Job title: Business Repair Advisor
Business Unit: Retail
Joined: August 1999
I joined Manpower in 1999, working for BT as a Billing Advisor and worked as part of the '151' contingency team in our Exeter office. I wanted to join a large company that could offer me a secure future and I'd heard that BT was an excellent employer with lots of different opportunities. The fact that I've had the chance to work in several different teams since joining proves that.
After working in Billing I spent a year in the Direct Fulfilment team and then I joined a contract team at BT Openworld, working on the email response team dealing with BT's Internet products. I joined directory enquiries in November 2004 and in June 2005 transferred to Business Repair in Brentwood, where I am now.
In Business Repair, part of our job is dealing with inbound calls from customers who are having problems with their telephone service or equipment. We're their first point of contact so it's down to us to find out what the problem is and then try to resolve it straight away. When that's not possible - say it's a problem at the exchange or at the customer's premises - we refer them to the relevant team to take it forward.
We also take calls on pre-existing problems and deal with offline enquiries left by other advisors or on the automated system. You're often dealing with angry or stressed people, particularly if a fault is taking a while to resolve, so it's vital to keep them informed of progress. To do that, we use outbound calls, emails or text messages.
The best bit of my job would have to be resolving a customer's problem in the first call. They just want the problem sorted right now so I've found one of the most important skills for my job has been diplomacy. You're constantly trying to empathise with their situation to keep them calm but you also have to focus on the problem in hand and look for a solution. The very least you want to be able to do is explain what's gone wrong, but obviously it's great to be able to help and put it right there and then.
The atmosphere here is great as you're working with an excellent team of people. Everyone in the office supports each other and knows that this is the best way to help the team achieve anything. Wherever I've worked in BT, I've always found that colleagues are more than willing to help and often go out of their way to support you.
Change is part of life at BT. It's definitely affected us as advisors as you're dealing with new technology and you have to learn very quickly. We all understand the need for new products/processes but the key to making them work properly is making sure that the organisation as a whole has the opportunity to adapt. The key is to be positive about change. After all, if it's the only thing you can guarantee then do it with a smile on your face.