Glen Sutherland, Call Centre Manager

The right attitude

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"If you have the proper attitude, there's no stopping you in this industry. Just treat people the way you want to be treated.

"And just enjoy what you're doing. Enjoy that you're actually helping people and providing a great service. Again, if you have the proper attitude, there'll be no stopping you."

Images from my workplace

Where I work

TWCC stands for Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital Corporation, which loosely means "helping our own".

Our call centre is the first of its kind in Manitoba, established by our CEO Alan Park. TWCC services the Canada Student Loans Program with an all-aboriginal staff of 28 employees.

It's unique and meaningful because we're not only providing employment opportunities to the First Nations community but also helping Canadian youth receive funding for their education.

What we do

We're an inbound call centre that provides information to students about the Canada Student Loans program. While we're busy throughout the year, September is a huge peak for us. We get a lot of calls that start with, "where's my money?" or "how do I get my money?"

So our agents explain how the program works and give step-by-step instruction. We make sure the student knows where to sign and send their documents and let them know when they can expect to receive their money.

Important Service

People think of call centres as an inconvenience. That's not true of what we do. Inbound centres like ours provide an important service for the people who call us. They call us for help and information.

There's obviously a need for our service or it wouldn't be the fastest growing industry in the world. What was true of the 1970s call centre field is no longer true today. Things have really changed a lot since then.

Constant evolution

We're continually learning new things every day. Every time the government comes out with a new program or procedure, I have to train the employees about that.

Right now, we're rolling out Opportunity Grants for low-income families. We will have people calling our office to find out what it is and how it works.

TWCC is constantly evolving. We're always doing something new, something different and we're always enhancing our services.

Bright future

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"There are more and more call centres coming to Manitoba every day. I believe there are going to be four this year. It's the fastest-growing industry in Canada, or in the world, as a matter of fact.

"The future is very, very bright - especially if you want to get into management. You start off on the floor. 71 per cent of all managers come from the floor."

Dealing with racism

Growing up native in Dauphin wasn't always easy. Both of my parents are aboriginal so they faced many barriers when it came to race. Dad had to deal with racism sometimes in his work.

When he was roofing, for example, some people called him "chief " and stuff like that. But it never seemed to bother him. He overcame it. He was a talented entertainer so everybody liked him. You could kind of compare him to Sammy Davis Junior in that respect.

There's always racism though, especially back then. As for me, I played a lot of sports and took part in music, so I think I broke a lot of barriers, especially when it came to people. I was friends with everybody.

Jamming with Dad

Before my dad became a roofer, he was an entertainer. He travelled a little when I was small. Just after I was born, we went to Vancouver. Dad had a band there. But I guess his claim to fame was that he was in Hank Snow's band in Toronto.

I love visiting him. He has a lake-front cabin in Beaver Creek here in Manitoba. It's just two hours north of the city. Dad and I play music together on weekends. He's 77, but he can still play very well. He can beat me, that's for sure! He's got his amps and mics and he loves making music.

Athletic achievements

I was involved in many sports. In junior high, I was the athletic chairperson of my school. At one point, I remember doing five sports at the same time. I made the volleyball team in grade seven, even though the rest of the players were in grade nine.

But the coach liked my attitude. He liked the fact that I gave it everything at every practice. That was a huge accomplishment for me because everybody tried out for these teams and I was the youngest to make it in.

I got to hang out with a lot of older kids and travel to places like Winnipeg and other communities around Dauphin. So I'd say sports really made a difference in my life.

Engaged

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I've been engaged since December. It's my first engagement so I'm very happy about that. We set a date for September 15th, 2007. There's a lot of preparation and I just know we're going need that time.

"We have a stack of bridal magazines at least a foot tall. So there's lots of talk about whether we should have a small one or a big one. But right now I'm engaged, so I'm very happy."

The singing bug

I just love singing. I can pretty much do anything with my voice. When I was younger I got involved in the Dauphin Music Festival. The first time I went in, I actually won. That's when I got my singing bug.

After my first festival, I started taking lessons. I entered a few more times and continued to win. Eventually, I became a soloist. So singing and speaking have become my strong suits.

My confidence in my voice is one of the reasons I went into the call centre industry. I thought I would be good at verbal communication.

Stat reports

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"The first thing I do is look into my agents stats and see how their adherence is. Then I open up my stat reports and, again, I'm getting numbers from the previous day. How many calls did we actually do? Right now my quota is 531 calls.

"So generally I want to see if we made our quota; and we do. My guys are really good, they excel. Yesterday, we did 636."

