Where can jobs in customer service take you?
Customer service is one of the biggest sectors in the UK. It plays an important role in most organisations to help them interact with consumers, communicate about their goods and services, as well as promoting brand values. Jobs in customer service can be hard-working but rewarding, with plenty of variety in terms of job role, sector and working environment. We take a look at the top 10 industries that hire Customer Service professionals to help you explore your career options.
Which industries can you work in?
All industries are different and require different customer service needs. However, there is no business without customers. Customer needs for specific service may vary by industry. For example, some companies will need you to deal with high call volumes and more closed sales, while others will need you to provide a more personalised service and customer care.
1. Telecoms
In the telecommunication sector, telecom operators face a strict regulatory environment to control the implementation of campaigns and the use of customer information. Contact centres need to be able to accommodate customer service requirements and still deliver an outstanding service, meeting customer needs. In the last decade or so, due to the fast increase in the number of households using telecommunication, it has become almost certain that this highly technical and specialized field will be experiencing immense growth in coming years.
If you are a social and helpful person naturally, telecommunications may be the job for you.
2. Financial
The importance of customer service in the financial sector has massively increased over the last couple of years. Customers seek informative financial advice from customer service and due to the worldwide economic and financial situation the debt collection department is loaded with work. Customers expect to be able to interact safely and express their customer needs with their financial provider through several ways, reaching from voice and email to web collaboration or mobile apps.
If you have a good attention to detail with excellent computer and maths skills, customer service in the financial sector may suit you the best.
3. Healthcare
Helping people in need and being able to provide the best care in vital times requires reliable contact centre solutions. Either to follow up on the patient’s treatment or just to be available to schedule medical appointments, healthcare organizations need exceptional and speedy people to meet patient or customer needs. You need be able to quickly and accurately access the information about a patient, such as scheduled appointments and last doctors seen to be able provide the best possible care and information.
If you are passionate about helping people and reassuring them, taking the time to be as patient and reassuring as possible, customer service in the medical field may be for you.
4. Government
To adapt to the needs of the modern citizen, governments, both local and central, are continuously relying on contact centres to interact with their residents. The type of the offered customer care services varies from helping people with requests to creating interaction channels for certain situations. Public organizations are usually represented in many regions, therefore support to decentralized operations is crucial and needs to be addressed by contact centre solutions.
If you are keen on learning to develop proactive policies and procedures and have the integrity to respect private and confidential information, similarly to healthcare, the government sector may be a perfect match for you.
5. Retail
During the last few years, retail companies have been changing their strategies on how to provide their products and services to ensure customer needs are met with satisfaction. Today, distribution channels vary from retail stores and catalogues to online stores, social media and mobile apps. To be able to support such a broad strategy, retail companies need to communicate with their customers throughout different communication channels.
Contact centres are playing an increasingly important role helping companies to meet customer needs and improve their customer value. In retail, you need to be persuasive, patient and flexible. Retail workers need to focus on detail, whether it is making sure a customer receives their exact change, items in the store are fully stocked, or the clothing on display is laid out perfectly meaning an eye for detail is a critical skill when trying to attract customers to a product. If this sounds like your skillset, customer service in retail may be the right choice for you.
6. Media
Media companies rely heavily on customer feedback to keep up with trends that may affect the direction of their business. Interaction and social media channels allow these companies to maintain a strong and loyal relationship with the public ensuring customer needs are met. Well established companies need to adapt to the new market trends to be able to keep their audience and stay profitable causing contact centres to be a helpful tool to support media companies in their customer care strategies, not only by providing interaction but also a way to contact a new and wider audience.
If you are an organised, adaptive and creative person, customer service in the media sector would suit you greatly.
7. Manufacturing
Manufacturing businesses have grown substantially in value by investing in strategies that bring them closer to the customer by assisting in the process, tracking and promoting new products. To support these processes, contact centres have played a crucial role by providing customers with valuable information and help and offering a variety of customer service channels. If you are keen in building and maintaining customer relationships and keep your promises, customer services in the manufacturing sector may suit you. ]
Manufacturing companies tend to neglect social media and an online presence, so someone with knowledge with the internet would be essential.
8. Leisure
With more options available for customers than ever before, it is vital that businesses in leisure have the right balance between acquisition of new customers and retention of old. Social customer service now offers fitness and leisure centres with the opportunity to build ongoing relationships with members as well as reward customers who are engaging with them. Many gyms already have in place great social marketing strategies which use promotions, competitions and engagement to grow on social media channels.
There are a lot of different factors that consumers take into consideration when making a purchasing decision. Great social customer service can act as a market differentiator, helping you stand out and having direct impact on the bottom line. If you enjoy celebrating and engaging in success and being proactive, a customer service role in leisure may be better suited to you.
9. Hospitality
Hospitality remains as competitive as ever, so it is important to establish successful interactions with customers through high quality service. The well-known sectors in hospitality are accommodation and lodging, food and beverage and entertainment such as bars and nightclubs. Over time, customers will become more demanding due to tourism and their needs will become more immediate and people will pay more for a hassle-free service. The customer will look for what they want, rather than what the business wants to give them so it’s important knowing why the customer is there in the first place, making them feel important, building a relationship, responding to requests out of the ordinary and ensuring someone is always available for them.
If you have good interpersonal skills, can work under pressure and loves to socialise, the hospitality sector will suit you best.
10. Travel & Tourism
Customer service is of vital importance in the travel and tourism sector. Excellent customer service results in a high level of satisfaction and encourages customers to return and to recommend to others. Many organisations in the travel and tourism sector offer the same or similar products and services, and it is usually the quality of the customer service which distinguishes one from another. Travel and tourism organisations understand that consistent high standards of customer service will ensure customer loyalty.
Travel and tourism organisations are in the business of providing information and selling products and services so meeting the specific needs of different customer types need to be dealt with to ensure that all employees appreciate the importance of treating customers as individuals. If you are a persuasive person with excellent communication and business skills, the travel and tourism may be the sector for you.
In summary, whether office based or in a shop, the main benefit of jobs in customer service is interacting with the public all day which is ideal for a social and outgoing person. Most sectors require the same skills such as excellent communication, teamwork and problem solving skills. Whichever area you want to work in, the role will revolve around solving customer issues and questions. In most customer service jobs, you’ll be kept occupied which makes the day go quicker.
If you have your heart set on jobs in customer service, it will provide you will lots of different transferable skills that you’ll be able to use in other roles in the future from dealing with the public to managing your workload and using your initiative. The experience you will gain in a customer service role will benefit you greatly in your next career move.
If you’re considering jobs in Customer Service, take a look at what careers in the Stockport area have to offer by visiting our career guides. Find out about entry requirements, job prospects and explore local employers.
