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Following completion of his Sports Equipment Design degree at University of Glamorgan, 26 year old Jonathon Savage fulfilled a number of customer service based roles including hotel and restaurant manager, before joining  outsourcing call centre Conduit.  Conduit provides outsourced customer service solutions for household names like Vodafone and Sky from its centres in Swansea and Cardiff.  Jonathon was given a role as a customer service operative in 118 The Number.

As a result of his customer manner and initiative levels Jonathon was promoted within Conduit to work for the Vodafone customer service department. He soon progressed from monthly coaching to team leader, where he was responsible for encouraging and mentoring the inbound team. Jonathon is now the system operations manager for the Vodafone team.

Job Description

Systems operations managers are responsible for overseeing and managing team leaders and team coaches, who prepare the call centre staff for their live phone work.  One of their key roles is motivating the staff within the team to meet and exceed sales and customer satisfaction targets. They are also responsible for defining targets.  This can often involve conveying tricky information involving new processes to teams. Another key role is internally communicating figures achieved by both the team and the wider management team.

At Conduit Jonathon oversees the Vodafone UK team and is responsible for customer service operations.  There is a vast amount of information retained by the team in order to service the customer base and it is Jonathon's responsibility to ensure that all policies and updates are circulated throughout the team and understood properly by all.

Skills and Personality

First and foremost the role requires extremely good listening skills. Managing a team involves not only instructing them on new policies and procedures but also listening to feedback from staff on daily processes and then reporting these comments to the senior management team. If a team feels supported by their System Operations Manager they are more likely to be responsive and productive. People of all ages, backgrounds and personalities work in call centres due to the flexible nature of the work. Therefore having a laid back attitude and the ability to consider many different opinions and viewpoints is essential.

Bags of enthusiasm are essential in order to motivate your team and encourage them to hit challenging targets.  Also, maintaining a 'can do' attitude is a must.

IT skills are also key to the role as spreadsheets and specially designed internal systems such as the Real-Time programme are often used to monitor calls and targets.

Training and entry requirements

Although there is no official qualification requirement for employment as a call centre operations manager, transferable skills picked up in previous customer service roles are extremely helpful.  Previous experience dealing with the public on the phone will familiarise you with any challenges.

Earnings and prospects

Salaries will vary across different employers, but the basic rate will vary from £18,000 to £30,000 with annual performance related bonuses which can reach £5,000.

Conduit offers employees a continuing professional development programme which constantly evaluates skills and sets objectives which help employees progress their career through the business.

Main satisfaction

"Dealing with different types of people on a daily basis is immensely satisfying and we all have a great working relationship as well as a good social relationship outside working hours."

Main moan

"My job is often so all-consuming that I can be a bit of a bore at dinner parties, I have come to realise chatting about targets met isn’t so interesting to others!"