From the inside: A student agent's perspective

By Christian Merrill

My experience on the campus help desk has been both enlightening and educational.

Our goal is first and foremost to take care of our callers, even if we have no idea where they are coming from. This means that when we receive a call that we do everything we can to figure out their problem and find the best solution as quickly and efficiently as we can.

It’s immensely satisfying to receive a call from someone who is stressed, burnt out, and just wants their problem alleviated, get them where they need to be, and have them end the call happy and relieved.

As a student, we know how these problems go. We’ve been there, and it’s not fun. In this position, we can help and we can relate. It’s a valuable set of skills. What makes this possible are the exceptional employees with whom I work.

Steve, Scott, Cody, Beth, Angela, and Chris have been here awhile and are all excellent mentors and friends. It’s not uncommon for an IT help desk to receive complicated, confusing, or vague issues, but it is uncommon to receive the kind of support we do. All of the above will stop what they are doing to help me find a solution, teach me how I can do things better, and never make me feel stupid or inadequate.

In other jobs you worry that you will get in trouble for not knowing everything, or will be talked down to and dealt with condescendingly. On the help desk they just laugh and help you figure it out. They aren’t rude, impatient, or derogatory about it in any way. They treat you like an equal and they treat you like a human being. It makes a stressful job a fun learning environment where I get to help people.

At the end of the day, I work an occasionally stressful IT job. It’s my job to help people who need assistance — who are stressed, frustrated, and just want a solution, even if I wasn’t the right man to call.

What makes it worth it is getting the person on the other side of the phone to breathe a sigh of relief and smile, because they know that we’re doing our best to take care of them, because it’s what we would want, too.