Indigo Career Path Q&A with Shaeya Hamilton, Senior Service Desk Coordinator
Tired of working in retail, Shaeya wanted job with more career prospects and hours that suited her lifestyle. Within a year she had her first promotion and was comfortably established in a line of work that was completely new to her when she went for the interview. Looking back, she can now see why her personality was a good fit for the job.
How did your career path take you to Indigo?
I’d been working as a manager in a sports retail shop and realised it was not something I wanted to be doing when I’m 30. I was 23 and felt it was time to find a job that felt more grown up, something with real career prospects. I saw an ad for a Service Desk Coordinator in Indigo’s Global Service Desk. I had no idea what the job involved but I looked up their website and went for it. They made it clear at the interview that experience was not important. I was completely honest and told them I didn’t really understand what they did but that I was willing to learn.
What was your first impression of the job when you started?
I remember seeing all the telecom logos on the tour of the GSD and being impressed by the famous brands. Then they issued me with a laptop and the training started. It was very intense: three weeks, Monday to Friday, nine to five. Indigo always train people in small numbers and I was lucky enough to get one-to-one instruction. I went from feeling overwhelmed on the first day to making sense of most of it by the end of the week. By the third week I was practising raising real tickets.
What does a Service Desk Co-ordinator do?
You come to work in the morning, you’ve got your laptop, two connected monitors and a deskphone. Your job is to respond to tickets raised by customers when they have a technical issue with their network. Their request appears in our CRM [Customer Relationship Management] system and it’s from there that we assign local engineers – Indigo has a global footprint so it could be almost anywhere in the world. It’s all done centrally in the GSD where my job is to coordinate the two sides, the customer and the engineers, and do my best to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible.
What do you like most about working at Indigo?
Every single thing, it’s never boring. I know it sounds awful, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I do. Don’t get me wrong, like every job it can be stressful at times, but I absolutely love it. And the biggest thing for me is working shifts. I had realised that working Monday to Friday was not for me, that excruciating feeling of always waiting for the weekend. We have four days on and four days off at Indigo, which gives you enough time to do your own thing and recharge your batteries. When it comes to the day-to-day job, it still blows my mind that every time I pick up the phone I could be talking to someone in America, France or any corner of the world. There’s a great vibe with all the team, engineers on the other end of the phone and my colleagues in the GSD.
How do your personal skills align with the work you do?
I’m definitely a people person, which you need to be, and I brought customer service skills from my retail job, which also helps. I have a strong work ethic, and you need one because it can get very busy. You can find yourself juggling several issues at the same time, so it helps to be good under pressure and flexible.
Are there opportunities for career progression at Indigo?
That was my first question at the interview! Yes, definitely; there’s always room for progression at Indigo which is important to me. As I said at the beginning, I was looking for a career, not just a job. In the year I’ve been with the company I’ve already been promoted once, and taken on more responsibility as a Senior Service Desk Coordinator. The next level up is Team Leader. After that, my career could go in any number of directions. I could become a Service Desk Manager or change course and move into projects. It really feels like the world’s opened up for me.
Want to know more?
If you are interested in developing your career with Indigo, please get in touch today.