BPO/call centre experience:

[BaBu]

Very Nice Article Hitesh.

I guess most BPO guys have this confusion about experience relevance during MBA admission. BPO involves use of six sigma, project management, leadership and i think it depends on how you potray your experience to admission people.

I agree that non voice process much better then voice. If companies are thinking to move value chain from BPO to KPO, then i think individuals should also move up value chain by doing some additional courses etc.

[harshg]

Originally Posted by hiteshchadha

Hey guys I am putting an article over here just go through it. I simply adore it and have read it million times. Here it is:

The damage we suffer owing to dysfunctional higher education lies in two parts. First, we will find it difficult to walk up the value chain, from $15,000/man-year to $30,000/man-year. In finance, tens of thousands of high-skill analytical jobs can easily move to India, provided the workers can be found.

The high end jobs are already India bound... as of now the people who are servicing the high end BPO work are either Qualified by way of experience (I have worked for XYZ bank's mutual funds' portfolio management arm and am now with one of the high end BPOs and work for an ABC company my clients are American Mutual Funds and I look at and recommend the best buys for them in the present day market... I don't buy I suggest the firangs give the go ahead to buy) or academics (I am an MBBS I work as a sales man for MRI scanners for hospitals in the US... the MRI scanners are made by my employers clients and my BPO looks at the sales and Customer Service of these MRI scanners).

But what would be the future and how would someone who is in the BPO-- low end BPO now benefit after an MBA .

I strongly believe that the high end BPOs would also behave the like the way our typical low end BPOs have in the past and in the next fiscal we would see the entry level staffers , in the high end BPOs who have been hired because they were trainable and scalable. For the people trying for a MBA today it might be a good idea to look for specialisations which would be in synch with the requrement of the future markets.

What say you all?

[harshg]

see this http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2005/mar/31bpo.htm this one made sense to me to get a bearing to the high end BPO.

H.

[hiteshchadha]

Originally Posted by harshg

The high end jobs are already India bound... as of now the people who are servicing the high end BPO work are either Qualified by way of experience (I have
But what would be the future and how would someone who is in the BPO-- low end BPO now benefit after an MBA .

I strongly believe that the high end BPOs would also behave the like the way our typical low end BPOs have in the past and in the next fiscal we would see the entry level staffers , in the high end BPOs who have been hired because they were trainable and scalable. For the people trying for a MBA today it might be a good idea to look for specialisations which would be in synch with the requrement of the future markets.

What say you all?

Hey Harsh good point abt the high end BPO. Now let me come to the point that how a low end BPO worker explain and justify his work during the MBA interviews. Let me start with myself. I have an exp of 28 months in inbound technical support. I have worked with IBM Daksh and Nipuna Services- A Satyam Company in Hyderabad Presently I am looking for a job as I left it few onths before for preparing for CAT05. The question in disussion right now have bothered me a lot in the past. However I would say to all the people working in low end BPO to look for thier learnings working in any company. It is a very broad term and can include anything. It could be the way business is conducted in BPO, how incentives are paid, how our company earns from the client, what is the per hour charges per employee our company takes from the client, how is the operations handeled, how to keep a track of the call flows, what are the various departments of our company and how they supports us etc and it go on and on. What I want to say is that you should be able to tell the interviewrs that Sir I joined as a fresher and this is what I know after working for x years in this company, this is the way it has shaped me as a person, these are the things I know abt how to run a call center OR in short this is the way I am different from what I was before I joined a company.
Also one also always try to add value to ones resume by cashing on any oppurtunity like any sort of training, any ijp, anything which u did except call taking. In my case I have loads of things to say, I have loads to appreciation certificates and letters which I got from the management and also from the client. I am in a position to say in my interview that I have achieved a lot competing with thousands of employees of the same company. An achievement is an achievement no matter if it is gained among few hundred or few thousand people. All those people working in low end BPO U have to make ur own road. U have to work harder and harder to be among the top 10% of the performers always, U have to work hard to become Sr Customer care ex from a customer care excutive. So it's no point in crying that we are in a low end BPO but it is in ur hand to come out shining in that job. And beleive me U will have reasons to justify ur work and ur contribution to ur company.
I definitelt agree with Babu that the repetition in the work makes it boring and no valuee addition. After a certain point saturation comes and u cannot take it anymore. It has happend with me. Right now I am in that stage. I am awaiting the result of an interview for the position of Assitant Manager in an inbound tech support. I am confident that I will make it. But if I didn't I have decided to change the line and not to enter BPO again. I donot want to go to calling again because I know I will not learn anything new except the product knowledge which is of no use later in life. I thought abt KPO. I have applied in Evalueserve for the position of Market Research Analyst. But was sent back after writing an essay and answering few grammer questions. I was not even given a chance to say my part. No body talked to me except the receptionist. I really felt bad. I thought that I should have been given a chance to be interviewed and to say my part abt what I have achieved in the past and what I think I can do in future. I did called them later and asked abt the reason for my non selection. The concerned guy told me that my grammer was not good and the essay was not upto the mark. I said thank you and disconnected the phone. Later I laughed a lot because I was very confident abt the grammer questions and the essay. I got second highest marks in school in english in 10th class and was a topper in english in 12th. So guys nothing is low end or high end. It's always abt ur learnings from doing that thing and how it has shaped u as a person. Guys cheer up and prepare well for the interviews and please always keep introspecting abt ur achievements at ur work place no matter how small they may be.


