My name is Morten Halkjaer and I am 25 years old. In February 2014, I moved from Denmark to Riga to work for Transcom Worldwide Latvia. Last winter, I saw a job ad about working with customer service for an international media company in Riga and I was at a point in my life where I had to choose if I wanted to pursue my career or experience the world. I chose the last option, but I didn't expect that I would find both here in Latvia. I had the phone interview on a Thursday and four days later, I was on a plane to Riga at 5.40 in the morning.
When I arrived, I was picked up at the airport by my teamleader-to-be, Anna. She was super sweet, and she had a taxi waiting for us outside the airport, which took us to the hotel where I would stay. Transcom had made sure that the hotel was paid for the first month I was in Latvia, which was awesome. Afterwards, Anna took me to see the actual office, where I would be working.
The following week was spent on trainings with our trainer Madlena. She made sure we were ready to take calls when the time came. I remember how eager I was to take my first call. I just couldn't wait. I had never worked with customer service on the phone before, but I had sales experience, which has proved to help me a lot.
The first call I took, was a customer asking which devices that supported our clients services. It was super fun to talk to him! I could have a conversation with him, just as I would with a friend. Our client wants to have the best customer service in the world, therefore they don't have scripts. You can talk to customers in a casual and natural way, which I still find really amazing. After my first call everyone at the office started clapping.
It was a very inspiring experience. It really showed how great the connection between the employees is, and it has only become even stronger with time. In April, my teamleader was leaving the company. I was still feeling green, but she encouraged me to apply for her position. I applied, mostly to see how the process worked, since I thought that agents that had more experience would get the position. That was not the case. Transcom saw potential in me and I became a teamleader.
Transcom is an outstanding company, who really cares about its employees' personal development. During my time here, I have acquired many new skills such as; positive positioning and presentation skills while I was an agent. As a teamleader I have learned coaching, time management and Latvian labor law. I have a lot of free space to do things my way, which allows me to grow and unfold. Transcom also challenges you to become better, and to develop your skills by assigning additional tasks to you.
Currently I am working on a new project for new employees from Scandinavia, like myself. It will help them with the transition when our new hires arrive here in Latvia. It is really interesting to have a project like this, where I have to keep in touch with many different people and follow up on the tasks I have assigned them. I love being able to contribute to Transcom's way of working, and I see it as a large responsibility, where I learn how a business manager works, which hopefully would be the next step for me. I came to Riga, fell in love with Riga and Transcom, and now I have been here for 1.5 years without any plans about leaving!