Despite the low pay and repetitive work, a recent survey shows every one in three staff of UK call centres are degree holders. It reveals the difficulties on job hunting of the university-educated workers.
The survey is jointly conducted by recruitment firm Hays and Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service. The findings show 35 per cent of the call centre workers are graduates, which the figure increases by 10 per cent when compared to a year ago.
Call centres have a reputation of repetitive work and poor work pay. Despite that, the industry benefit from increase of university-educated applicants.
The survey shows the increasing popularity of call centres for graduates. 43 per cent of call centre managers are reported to experience an increase in graduate applications.
The Association of Graduate Recruiters’ (AGR) biannual survey shows how difficult to get job for graduates. There is an average of 69 candidates to chase for a single job, which is a huge surge from 31 in 2008.
“In difficult economic times, graduates are showing flexibility and adaptivity. It is great news for call centres, who are getting added value, but the challenge for them will be holding on to those people when the jobs market improves,” Carl Gilleard, AGR’s chief executive, said.
Another survey done by recruitment solutions provider Randstad shows up to 50 per cent of workers feel that their skills are underused by employers. Also, during the economic depression, about a third of permanent workers have to upskill in order to cover extra work, in the case the companies have not employ new workers.