Cheers
Hitesh

[harshg]

am taking the message off the board... the interaction was more in answer to Htesh's specific question and does not matter to the spirit of this thread.

[hiteshchadha]

Originally Posted by harshg

Hitesh mere bhai...Evalueserve was oversubscribed when it's entry level openings came out... which is why they resorted to the eyewash routine with you...

when i last heard they were hiring as entry level analysts people with an A rung MBA and domain workex ( i know of a gent who got an offer he is XLRI-04 and Seagram Mrktg North India, he was offered a INR 7.5++ pa)..... Evalueserve bills @ 30x when you compare it with your usual EXL / Daksh etc and can afford to pay more per position hence you have a lot of more qualified reources per LOB in Evalueserve.

the only other entry level profiles I heard were for the foreign language processes.

If you applied via a consultant .. kill her

Really!!!!!!! I am shocked man Yes I applied through a consultant and before going thier I specifically asked that if they need MBA's or not. He said no sir they need simple gradutaes with 2 yrs exp in any BPO. I am gonna call that guy on monday and give him my piece of mind. Hey harsh can u suggest me some other KPO?. I will just pm my mobile to you. You can also do the same. I can call u if that is ok with u. U know my work ex now. I am looking for a job mate and asap.

Cheers
Hitesh

[harshg]

Originally Posted by hiteshchadha

All those people working in low end BPO U have to make ur own road. U have to work harder and harder to be among the top 10% of the performers always.

Understand this and free your mind(hate to sound like Morpheus)........your avg Employee of the Month is not a Seva Medal....... top performer tags, stack ranks, champions , star of the months etc etc are all "pat-on-the-back" fixtures which is yet another motivation tool ; furthermore any of the "pats-on the back" if mentioned in an interview would need to be substantiated with a dreamer routine (" i have achieved whatever there was to in my present capacity, i feel i am capable of much more, hence I want to do an MBA and then I would work for world peace")... it will fall flat on it's face

What your interview board would look at is a sustained performance the only indicator of that sustained performance is growth and the growth has to be across levels... not CCS to Sr CCS both with the same JD.. CCS to TL is growth.

Again, think what the board would be happier with...something like " i have been able to leverage my product knowledge to help train my staff to service my client's customers better" or " I am responsible for the careers of 20 young and ambitious and capable people who report to me and look upto me for guidance and direction... my achievement is that I have been constantly able to meet their expectations"

Originally Posted by hiteshchadha

But if I didn't I have decided to change the line and not to enter BPO again. I donot want to go to calling again because I know I will not learn anything new except the product knowledge which is of no use later in life.
I thought abt KPO. Hitesh

Lateral movement across analogous functions ... from Calling ( voice based customer service) to MIS (Reporting) or Business Ops Planning ( Business Analytics) is growth again and a good work experience booster goes to prove that you have a more wholesome knowledge of BPO...... a domain jump if not in synch with a career rythem is not advisable (Customer service for say Orange today and portfolio analysis for Chase Morgan tomorrow... why did you join the CS if you were so much of a portfolio analyst )

You will simply have to explain too much to the board.

[sampy]

HI EVERYONE,
plz. tell me do B-schools consider the experience in BPO'S,AND me being an engineering graduate fresher while giving an interview has a phycological advantage of the HR on others who have no experience at all

[thestyleguy]

Hey all,

I have worked with a leading BPO for 14 months.

And I hope to get some weightage for it at my PI's for MBA coz I was working in an Insurance Back-Office UK process as a CCE.

Was a fairly complex process (rated L3) dealing with maturity of life insurance policies. And apart from the normal work, I have been involved in a couple of Six Sigma Black Belt projects. The projects were aimed at reducing the overall TAT (Turn Around Time) of the process I was working for. And because of the inputs I (alongwith with 2 colleagues) gave, the TAT had actually come down from 7 days to 5 days.

Also assisted my TL's in preparing various MIS reports.

Was also awarded for `Exceptional Performance in Quality of Work'.

Left the job in September, to prepare well for CAT and other exams. And it has paid off !! Have got calls from SIBM, SCMHRD and NMIMS. Expecting some more calls.

Now, just wanted to know what are your views regarding my profile (work-ex).

And more importantly, if some of you have faced any MBA GD/PI last year, please let me know, what was the response like, and to what extent can BPO experience be capitalized upon, as far as MBA interviews are comcerned ?

Regards,

styleguy

[vinit456]

Originally Posted by sampy

HI EVERYONE,
plz. tell me do B-schools consider the experience in BPO'S,AND me being an engineering graduate fresher while giving an interview has a phycological advantage of the HR on others who have no experience at all

Hi
no facts to support my view but i think the top 10 and even maybe 15 would not give serious weightage to BPO experience, well also depends on what exposure one has got.
But I atleast done see a reason for as to y should experience in voice based tasks be given weightage at all. Many backoffice process also r just data entry based ones. Dont think preparing MIS n stuff and assisting TL'S would be counted as somehing valuable as it is something which most of us r at some point r involed.