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Hey now, I'm a rock star

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  • Hey now, I'm a rock star

    So... I seem to be undergoing an involuntary career change.

    A little background is in order. Being that I work in a call center, writing notes on accounts is a large part of my job. They are by nature repetitive and containing much of the same information and many of the same phrases over and over.

    I have an RSI in my right wrist (don't worry, it's not bad), which means unnecessary typing is actually harmful, not just boring, and, like many people, I suck at typing and talking at the same time. Being the type of person I am (a total geek), I get into this type of situation and say to myself, "Self, what am I even doing this by hand for? This is why God invented computers!"

    So, I'd been wanting, for the first year since I was hired, to make something that could do my notes for me, but I had neither the expertise nor the time, so I just made do.

    Then, last October, my team was transferred to a different department for a month. I was doing inbound calls and after the first week or so, the call volume dropped so much that we were all sitting around for 20-30 minutes at a time, so I was finally able to get started on my project. I made a javascript note-maker for my notes for that department, which was terrific for a first task because the noting format for that department is much simpler than in collections. While there I also was able to make the "outbound collections edition" to take back upstairs with me.

    What I've got set up is a simple HTML document (i.e., a webpage) with some form elements, (customer's name, balance, payment arrangements, etc) that does a little javascript magic and puts together a note all ready to copy and paste. Saves me oodles of time and my wrist is very happy. Coworker M used to be on my team and in fact we used to sit next to each other. During that time I was using a precursor to the Note-Maker, nothing that godly but just a page with checkboxes on it for all the eleventy-zillion things we need to hit during a call. She thought this was a fabulous idea and with my help made up something similar for herself. She's now on a different team. Some time ago, I had mentioned the notemaker to her and sent her a copy, which she experimented with a little bit to tailor to her own preferences.

    So, yesterday I'm on my way back from morning break when I pass by M's cube and her teammates T and S are there, and she's showing them my note-maker. They all gush at me about how cool it is, and said they'd also shown it to P, their manager, who had apparently said, "wow, why is she still working here? she could do so much better!" "well, why are you working here?" they ask. I shrug. (Not the first time I've heard that kind of sentiment either.)

    Over the course of the day, news of the note-maker spread to their whole team. I had lunch with M and T, and T said I was becoming a "rock star". About 2pm, it had bled over to my team. Which means, oh joy, I get to try to make calls while my three coworkers across my cube wall from me are talking about me. (Made me a little nervous. I don't like being the center of attention, even positive...)

    Today at our team huddle I figured the cat was out of the bag so I told them all about it, in case they hadn't heard (there was I think ONE person who hadn't ) and emailed the team a copy. Which sparked another round of chicken-centric chatter, oh dear. A, my team manager, has known about it since I wrote it. I had emailed her a copy right after I finished it, when we were still in the other department, and I heard her go "this is AWESOME!!" all the way from my cube. Apparently P (the other team manager) is going to talk to me about it at some point. T asked me today if B (A and P's manager) had talked to me about it. (Which made me go because B intimidates me.)

    I'm just generally unsettled about this whole thing! I hate my job, always have, and one of the (many) reasons is that it's so menial and repetitive. In between being frustrated at idiot SCs, I'm frequently bored out of my skull. I've get sudoku books, coloring books, crosswords, desk toys, none of which can really hold up against the soul-crushing ennui. My being suddenly "recognized" like this has really brought home exactly how ill-suited to my position I really am. I've been looking for a better job for months, but employers don't seem to want to give me the time of day, and the few interviews I have gotten, I've been shot down for lack of experience, because nobody seems to believe that I'm capable of doing even entry level work since I haven't done it BEFORE. It's extremely frustrating to have my friends and family and now people at work telling me how smart I am only to have hiring managers seemingly universally look down their noses at me.

    What in god's name am I doing wrong? Is there any employer anywhere who would treat me with respect, or a job where I could be happy? I have my doubts.

  • #2
    I don't know if this will help, but it's something that I learned just recently through having professional help in writing up a new resume.

    The thing to do is take experience you DO have and show how it applies to some new position. As an example from my own resume, my experience in several unrelated fields lends itself to 'Exceptional problem solving skills'. Your own experience in a call center would be 'excellent customer service' and 'proficient (or even advanced) computer skills. And by all means, DO add the creation of your note maker to your resume!!!

    For more help with a resume, contact your local department of labor job services, and ask them if there's a local career learning center (or some such similar) or on site services they can refer you to. While you're there, ask them about the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) program. That's a nationwide program run by ACT, and is a great way to show potential employers that you already have most of the skills needed for a job.

    Chances are good that if your local DoL can refer you to someone to help with a resume, that person will also be able to give you additional invaluable information on how to handle interviews and filling out applications for new jobs.
    You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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