Meet Safaricom Director of Customer Care As She Reveals What Her Job Entails

Ever wondered what it would be like to work for Safaricom? I mean working for a company with over 17 million customers seems like quite the task.

Well, listen up as Pauline Warui, Director Of Customer Care explains what it would take to work for the communication giant and what skills would be required.

Speaking to Eve Woman, Pauline Reveals that, “Contrary to the popular belief, a call centre is not all about picking calls,” she says, “it calls for listening skills, good attitude, personality and a quick mind; it is a science where you juggle to meet objectives.”

The director says mobile telephony is dynamic, where things change by the second. They have to be on their toes. The millions of customers call by the second, with a host of demands. And the bulk of this fascinates Pauline and her staff, as they never saw it coming. “About 30 per cent of the calls we receive are on M-Pesa, where people send money to the wrong number,” she shares.

But for now, the people prefer calling, and they come with different needs and personalities, some patient, others not so patient. Pauline’s team need to handle each case professionally, which calls for the right staff.

The problem, says Pauline, is that many people do not take customer care as a career, but a thing you do while waiting for a better opening.

She says that, “My biggest task is to get the right staff,” and to go about it, she has devised ‘light interviews’. “I like to meet interviewees casually, greet them and see them role-play. With formal interviews you can spot hidden talent.”

While she studied for her A-Levels at Kerugoya Girls, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree, Social Work, at the University of Nairobi and has been at Safaricom Ltd since 2007

And what has her career journey been like?  In 2000 she got a job at Kencell, now Airtel where she sailed through the ranks starting as a team leader to customer care manager and after five years, she says she made a career turnaround when she got an opportunity to work with an oil company.

“I had to do a lot of soul searching, but I like to challenge myself and I took the job at the Chevron Caltex,” It was very exciting she says, “In two years, I had learnt all there was in the complex world of oil and big corporations. But most importantly I learnt people skills out of managing teams from different countries.”

She goes on to reveal that her first job was at the Bangladesh High Commission as a receptionist. After one and half years, she left and joined Green Gold, a horticultural company as the Administrator.

The company folded three years later putting her in a path closer to what would define her life. “In 1998, I joined a company that dealt with the one-way communication gadgets, Pagers,” she says.

So, what’s her secret? “Coming from the village, I had to work twice as hard. The one who gets rewarded in the dynamic corporate world is the articulate one.”

Looking into the future, she wants to take customer care in Kenya to another level, where it will be viewed as a rewarding career.

As for her future plans she says that “I have worked with so many people and I understand them so well. That is why I am penning a book on how to manage the youth.”

What do you think….Do Kenyans treat Customer Service as a profession as a by the way kind of career?

Source: Eve Woman

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