Developing strong English communication skills is a great way to grow your career, and understanding how a job in a call center can help you improve your English is a vital first step. Starting a call center career can give you daily opportunities to speak English and cover a wide variety of topics, communication modes, and styles.
By improving your English, you can qualify for more jobs and career opportunities, develop a strong network, and navigate Tijuana’s bilingual job market with ease. Take a closer look at how a job in a call center can help you improve your English through more calls, professional interactions, and training sequences.
Why Is English a Key Competency in Call Centers?
Transnational companies see opportunities to grow by putting their call centers in Tijuana. Not only is the location close, the time zones also allow the company and the call center to communicate during US business hours. People with bilingual customer center jobs can serve Spanish-speaking and English-speaking customers.
What does that mean for your call center language skills? It means being able to quickly understand questions in English and create quick, helpful answers is business-critical. English is a key competency because the business or businesses call centers work with need professional-level English speakers on every line.
As a result, your performance reviews and career advancement opportunities rely on your call center language skills. Companies will assess how you improve spoken English on the job, provide call center English training, and offer you different bilingual call center jobs based on your proficiency and growth.
Benefits of Call Center Jobs for Improving English
Diligent professionals can quickly improve English in a call center. You can grow your English language skills while working in a call center every time you pick up the phone, operate CRM platforms, or review product- and service-specific notes. Some of the benefits of being bilingual in call center jobs are:
- You improve technical language. Every industry has jargon and technical vocabulary. You can quickly familiarize yourself with these terms and be able to help with complex scenarios.
- You improve connotation. While every word has a dictionary definition, it can also have different meanings based on context and emotion. When you speak English working in a call center, you’ll have a deeper understanding of how people speak it in different situations.
- You improve reading, writing, speaking, and listening. All four modes are part of your daily activities, giving you a deeper understanding of the language faster than if you just had to read or speak it.
- You have access to support and resources. Your team and employer want you to succeed. You’ll have access to call center English training and call center agent training, so you can pick up both language skills and professional skills. Your call center may also provide mentors, ongoing training resources, and courses.
Knowing how a job in a call center can help you improve your English, and the direct benefits of finding jobs that help you learn English, can help you learn faster. And that’s just one of the many reasons to start a call center career.
What Are Some Practical Strategies Employed in Call Centers?
Call centers use multiple tools and strategies to ensure every employee has the right level of English proficiency for the job. You might see:
- Scripts: These tools give you exactly the right words for different questions or problems. They’re a great first step for conversing in English and responding quickly.
- Internal help centers: These informational resources allow you to search with English terms so you can find the answers—and wording—you need for unique calls.
- Technical onboarding and training: If your call center job focuses on niche products or services, you need to have an understanding of the products themselves, the different scenarios callers will face, and some technical terminology. High-quality call centers will train you so the concepts and vocabulary are familiar.
- Call center etiquette training: During your onboarding and initial training, you’ll learn different greetings, follow-up questions, active listening responses, and cues. This information can help conversations flow more smoothly and provide you with the tools for defusing tension.
- Experience: Training is very helpful. But at a certain point, the best training is taking calls with English-speaking customers. During these calls, you’ll pick up more words, interact with more varied accents, and become more confident.
Challenges Faced—And How to Overcome Them
Learning a new language will always present some challenges. Keep reading to learn two of the biggest challenges you’ll face when you improve your English by working in a call center.
Handling Varied Customer Reactions
Customers may be frustrated, panicked, or distracted on the phone. They may also not have the technical wording to explain what they need. Language barriers can make the situation even more confusing. As you learn more English, you’ll also need to learn tactics for resolving misunderstandings or getting more information when the first answer doesn’t make sense.
Balancing Speed and Clarity During Calls
It’s important to resolve calls quickly and thoroughly. During your first month as a call center agent, you’ll feel rushed, especially if you need to ask callers to repeat themselves or pause to recall the right wording. But with continual practice and clear enunciation, you’ll be able to answer questions faster and troubleshoot problems within recommended time frames.
What Are Additional Resources for English Improvement?
Want to grow your call center language skills even faster? Consider these additional resources:
- Ask your manager or trainer for additional training resources to help you learn more effectively.
- Immerse yourself in additional English resources. Movies, books, and TV shows can help you learn colloquial English and turns of phrase.
- Practice with coworkers. Discuss calls and work scenarios in English to become more familiar with the vocabulary more quickly.
Boost Your English While Building Your Career—Apply Today!
Call center jobs teach you many skills, and understanding how a job in a call center can help you improve your English can help you learn more, faster. Developing English reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills will open the door to more jobs and career opportunities.
Seguros Confie empowers its workforce with continual training and English-learning resources. You can improve your spoken English on the job every day and have support as you learn. Apply to the open bilingual call center jobs to improve your English today.