QUESTION FROM CARLO:

Hi Darwin, I’m Carlo and I’ve been working as an agent for 3 years now and because I belonged to a lean account there is no room for career growth. I love my current company but I would also like to see myself as a Team Leader or Supervisor in the near future. What do you suggest I should do?

ANSWER FROM DARWIN:

Hi Carlo! Thank you for sending me an email. One of the many challenges that tenured agents like yourself faces is that it comes to a point that you would feel your career is slowly becoming stagnant and that you would now like to explore more senior leadership roles in your current company.

As I have always said, the Call Center/BPO industry is constantly growing and it offers many opportunities for people like you. The problem though for most seasoned agents is that most of the time; they would pass-up an opportunity of possible career growth because they don’t know how to ask for it or they don’t know how they can be qualified to get a promotion.

Most people would believe that asking for a promotion is even more difficult than asking for a salary raise. That's because you have to demonstrate not only that you have the skills to handle the new position, but also that leaving your current job won't hurt either your boss or the company.
The advice I can give you is to prepare two plans of action: one for the new position that you are aiming for and one for your current job. Don't fall back on seniority or hierarchy to make your case - they don't hold water in today's business world. 

Request a schedule with your Supervisor and discuss your intentions. When you have a meeting with your Supervisor try to focus on your track record, your proven ability to do the job well and emphasize that you're ready to move up. I am sure that even if your part of a lean program, there are other opportunities for you within the company. One other essential is to make sure to present your case as soon as possible, preferably right after there are available vacancies in other programs/departments and before an outside search has begun. I am sure your Supervisor can help you by giving you a recommendation and some pointers on how you can improve more to secure promotion.

I also suggest checking with your Training Department or Human Resource Department and finding out if the company offers internal training programs or if it offers scholarship for external training programs like Supervisory trainings, Leadership programs or the likes. You can utilize these free trainings to better improve your skill sets and also your chances of being considered for a higher post not to mention the invaluable knowledge and learning you can get from these types of training and development programs. If your company does not have them, I suggest you save up to pay for an external training. This is what we call investing on your career. There are a lot of reputable school and career development and training organizations that held seminars/workshops open to public. You just have to research and select the best programs that would suit you and which would be important for the promotion you are aiming for.

I always believe that that your career is your responsibility. Create your own job security and career growth by acting more like an entrepreneur at work. Learning how to “sell” your skills to your organization, and adding more value on the job will definitely pay-off sooner or later.

And remember, even if your Supervisor/Manager feels you aren’t quite ready yet for promotion, don’t get discouraged. Once you let your wishes be known, your track record of results should win you a promotion soon. If not, you have a great story to tell another department, or company, who would recognized your potentials and skills and give you that promotion.

I look forward to hear about your promotion Carlo! Keep me posted!

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Mr. Darwin B. Rivers is a Human Resource professional/executive with more than 12 years of progressive leadership and management experience both in Operations and Human Capital Management in the BPO/Call Center industry with leading global multinational companies. He has also done consultancy engagements with numerous small & medium size companies in various industries. Mr. Rivers is also an active member in different HR organizations and socio-civic networks. Currently, aside from his full time work as HR Head of his current company, Darwin is the featured HR resource person in www.agentsentral.com an on-line social network for people working in the BPO/Call Center industry. He also maintains his own professional blogs focused in Human Capital Management and Wealth Management two of his core advocacies.