It’s easy to think of call centres as commercial operations where hundreds of people work for a company or companies doing all sorts of research, sales and marketing work. And that is true. There are hundreds of call centres which do exactly that.
But call centres are not restricted to commercial or private industry situations. In fact there are many government and semi-government departments and operations which depend to a large degree on the activities of their call centre.
There are huge numbers of people working in government departments whose job could well be described as being in customer service. If you try and list the services provided by governments at all levels and then the interaction these government bodies have with the public, the list is extensive:
- Government insurance claims
- Taxation enquiries
- Legal advice
- Health and welfare
- Education
- Rubbish collection
- Voting entitlements
- Travel documentations
If you imagine that call centres only work as selling agencies for private companies, then think again. Of course that’s one part of the call centre world but only a part of it and in the bigger picture, only a small part.
Official communication between citizens and the various levels of government takes place a million times a year via government call centres. When was the last time you needed to resolve an issue with your expired passport or the local council when it failed to empty your rubbish bin or when you wanted to launch civil proceedings in a tribunal or lower level court?
The websites of all these government or semi-government departments will have a call centre set up specifically designed to deal with questions raised by people like you.
For anyone thinking about a career in the public service, think about the possibilities of working in a call centre. This especially applies to anyone who has call centre experience in the commercial or private sector world. All that experience can be put to good use once you gain employment in a government department.
The world of employment has changed greatly in many ways in recent times and none more so than in the flexibility can offer people. Being able to work full or part-time and on a permanent or casual basis has never been so possible.
Government departments now offer work on different timeschedules and contracts as never before. And one of the key areas where this revised working situation applies is with call centre employment. Employment with hours to suit, and in work that you enjoy and can take pride in performing could well be found with a call centre, even if only for a few hours a week.
The stereotypical image of a call centre is one we should reconsider – it’s not all about cold calling and sales. Your requirements for all types of goods and services provided by any number of government businesses could well be explained by someone working in a call centre – a government call centre.
