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orikesAbout ten years ago, when I was last in college, I remember a big discussion on how ‘service’ jobs were the way of the future. How most careers were going to be in fields where you were offering ‘services’ to others. Basically, it was too expensive to keep manufacturing goods here in the states, so the shift was going towards job that couldn’t possibly be shipped overseas.
Unfortunately, that was underestimating the drive of corporate America to save a buck.
The job I’m doing right now is a service job. I’m providing tech support over the phone. Of course, the only reason I have that job right now is because the corporation I’m working for is in the midst of trying to get the foreign call center competent enough so they can cut loose all the American temp workers they’re employing.
I’m pretty good at what I’m doing, so there’s a chance they might keep me on after the initial term of the job, but at the same time, I know there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of me actually getting made into a full employee (with benefits, heaven forefend).
What bothers me the most is the number of customers I get calling who say to me, “Thank god! You speak English!” Every day, I can count on at least a half dozen calls where someone comments on the fact that they’re shocked to actually get someone on the line who can speak English and actually sounds like they know what they’re doing.
Whose bright idea was it to ship jobs like this overseas to countries where they don’t speak the language fluently?
I’m generally not a doomsayer. I go through life expecting things to be okay and to work out in the end. But it’s kinda scary to realize that jobs like this are just as easily shipped overseas as the manufacturing jobs of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.
Unfortunately, that was underestimating the drive of corporate America to save a buck.
The job I’m doing right now is a service job. I’m providing tech support over the phone. Of course, the only reason I have that job right now is because the corporation I’m working for is in the midst of trying to get the foreign call center competent enough so they can cut loose all the American temp workers they’re employing.
I’m pretty good at what I’m doing, so there’s a chance they might keep me on after the initial term of the job, but at the same time, I know there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of me actually getting made into a full employee (with benefits, heaven forefend).
What bothers me the most is the number of customers I get calling who say to me, “Thank god! You speak English!” Every day, I can count on at least a half dozen calls where someone comments on the fact that they’re shocked to actually get someone on the line who can speak English and actually sounds like they know what they’re doing.
Whose bright idea was it to ship jobs like this overseas to countries where they don’t speak the language fluently?
I’m generally not a doomsayer. I go through life expecting things to be okay and to work out in the end. But it’s kinda scary to realize that jobs like this are just as easily shipped overseas as the manufacturing jobs of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.