Tiziana speaking. A day at Spangenberg Group
What do you do on a typical work day? That's what I'm going to tell you in this blog!
In 2019, I joined as an agent at Spangenberg Group. For imaging purposes, the position of "agent" amounts to the position of customer service representative. Within SpangenbergGroep, as an agent you are mainly involved in telephone contact and e-mail contact with customers, depending on the type of project you are working for as an agent. In fact, SpangenbergGroep has several clients (i.e. projects): from fashion to plumbing, from cars to air conditioners, from processing promotions to advising on darts/multiple products. So varied enough! These different clients, have different desires/requirements, so the work varies from project to project. But rest assured, whichever project you come to work for, you'll be assigned to each project individually 😊.
The project I was working for at the time was the fashion department. In summary, the work in this department boils down to everything related to an order of clothing. Thinking of actually entering an order, answering questions about where a package stays and giving advice about a garment. The most enjoyable part of the work here was the contact with the customers. The average age of the customers in the fashion department is 85. I noticed that the phone call from these customers towards us is often one of the few moments of contact they have in a day. Wishing people a good day can often have a greater effect than perhaps expected. To be able to speak to the customers, to help them and to hang up the phone with a nice feeling, is a great feeling in my opinion.
I also like the atmosphere in the departments. In fact, I notice that there is a certain image attached to customer service (thinking of a typical call factory). There are indeed companies where this is actually the situation. I have to admit that I was also a little apprehensive when I started at SpangenbergGroup. What the working atmosphere would be like was the biggest question for me. I quickly realized that SpangenbergGroep is not a typical call factory. Of course calling the customers is central, but in between times there is also plenty of room for a pleasant chat with colleagues.
Furthermore, I like the way of working at SpangenbergGroup. I mean this in the broadest sense of the word. Starting with the way the schedule is set. I did my job at SpangenbergGroep alongside my studies. This made it essential for me to be able to combine my working days with school. This was no problem at all because, as an agent, you can pass on your own availability each week, on which the project boss then makes a suitable schedule. I also like the way the work is done. I received a manual on which I could look back several times and there was enough room to ask questions in between.
To summarize, a day as an agent looked like this: I came into the office, grabbed a cup of coffee/tea, started up my computer, made calls to customers, chatted with colleagues in between, sometimes ordered lunch with colleagues, and then I went home with a nice feeling.
In early 2021, I quit as an agent at SpangenbergGroup because I was about to begin my full-time graduate internship. Then, in July 2021, I graduated from the Business Studies program with a major in HR. As of September, I was looking for a new job in the HR field. And how coincidental... SpangenbergGroup had a vacancy for HR employee open at that time! Since September I have been employed by SpangenbergGroep again, but this time in the HR field. I am very happy and grateful for this because, given my previous employment with SpangenbergGroep, I have a good idea of how the business operates. When I was hired into the HR (and payroll processing) position, there was no defined job description. In retrospect, I understand why. After all, every day is different! The basics I'm busy with on a weekly basis are creating, renewing and writing contracts, recruiting and drafting addenda. In the process, colleagues regularly walked in with questions about their contracts or leave, for example. Another positive point, I think, is the freedom you get within SpangenbergGroup. As just described, there are a number of basic tasks that have to be done, but in addition there is certainly room to contribute something yourself. When I notice something in the way of working, hear something in the corridors or get a spontaneous idea, in most cases there is room to implement it (as long as it is discussed, of course). So the HR function within SpangenbergGroep is also very varied. Processing salaries is part of my job. I do this in collaboration with a colleague. The work that remains for me during the salary run consists of calculating mutations (due to illness, minus hours or leave), loading the salaries into the salary processing system and sending out the payslips.
In summary, I would describe the work within SpangenbergGroup, but especially the atmosphere, as dynamic, pleasant and instructive. Together with a team of superheroes we make sure that shit/everything gets taken care of 😊