament. it was tough and i had to learn the very hard way.
i was given 2 weeks to pull up my team's metrics which at that time was at the bottom (imagine CSAT at 50% MTD). i was lost, confused, tired, scared, and angry all at the same time. but during times of adversity, we find help in unexpected places - in my case unexpected people. i met two beautiful people whom i humbly call my mentors - anne and tyn. they thought me the ropes of the business that i should have learned earlier. they thought me how it is to be a kots. it was 2 weeks of hell of wok, but deep inside me, it brought back heaven of my agent days. slowly i have found my bearing. in 2 weeks my team was number 1.
my team. they are the ones who makes me endure my daily battle with my boss biased perception of my performance and my capacity as a manager. they cheer me up. my team has been there through my thousan ups and downs. we have grown together. we grew together as a team. and until now, though we have been dispersed and have taken on separate paths, i still treasure them, thank them for making me who i am.
my life as a kots is happy though tough and tiring. its happy because i get to spend it daily with a bunch of coconuts like me. it doesnt feel a lot like work because my team makes it fun and memorable. i know there are areas that i fall short on and i know that they know that. but i am making each day as a learning experience to make myself a better support for them.
do i regret taking a job abhored by my university? definitely not. because if not for this industry i would not have met teams of brilliant, intelligent, funny, and very special bunch of people.
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