It’s an age-old question: As a new college grad, should you hold out for the perfect job that aligns with your degree and ambitions? Or should you enter the workforce as soon as you can when the opportunity arises? There are certainly compelling arguments to be made for either approach but consider this: Customer service jobs will give new graduates something they can’t get in school. Real-time, real-world workforce experience.
You’ll learn how to build product knowledge skills
It doesn’t matter if you’re a retail cashier or a chain restaurant server. Customer service jobs demand to build up an intimate knowledge of the products or services your company sells. Often times, customer service jobs exist in software development or technology companies, healthcare companies and everything in between. This can be a great entry point to get the base knowledge and then soar to other opportunities. A college grad is fresh off the experience of taking notes and cramming for finals; cultivating familiarity and expertise in product or service knowledge isn’t that different. And if you hope to move into sales or presentation later in your career, this skill will serve you well.
It will be a real-world stress test
Whether or not you worked before or during college, there’s something heightened about your first full-time customer service job. You may be on the front lines between customers and the company at a customer service desk. Or you may field complaints as a call center employee. These are stressful situations but learning how you handle stress and adapting to handle it better is an invaluable professional skill and one that only comes from workforce experience.
It’s a great step in networking
It happens all the time: people in customer service jobs give great service to hiring managers and business owners and receive job offers. You never know who’s going to walk in the door or what they may do for a living. If you’re always on you’re a-game and the right person benefits from your work, it may lead to bigger things quite quickly!
