The importance of call centre industry in South Africa

South Africa was once strongly believed to be a country, whose economy and development strongly depended mainly on agriculture and mining sector. One thing lead to another, and now the country has some other industries dominating - sales is one of the sectors that now highly contributes to the overall economy and employment in the country.

Call centres, in particular, seem to be active and thriving in the country, as it offers a number of job vacancies for the call centre agents and is constantly in search of employees and investment. The reason for this is the fact that South Africa is not only technologically advanced, but also has an advantageous time zone, regarding Europe countries, which means South Africa stands as a priority to the international brands and and attracts businesses that chose to establish call centres here and expand even more.

Even though the job may seem tiring and monotonous, and the minimum wages discouraging, the position at the call centre might actually open up more opportunities than one could expect.

As the youth of South Africa faces the problem of unemployment, call centres also manage to solve this issue. Most of the time, call centres don’t have high requirements when employing new agents. As opposed to other industries in South Africa, they usually don’t have a preference for skilled applicants since the companies tend to offer training to new employees. Therefore, it’s a great chance for motivated, unexperienced school leavers to get comfortable at a complex industry that helps to develop valuable skills and features.

A call centre environment favors its workers with patience, time managements skills and quick thinking. More importantly, this sort of industry requires to develop great communication and interpersonal skills, to become computer literate and acquire at least the basics of European languages. It is crucial for the employee to gain these characteristics as one seeks some other career paths.

Call centre agents truly do have a choice when it comes to their career. For instance, there is a possibility to take the position of an office administrator or receptionist in the future. Moreover, if you put in enough effort, even more major positions await you - one might gain enough experience to become a HR manager or Customer Service Supervisor, yet it all depends on an individual and one’s willingness and skills.

If you’re a student, a recent school leaver or simply do not have the required experience for most of the jobs, try looking for a job at the call centre near you - maybe there you will start building your career!