Behind the Scenes: Call Center Job Description and Agent Tasks

A customer reaches out to contact your office and the phone call is rerouted to a digital call center. A virtual receptionist handles your calls, forwards your messages and updates your calendar. And there you have it; a simplistic view of how a call center streamlines your business communications.

To get a detailed understanding of how this all comes together, you must gain access to the call center job description and various agent tasks performed. We love giving you VIP access to our 24-hour digital call center and in this article we break down the various roles to help you understand the entire call center communication process. 

Understanding Call Center Job Descriptions and Agent Tasks:

Call Center Job: Message Handler

The most basic answering service our digital call center provides is telephone message taking. All of our virtual receptionists are trained in taking, handling and delivering telephone messages for all of our customers’ incoming calls.  

A telephone message handler is responsible for:

• • Making sure the incoming call is answered in two rings or less;
• • Using a customized greeting with all callers to guide the conversation;
• • Confirming the name, telephone number and/or email of caller for accuracy;
• • Taking a detailed message and advising the caller what will be done with the message; 
• • Delivering the telephone message via text, email, fax or voice to recipient.   

Every employee here at A Courteous Communications is trained as a message handler and is able to complete this general call center job. 

Call Center Job: Customer Service Agent

We like to refer to our virtual receptionists as customer service agents as well. A customer service agent is trained in handling all incoming business calls in a professional, courteous and confident manner. Customer service telephone agents take the roles of a message handler to a more interactive level.

Customer service agents are responsible for:

• • Providing a unique and elite customer service experience for all callers;
• • Answering a caller’s frequently asked question;
• • Informing the caller of rates, pricing and/or retainer fees;
• • Using customer service techniques to calm down an angry caller;
• • Helping callers navigate the business website as needed;
• • Ensuring that all calls are ended in a positive and courteous manner. 

Of course, these are just a handful of tasks a customer service telephone agent is responsible for. To get an even more detailed look into this call center job description, click here to read about how a qualified customer service agent operates.

Call Center Job: Appointment Scheduler

An appointment scheduler is able to perform all duties of our message handlers and customer service telephone agents. They’re also responsible for handling and managing the appointments on our customers’ calendars.

Virtual appointment schedulers or responsible for:

• • Accessing your business calendar, work schedule or on-line reservation book.
• • Offering available dates and times for appointments, consultations or reservations.
• • Scheduling and canceling appointments according to customers’ specifications;
• • Confirming all appointment and/or reservation details for 100% accuracy;
• • Synching up schedule changes and revisions for real-time schedule updates;
• • Delivering a detailed message of the action taken via text, email, fax or voice.

If you want to learn more about how the appointment schedulers are able to manage your calendar in real-time, read our latest article: How Does an Appointment Scheduling Service Work?

Call Center Job: Translator and Multilingual Agent

Our virtual receptionists that speak multiple languages allow us to offer specific services surrounding translating and multilingual customer telephone support. Our customers enjoy being able to speak with callers in their preferred or native language(s).

The translator and multilingual agents perform all virtual receptionist tasks while catering to specific language speaking markets.   

Call Center Job: Service Dispatcher

The dispatch unit is a highly active section of any digital call center. A service dispatcher is a virtual receptionist that is responsible for dispatching service orders or emergency calls. All business answering services are different, but here at A Courteous Communications, our service dispatchers have worked as customer service agents for a specific amount of time before being promoted to a dispatcher position.

A service dispatcher is responsible for:    

• • Dispatching service calls or orders to on-call service professionals or technicians;
• • Locating specific employees or third-party contractors in emergency situations;
• • Confirming that service calls or emergency calls have been handled by on-call staff;
• • Providing up to date information to customer about their service order;
• • Making 24-hour wake up calls in multiple time zones as requested by customer;
• • Prioritizing and handling dispatch queue for swift dispatch calls.  

This position requires a telephone agent to work well under pressure; have impeccable organizational skills; and, be incredibly detailed oriented.  

Call Center Job: Medical Virtual Receptionist

Just like our dispatcher team, we have a specific medical virtual receptionist unit within our digital call center. Medical virtual receptionists are trained in handling calls within the medical field and adhere to very specific rules and procedures.

A medical virtual receptionist is responsible for:

• • Answering after-hour and emergency calls for medical professionals and facilities;
• • Dispatching emergency calls or messages to on-call medical staff or nurse’s station;
• • Knowing frequently used medical terms and abbreviations for detailed messages; 
• • Memorizing the spelling of difficult surnames and hospital directories;
• • Providing compassion and empathy when fielding patient calls;
• • Adhering to strict security procedures and complying with HIPAA rules and regulations.

Click here to learn more about outsourcing your hospital or medical office lines to a virtual medical receptionist team.

Call Center Job: Lead Agent

A lead telephone agent is trained as a message handler, customer service agent, service dispatcher and medical virtual receptionist. The lead position within the agent room is responsible for assisting other virtual receptionists as needed. They are also responsible for taking over difficult calls, handling unexpected high call volumes and fielding emergency messages.

Call Center Job: Agent Room Supervisor

The area that all of our virtual receptionists operate in is called our agent room. The agent room and/or shift supervisor manages our staff and oversees the answering services we provide.

The agent room supervisor is responsible for:

• • Random reviews of live calls to ensure quality control;
• • Managing and covering employee breaks, lunches and training sessions;
• • Ensuring that all telephone agent stations are working properly;
• • Notifying the operations’ manager of emergency situations.  

Call Center Job: Employee Coordinator

The employee coordinator in A Courteous Communications has the fun job of making sure our employees are recognized and celebrated.

The employee coordinator is responsible for:

• • Keeping a detailed calendar of all employees’ birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions.
• • Decorating the agent rooms, break rooms and offices for holidays and special events;
• • Updating the employee of the month wall to honor the latest super star agents;
• • Working with caterers and third-party vendors for special events;
• • Scheduling and providing information for upcoming group charity opportunities.

We love our employee coordinator! Click here to visit our Facebook photos to see the fun we’re able to have as a team thanks to our coordinator. 

Call Center Job: On-Site Technical Support

Being a 24-hour digital call center demands that we have an on-site technical support team. A technical support agent is able to keep our state of the art equipment and software constantly running in tip-top shape.

An on-site technical support agent is responsible for:

• • Updating and monitoring equipment and software performance;
• • Providing routine maintenance on the server room and backup generators;
• • Inputting all customer account information and all requested customizations;
• • Making all changes to customer accounts in accordance with a customer’s request;
• • Troubleshooting equipment and software errors or potential errors;
• • Being on standby to fix any equipment or software failures;
• • Recording customer service calls for operational manager’s review and inspection.  

Call Center Job: Operational Manager

The operational manager of any call center is the main supervisor and oversees the day-to-day tasks of the call center. The buck stops with our operational manager, who is also our VP. The operational manager is responsible for supervising all of the digital call center’s departments:           

• • Virtual Receptionist Team
• • Training Department
• • Human Resources
• • Administrative Staff
• • Billing Department
• • Information Technology (IT) Technicians
• • Customer Relations
• • And So Much More!

We hope you enjoyed these Call Center Descriptions! Give us a call to find out more! 

We hope you now have a very clear understanding of a call center job description and the specific agent tasks required to keep business communications streamlined and open. If you’re ready to discuss how a virtual receptionist team can specifically help your business, give us a call at 1-800-785-6161 to speak with our account specialist.

If you have read over the job descriptions and think you have what it takes to be a part of our team, shoot us a message here to start the interview process.