Always moving

I'm constantly on-the-move. I stop in to my cubicle to check emails and stats, but I mostly deal with the agents on the floor. They're on the phone and they often have a lot of questions so I have to go to them.

But I love to help them and answer their questions - it's part of what I enjoy about my job. We have meetings from time to time but we're mostly dealing with things as they happen on the floor.

Fixed schedule

I love our schedule. It's not random and you know what to expect from day to day. We only work 8 hours. I generally work 9-to-5 to cover both shifts.

There are times where I have to come in early or stay late, but my staff is only expected to do their 8 hours and they're done. I'm usually in and out according to the regular schedule but I don't mind staying if I have to.

Keeping it light

The centre industry can be stressful if you make it stressful. I want to avoid that kind of atmosphere. Thanks to all my training and my own experience working on the phones, I know how to keep things light.

My agents are dealing with different personalities all day and they have to meet their quota of 80 calls a day, so it's important that they know when to wind down and watch their time. I let them know how to pace the calls, how to relax and when log out.

Having fun

I like to schedule nights out to keep things fun and social. Last month we had a bowling tournament and the driving range at the Golf Zone. Tonight we're going to the batting cages. We have a great time out as a group.

For instance, the other day, I took the agents out for dinner at the Keg to celebrate an award for breaking their quota. Not too many companies do this kind of stuff and it's important to reward their achievements with something special.

So I took them and their spouses all out to dinner. They really enjoyed themselves and. Now they're excited about beating their existing record.

Helping people

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"We're doing a great service. A lot of times, when students get out of work or get out of school, they can't find work in their field right away. They're still making minimum wage so they can't make payments on their loans.

"So what's really rewarding is when they call us and they've never heard of interest relief. They don't have to pay back their loans for six months and the government pays the interest on their loan.

"When they hear about that, they're really, really happy and they appreciate it. Sometimes we reduce their payments or extend their term. There are different things that we do to help people and it's all about helping people. That's really rewarding."

Skills

Communication Skills

- Oral and written communication
- Listening and comprehension
- Documentation and writing

Applied Skills

- Analytical skills
- Math and numbers
- Word processing and data entry
- Scheduling

People Skills

- Interpersonal management
- Sensitivity and conflict resolution
- Social and cultural diversity awareness
- Motivation and leadership
- Understanding and working with different personality types

Technology

We are constantly evolving our technology to make things more efficient. Just from my time here we've upgraded all our systems. Right now, we're using a new software for Interest Relief, which is a government-sponsored program offered to students who aren't able to make their monthly payments because of no or low income.

Our mainframe is being revamped as well and now we're going to get a new system called Galaxy. For scheduling, we have a system called Blue Pumpkin, which is really the Cadillac of scheduling for call centres. Technology and computers are a big part of the job.

Cultural diversity

As a call centre, we're dealing with every ethnic background in Canada and that's a challenge within itself. A lot of times there are language barriers for my agents. Sometimes the agent doesn't understand a caller. We have to learn how to overcome language barriers in order to provide the caller with the best service.

So I want conversations to end with, "Well thank you. Thank you for your help." The bottom line is this: I tell my agents that they have to treat people the way they want to be treated. I really believe in this. When I know I have helped somebody that's really satisfying at the end of the day. And it makes the job more interesting, for sure.

Retraining

A potential challenge in the future is maternity leave and retraining. I have a couple of women agents who are pregnant, which means I will have to train new people. When that happens, productivity goes down because the new people are not as efficient.

There's a lot of information new agents need to know, so they aren't really proficient in their job for about six months. I don't put them under a lot of pressure because I know there's a lot to learn. But you have to be prepared for when these new people come. The numbers are going to go down.

We're lucky that we've got some really fantastic people who really excel and can help us make our quota during these times.

Choosing a career

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I was in Calgary, roofing and I knew then to speak with my friends, to tell them I didn't want to do this any more. Not so much that it was hard work, just the fact that it was dirty.

"I wanted to work in an office, a professional environment, where I got to dress up every day. And one of my strong points was that I deal with people well."

Getting information

I didn't really know anybody in this industry before I got into it. I'd heard of some people saying they were call centre representatives but I never really thought about it for myself. But that's all changed. These days, the contact centre industry is doing a lot of promoting and recruiting.

I learned about this industry at the Rotary Career Symposium, because the Manitoba Contact Association didn't yet exist. They weren't partnered up with the province or the Métis Federation or AMC at that point.

I just knew I was interested so I went about getting the information on my own. It's much easier now to find out about the industry. There are a lot of great resources available.

