Working with a call center while traveling on the road.

[DNA0721]

I wanted to know if anyone out there has heard of or worked with a call center taking in-bound calls while traveling on the road? I have heard that Uhaul let's you "work at home", or in our case, "work at home while on the road", taking in-bound service calls from Uhaul customers who break down etc. Thanks for any input.

[VallAndMo]

Howdy,

 

 

I wanted to know if anyone out there has heard of or worked with a call center taking in-bound calls while traveling on the road? I have heard that Uhaul let's you "work at home", or in our case, "work at home while on the road", taking in-bound service calls from Uhaul customers who break down etc. Thanks for any input.

 

Interesting, if you find out anything about that, please let me know.

 

Cheers,

--

Vall.

[2gypsies]

Good idea but you'd have to be sure you had a very strong internet/phone connection. Good luck!

[pugsly]

Last year I ran into a fellow who was a doctor working on the road. He would take phone consults while camping - talk with patients, call in prescriptions, etc. It didn't matter where he was - but the caller had to be in a state that he was licensed to practice medicine in.

[trostberg]

I have seen some of these but they say you have to be in a certain state or have a land line. One was Amazon call center. I also saw Holland America but their system required you to be with Comcast to interface with their system.

[DNA0721]

Thank you for your replies. I've had 30 years in the service end of the automotive industry from technician to service advisor and now in the Call center of a large metro dealership. I'm looking for a "fit" for my job skills and experience that I can take on the road when we finally are able to pull the traveling trigger. I don't write web sites or have the computer savvy skills so many of the full timing workforce seem to have. My goal is to have an income I can take with me wherever I go so I don't have to be locked in to a location or time frame that a work camper type job would make you do. My wife has accounting skills and may work with account temps positions in various parts of the country and when that particular job ends and she is able to take another position elsewhere, I don't want to be locked in at a job that would keep us from going to her next job opportunity. Our travel will revolve around her work schedule for a couple years until 401k money and such will be available.

[Kirk W]

As long as you spend your time where you have reliable cellular service, I would think that it would be quite possible to do what you have in mind. You may need to educate your employer as I don't think that it is being done a lot yet, but see no reason why it could not be. I suggest that you start by approaching your present employer with the idea.

 

Please do keep us informed as you move forward as you may well be breaking ground here!

[SpaceNorman]

Reliable internet connectivity is the key to working any "computer based" job from the road. We've had our coach for roughly a year now. The first "upgrade" I made to our coach was installing solid wireless internet infrastructure. In my case that's a Cradlepoint router and Weboost Drive 4G-X cellular signal booster. As long as we're somewhere with Verizon coverage - I am able to work. I work as a network analyst for a large bank - examining circuit utilization and dissecting troubled communication issues. The vast majority of my day is spent working independently - RDP'd into a server in our data center that runs a number of specialized analysis tools. When I do attend meetings - typically it's telephone conference calls and/or Webex sessions.

 

I've been working remote from our "stick and brick" home 3-4 days per week for the past 4-5 years. My "work remote" program started at my management's request - which came at a time when our building was chock full of contractors who had been brought on board to support IT work associated with our acquisition of another bank. Put simply they needed more cubicle space - and as a 20+ year veteran of the firm, I was deemed a good candidate for working remote.

 

In the year since we took possession of our coach - I've been working closely with my manager to "pilot" my ability to work "uber-remote" from the coach. It started with me working my normal 3 days per week schedule. I then got approval to expand it a bit - working remote during weeklong trips. My "pilot" programs culminated with a recent 6 week trip to Florida - during which I worked remotely throughout the trip.

 

Early this past week I was told that my team's management (my immediate boss along with his boss) will support a formal request to HR that I be permitted to give up space in the office and work remotely 100% of the time. I submitted that paperwork on Friday - and expect to receive the near certain approval from HR shortly.

[Kevin H]

I know you asked specifically about call center jobs, but don't rule out other opportunities. I don't know your $$$ needs but if you don't have to generate a large amount of money, there are lots of varied jobs out there. Look around as you travel and note all the help wanted signs. Granted, many, if not most, are less than full time and pay minimum at best, but some may work for you.

As you know, you are jumping into an "outside the box" lifestyle. Embrace your new world and look for those "outside the box" $$$ chances. You may find yourself embarking on a whole new career, or maybe a whole series of stints satisfying the questions of "What if I tried ...????" or "I wonder what it would be like to try...??".

Take a look at CoolWorks or Workamper News. Also, if you see a place that just makes you curious, drop in and talk to them. It's amazing the things that pop-up.

As and example, before I retired from pounding code and cleared my cubicle I would have never pictured myself working in State and National parks. Now I cannot see myself doing much of anything else!

Have fun and let us know what you fall into.

[DNA0721]

Thank you Space Norman for sharing your transition to 100% mobile! Thanks for the info on the set up you have to stay "in touch". I'm excited for you with this opportunity.

[skp093018]

I'm sure there have been loads of changes in the telecom field since I left 10 years ago, but if you are part of a call center, then you in a queue to take calls as they come in along with the other call center agents. And it's more than just taking calls...as you know, you need access to data...so along with voice, you need access to the callers data and company data. As such, you would need to be tethered to that call center somehow...which means an investment in technology. As this article says, it's just plumbing....but finding an employer willing to invest could be the stumbling block. I'm thinking your best bet is with your current employer....after all, you are a known (perhaps highly valued) employee...can you convince them that it's in their best interest to invest in the technology in order to keep you integrated into their business ?

 

Regards

Gemstone

[Kevin H]

Data security will be a big issue. I looked into remote medical coding a while back. No way due to HIPPA regs. Not sure what sort of security would be required for your situation Anything's possible if you have enough money!!!

[SpaceNorman]

....I looked into remote medical coding a while back. No way due to HIPPA regs....

We met a young man this past winter while staying at Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle FL, who full times - and works from his coach as a medical transcriptionist. As a medical transcriptionist - he listens to audio recordings of the doctors' notes and case updates - and then types out what he hears. The company he works for uses voice to text software that takes a "first pass" at transcribing the audio ... such that when he starts on a transcription - he's provided with a text file of what the computer "heard" along with the audio. He simply has to go through, listening to the audio and making any necessary corrections. All he needs to be able to work is a laptop and an internet connection. Security is provided via a VPN connection to his company's system. He gets paid by the line. He sets his own schedule (both the # of hours he cares to work - as well as when he wants to work them). From the way he described it - there's demand for the work - provided you've got the training and skills to do the job.

[Kevin H]

It's been three or four years since I looked into it. Makes sense that security has been addressed. Thanks for sharing.

 

-- Kevin

[Sunshine cindy]

I am a nurse case manager that works for a health plan. We have 8 nurses and 6 of them work from home, 2 hours away from the office. If you can work 2 hrs away, why can' t you work in another state if you have the internet connection? I just proposed to my manager that I will work remotely from down south for 5 months and then return up north for the spring and summer. HIPPA is huge in my industry and there isn't a problem!

[GeorgiaHybrid]

There are a LOT of fields that can be adapted to working remotely. In our case, we make shop drawings for steel fabricators on large industrial projects with 3D modeling software. This pic is what 2/3 of my staff looks like:

 

 

Think a little differently about what data you need to access. A Citrix server might be better for some employers, a local database with remote login better for others but in our case, having all of the data stay on our server and having the users log in on our VPN using remote desktop to this rack was a better option.