From Support Specialist to Team Manager
Karl's journey
2018
Customer Support Specialist
2020
Vice Team Manager
2021
Team Manager
"We had tough days with many people calling and it was kind of like a competition between us, but also we could feel that we were doing something together as a team."
In only three years, Karl managed to work his way up from a Customer Support Specialist to a Team Manager position. Now, he's the one to help other Support Specialists develop and reach their goals. Read on to find out what this journey was like for him and some of the lessons he's learned along the way.
Q. When and how did you start working at Concentrix + Webhelp?
I started in the late fall of 2018. I happened to loosely know a few people who worked here and I had a part-time job back then, and wanted to be doing something full-time. So applied and got hired, and I started November 5th of 2018 in the Customer Support department.
Q. How do you remember your time as a Customer Support Specialist?
I was an advisor in two different departments during two periods - first line technical support and I was an advisor in back office support, where I'm now a Team Manager.
I remember many things but mostly it’s the team spirit and the team feeling when we would answer calls.
We had tough days with many people calling and it was kind of like a competition between us, but also we could feel that we were doing something together as a team.
Q. What has been your career journey since then?
I worked as a Customer Support Specialist in the technical support team and then I took a step to the back office team and had to handle the reclamation desk for our client. That was about a year or so after I started at Concentrix + Webhelp. Then, after another half a year, I became a Vice-Team Manager. It's basically like an extra hand for the Team Manager to help when they're away on vacation, or help with start-up meetings, statistics and stuff like that. And about a year later I became a team manager for back office in July of 2021. And in the fall, I was offered to be a Manager to an advanced back office team, which basically means that there are some more senior colleagues in my team.
Q. Can you describe what you do as a Team Manager?
First and foremost, I make sure that everyone is feeling okay, everyone knows what's expected from them, everyone has all the capabilities, the systems and accesses to do their work. After that comes development. I work closely with every one of my 20 colleagues in my team to create a path for them to develop. We have meetings at least one per month where we go through the results from the past month, talk about their future development, if they need any support from me. Then there's also administration work - we have meetings with our customers.
But the most important part is to make sure everyone in my team has what they need to do their work and knows what’s expected from them if they want to grow.
Q. What has been the biggest challenge in your career?
It hasn't all been smooth sailing. You're nervous when you learn new things.
Maybe the biggest challenge was the step from only being responsible for your work to being responsible for your team - that's a big step, of course. That was a challenge, but I had a wonderful colleague back then who supported me a lot and also a fantastic Operations Manager who also helped me.
Q. What keeps you working in Concentrix + Webhelp?
The Camaraderie. As I mentioned earlier from what I remember as an advisor - it's definitely the colleagues that are here in the office.
I work on-site, so I have a couple people here with me as well - not the whole team, but it's almost half of it and really, it's the camaraderie we feel here.
And I also really enjoy seeing people around me develop to new roles. It's so fun to see people make steps and get accepted to Get Ready (our internal career progression program), for example, and go out on to find different jobs - preferably of course within Concentrix + Webhelp, so we can keep in touch and see what they're doing. But that's the thing keeping me here as a Team Manager - working with people who want to develop and want to grow.
Q. What has helped you advance your career?
Our internal career progression program "Get Ready" was a part of it. I participated in the first year of "Get Ready", which really helped. But other than that, I would say focusing on people values is the most important thing.
Of course, you should always do a good job, but the most important thing is how you work with others and how you behave and if you are a good role model.
That's what I think is the most important thing if you want to grow within Concentrix + Webhelp - it's the softer values and not just the hard values, like handling times and how much you can do. Of course, those are important too, but if you really want to shine, that's the key thing that makes a difference.
Q. Do you have any advice to the newcomers in Concentrix + Webhelp?
Be hungry for asking questions.
If you want to go somewhere, you should start asking questions from week one about what's expected from you.
You have to always ask questions to your team manager and ask for more feedback than your once per month talks. You have to ask how you're doing, what's expected and how can you develop in your role right now to be able to better your chances to get another role in which you want to develop.
Feeling inspired?
Check out our open vacancies for your chance to take the next step in your career. Who knows, maybe a few years later you'll look back at this as your kick-off point?
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