Andrea King

Number one, my success comes from God. Number two, it comes from good parents. Both of my parents are educated, hardworking, and they've always instilled in me that you have to work to get wherever you want. You may not enjoy the moment that you're in, but it's always going to take you further into where you want to be. My father is in healthcare and works in retirement facilities, and watching him through his journey and seeing how much pride and happiness he takes from being able to help the members at the facilities he's at has been incredibly inspiring. That influenced my desire to still be in the healthcare field while combining it with my call center background.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always be coachable and always be willing to learn, no matter what level you are on. You can still learn, and you can learn from anybody, anywhere. You can learn from your employees, you can learn from your leadership, anywhere. This mindset has helped me stay open to growth and development throughout my career, and it's something I carry with me in every role I take on.

The advice I would give to young women entering my industry would be to remain focused on their goals and don't let outside distractions keep them from getting where they want to be, because it's really easy to be distracted or to be kind of discouraged in this environment. If you are always focused on what your goals are, then even in those hard days, you're still going to be able to push through. The call center environment can be challenging, but staying committed to your vision will help you overcome any obstacles you face.

The biggest challenges in my field right now include meeting member, client, or customer expectations. A lot of times today, it seems like everybody is go, go, go, and things need to be done as fast as possible, but doing things as fast as possible sometimes means you're not going to get quality work. So sometimes it's a balance between meeting those expectations and giving quality work. Staffing and retention are also major challenges. It kind of feels like not necessarily that people don't want to work, but they don't understand that it's not always going to go your way. You have to go to work and follow somebody's rules until you've reached the point in your career where maybe you're starting your own company and you can make the rules, but you're going to have to be able to adapt and change and grow with the roles that you're in. Adapting to technology is another challenge, as things are going to change, technology's going to grow and get better, programs are going to be different, and you're going to have to learn new things. As for opportunities, employee development is huge, as well as improving processes and making sure that your influence is more strategic. It's not just about managing the call volume, but it's also about shaping that customer's experience, making sure that the operation is growing, and making sure that you are using the right strategies along the way.

The values most important to me in my work and personal life are work-life balance, professionalism, honesty, and respect. Work-life balance is crucial because you can't be everything at work and still be everything at home, so it's really important for me to make sure that there is a balance in any role that I'm in. As for professionalism, my environment has to remain professional. I've been in very unprofessional environments in the past, and I know that it is not something that I personally can succeed in, so I know that others around me are probably not going to reach the success that they're looking for in that type of environment as well. Honesty and respect are extremely important to me in both my professional and personal relationships.