Novelle Trono – Customer Service Representative
I always wanted to have a job in the media industry that’s why I took up Journalism in college. It was not easy, but by God’s grace, I was able to finish it well. Right after college, I needed to fly out of my hometown right away because my sister needed to go to college already and my mom needed my help in sending her to school.
My first job was as a Project Assistant for a non-government organization. My job was to gather 30 to 40 women with micro-businesses in a certain community and help them out by lending them money and organizing weekly meetings that will help them be better in their businesses. Through this, I was able to learn how to speak with people effectively and assess if lending them the money would help them grow their business or not. I was the only person who will process the documents of these women so I learned how to organize my tasks for the day and plan my week ahead of time to make sure that I will be able to meet the targets given to me by the organization. It was a good experience, but the pay was not enough for me to support my sister’s education so I left the job after a year.
My second job was with a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company. I worked as a customer service representative where we have moved from one department to another so aside from being a customer service representative, I also became a supervisor and an offline number portability support representative. We worked on transferring phone numbers from one service provider to another. I stayed with the company for 4 years until an opportunity to work on a dayshift opened up for me.
The third company I worked with was the one I stayed with the longest- I worked with an Australian telecommunication company for 7 years. Just like my previous job, we were moved from one department to another so I wore a lot of hats in those 7 years. I assisted customers with their bills, placed orders online, set up appointments for them. I also worked with the company’s complaints team which was a challenging task since we had to deal with customers who are already disappointed. It was a challenging job, but it also honed my communication skills. I would have stayed with the company longer, but they decided to close our site in February as they are already working on automating their customer care services.
It was not easy to let go of a company that went over and beyond to take care of us, their employees, especially during a global pandemic, but I took this as an opportunity to dive into virtual assistance. I always wanted to try it out because I think my skill set will better match that of a virtual assistant. To prepare myself, I’ve taken courses, watched videos, and listened to podcasts to ensure that aside from the skills I already have, I can still add more value to the company I will be working for. My work in the BPO industry taught me the value of taking care of the customers like I own the company and that is the one thing that I can guarantee you. I will take care of your company like I own it.
For a copy of Novelle’s resume please click here.