Pros
Worked at the Markham location.I provided technical support (Tech Connect) at IBM for Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney in 2012. Not sure if the account is still there since they were in the process of migrating the call center to Colorado/India. Pros: You definitely learn a lot since it was the first point of contact for ALL issues. Supported XP/'7, Office Suite,Outlook, Hardware(Mouse/Keyboard/Scanners/Printers/Projectors/etc...), Financial Software, Internet Connectivity, Account creations, Password Resets, IMAC requests,How-to's, & much much more. There was always something new coming up so you need to pay attention. Team Leads/Kelly Service Representative/Co-workers: The people I worked with were fine. They would try to the best of their ability to help you, answer your questions, and was very understanding. Co-workers I was surrounded with were cool people. Once in a while we would get pizza/cake/snacks to keep the morale up. However, this is all based on my personal experience. Training was sufficient. It was primarily getting you familiar with the terms, software you'll use, and shadowing other call center agents. The real learning comes when you're actually on the phones. Nice building, free parking and close to a Chinese plaza; although by the time you get there and order half of your lunch time is already gone since you get 30 minutes only. I would usually eat in between calls and use the 30 minutes to walk outside to clear my mind.
Cons
Pay- $14.26/hr. It's better than minimum wage but lower than if IBM hired you. It's to be expected since you're a contractor. All I can say in this economy, it is what it is. The Job- Since it is a call center, it will feel like it's soul crushing. Some days you will wonder why are there so many calls and will they ever stop although this is why you have the job in the first place. I supported working professional so it is at least better than the general public. I've worked there for a year and which is like senior level in terms of call center. I've seen so many people get burnt out and leave only after a couple of weeks.Stressful, boring, and always looking towards Friday. Promotion- in terms of pay increase, rarely. If there is, it will only be 1-2 dollars if that. In terms of responsibility, yes if you do well enough on the phones they will probably have you do other support. Don't hold your breath. Pace- they want to you to resolve calls under 10 minutes although most of the time it will go over due to the plethora of issues and difficulty.
