What Does it Take to Work in Customer Support?
It still astonishes me how little knowledge I had of computers when I started working in IT Support. I was 21 and it was my first serious job after university, the start of my career really and I only got it because of my cousin’s nepotism. However, I did start off on the lowest rung of the ladder; earning slightly more than the national minimum wage at the time. I was basically a tea boy.
I wasn’t allowed near customers to begin with and I mostly just watched my colleagues fix things and kept my mouth shut. Then, about 1 month into the job, 3 of the IT support team were suddenly out of the office. Left on my lonesome with the phone ringing off the hook, I built up the courage, reached out, picked it up and a career was born.
Sink or Swim
That might be a touch dramatic but it really was a case of being thrown into the deep end; sink or swim time. Thankfully I swam. I quickly learned that 50% of fixing IT problems is turning something off and then on again. And the other 50% is knowing how to Google stuff.
But I also discovered something far more interesting, and that was that my IT knowledge wasn’t the most important part of the job. Customers would call and ask for me time and time again after that first week. It’s wasn’t because I was the best IT person there, it was because they enjoyed talking with me and I reassured them that it was going to be OK. Even if I was thinking “Oh crap, oh crap, how does this work?!!!”
Are You a People Person?
My own experience and hiring others for customer support jobs has given me strong beliefs on what it takes to work in customer support. It’s not about experience and it’s not about technical knowledge, what it does require is personality, empathy and a need to help. And it’s not just me that thinks so. Take a look at any customer support job advert from some of the biggies out there; Buffer, Zappos, Basecamp, etc. Top of their list of requirements is that applicants are empathetic and want to help people.
What they won’t say is that they are looking for someone with a certain type of personality. Because they can't say that, but I would bet my favourite Boba Fett figure that these companies are looking for a certain type of person to fit their company culture.
Some Things Can't Be Taught... Most Things Can!
Doesn’t sound too hard does it? For some people it isn’t and there are certainly people that are more naturally inclined when it comes to customer support. There are obviously other skills that are useful; organization, self motivation, excellent written communication, and for some jobs you do need to have some technical knowledge. But my feeling is that all of that can be learnt, whereas teaching someone to be empathetic and natural at the same time is a considerably tougher task.