People skills

My personality has definitely helped me in my career path. I'm nice to people and I treat them with respect. Like I said before, it's about treating people the way you want to be treated. That goes for so many occupations, but it's especially true for this industry.

When you're dealing with people on the phone, you can't get upset. You can't give them a tone, because it really comes out - even in your posture. If you sound disinterested, they'll pick up on that. Personality is everything in this industry.

The place for me

After I started working in the call centre industry, I heard they were starting the first aboriginal call centre in Canada right here in Manitoba. I said, "this is the place for me!" and that's when I went to TWCC.

It meant starting from the ground level but there were opportunities galore. I was working on the floor at first, taking home my material and learning it. I would take a KB (Knowledge Base) with me after work and really study it. I wanted to be the best.

Education

You want to get a well rounded education with computers, social studies, arts, sports and a lot of variety to succeed in this industry. Taking notes, typing and working on a computer are really important to this job. Your typing speed, especially, should be high. After high school, you can take call centre management programs or courses in management in university or college.

And there are many call centre companies that are willing to invest in your education. That's one thing that I love about TWCC; they encourage you to go to school. It gave me another boost to know they were willing to invest in me to get a higher education.

If you do get the opportunity, even one night a week, it will benefit you. Further down the line, with education and experience, you can become a call centre director.

Making a difference

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I would definitely like to make a difference in the world making things easier for young aboriginal people who are coming through junior high, high school and all through school. There are going be different challenges in different grades.

"Maybe they will hear this story and know that there's somebody out there who actually did it, who went through racism and overcame different barriers and came out positively and tell them, 'you can do it as well.'"

The best I can be

We're going to be expanding in the future at TWCC so that will present new challenges. I want to keep breaking records and not just settle. It might be easy to just lean back on past successes, but I want to keep moving forward, to keep breaking new records and new ground.

It makes everything more interesting for me. I like new challenges and working through those challenges.

Happiness

It's such an easy thing to say but really I just want to be happy and content. Right now, I have a great job, a great fiancée and I'm very happy.

I can definitely see myself with kids so that will present new challenges altogether. I can't wait for that. Just hearing them talk or seeing them walk for the first time. Watching their personalities develop and taking them to Little League or music classes. That makes me happy.

Bright future

The future is really bright for the call centre industry. Our company is expanding. We're going to have a building soon with five floors. As for Manitoba, there are more and more call centres coming to the province every day.

It's a great opportunity for people who want to work their way up. You can go from the floor to management in just a couple of years.

My own business

If I couldn't do this work any more I would probably start my own business. I would definitely try to be an entrepreneur of some sort, because that's where really where our core business sector is going.

They're giving loans to entrepreneurs. I've always wanted to be my own boss, which would be great. So if for some reason, this didn't really work out, I would to be my own boss and get a business started.

Job market info

The links below take you to federal and regional government information on employment, education, salary ranges and long range prospects for this career.

The official title for Glen's occupation is Professional Services Manager - Business Services and its NOC* code is 0123

Manitoba Job Futures

Manitoba Labour Market Information - Who Hires?

*Each occupation has an official name and unique number called the 'National Occupation Classification' code or 'NOC'.

Education

High School

Useful High School subjects:

- Math
- English (Communication)
- Business
- Computer-related courses

*Source: JobFutures.ca

For those out of school, Adult Learning Centres can help you get or upgrade your high school diploma, including adding subjects that are required for work or further education. All Manitobans are normally entitled to 4 free courses.

After high school 

Below are links to various programs and courses that will you on the path to a career as a Professional Services Manager (0123):

University of Manitoba

Certificate in Interdisciplinary Studies: Customer Contact Centre Management (MCCA)

Manitoba Customer Contact Association

Training Programs for Entry Level Contact Centre Positions

Skills

Useful Experience/Skills*

- Reading Text
- Writing
- Oral Communication
- Problem Solving
- Continuous Learning

*Source: Job Futures.ca

There is not yet an Essential Skills* profile for this occupation.

*Essential Skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

Professional resources

Manitoba Customer Contact Association
MCCA is an industry association of Manitoba companies and organizations in the customer contact sector. MCCA addresses specific labour needs for the contact centre sector in Manitoba.

Contact Centre Canada
CCC is a national, not-for-profit industry sector council comprised of labour representatives, professional associations, academic institutions and vendors serving the contact centre industry.

Aboriginal professional resources

Aboriginal Business Canada

Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital Corporation

National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association (NACCA)

Aboriginal Business Service Network

Related careers

Personnel and Recruitment Officers (NOC 1223)

Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management (NOC 1122)

Personnel Clerks (NOC 1442)