I love my job because...

I love my job because it inspires me so much. I work for a leader in telecommunications with offices in over 150 countries. It truly is a highly valuable company, at the epitome of our digital age. If I were to metaphorise, I’d say my function is that of a pixel in a digitised image. Small but vital.

The best part of my company is the flexibility and the support they lend me as my job is very rewarding albeit tough and it sometimes presents difficulties. Firstly, I get to work from the comfort of my home at present, the pandemic is the culprit for this although it has become a welcome adjustment. I wake up at 7 am some days, to start at 8am sharp and finish for 6pm. Other days, I can wake leisurely to start a shift at 11 am but finish later into the evening, sometimes up till 8pm. I work four days a week with three days off and this is a brilliant shift pattern because it really does lend me time for my hobbies and recreational activities.

At 8am/11am sharp my computer systems are fired up, and ping goes the green start button on my screen. This signals that I am ready to take the first call of the day, armed with a small rush of adrenaline that my morning coffee provides. I can expect a variety of scenarios which can take me through a flurry of emotions during the day but I find this is also exactly what keeps me on my toes.

On the whole, I can expect to speak to wonderful people who may have a concern about the progression of their connection or perhaps would appreciate an understanding of the inner workings of the internet. However, on the rare occasion I am sometimes graced with impertinence among the consumers I am faced with.

I work in the orders department and if that sounds straightforward, let me tell you, the presumption is far removed from actuality. I work with residential orders for internet connections, where I may chase hold ups with engineering teams or fix orders that have been subject to a systematical error perhaps as a result of a data mismatch or a difficulty in provision. This is a role where customers are paramount, therefore it is consumer-focused and I’ve been well equipped with an arsenal of skills.

When I first walked into the interview room for this job at the age of eighteen, I had no idea I’d soon be skilled in the art of diplomacy, de-escalation tactics and analytical approaches to solving problems that can sometimes be complex.

Fast forward three years, and I have now recently turned twenty-one with the company and I have grown in ways I could not have imagined. I have become assertive and I am also a lot calmer in my approach to day-to-day stress or situations that may present difficulties. I am also a lot more social; my job has taught me how to form connections with people of all walks of life. Sometimes I may build a strong bond with a customer at work in a short twenty minutes, I would have never thought it possible prior to experiencing this myself. If I’m lucky and I speak to someone of the older generation, they’ll leave me with pearls of wisdom, recommendations for their favourite travel spots and sometimes entertaining stories about themselves or their families.

I get to experience conversations with between twenty and eighty people a week, expanding my knowledge of complex systems and living vicariously through the experiences of others. Compassion and empathy play a huge role in my job as well, without them, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate just how important the internet is to my life as well as the lives of people I speak to.

The most astounding aspect of my job, is that I have the privilege of working for a world renown company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, that is making huge waves in the digital space. My company also has a historical footprint and dates back to the 1930's, where they were quintessential in establishing telephonic communication in Britain, a modern triumph at the time.

I absolutely love the fact that I am a minuscule cog in the ever-moving machine of technological advancement.

A utility such as the internet was only born forty years ago and it’s a welcome guest in a billion homes that rely on it out of necessity. The internet is a giant enabler to the coming of our digital and modern age. We’re only in the first two decades of the twenty-first century and the possibilities of the future excite me. Now imagine working for a company that makes it happen...I surely do count myself lucky!