This week is Customer Service Week, and Sendwave is excited to celebrate some of our hardest working team members! Our Support team is distributed across three continents, but what they all have in common is doing their best every day to make our users happy.
To celebrate, this week we’re sharing an interview with Fanny Rosas, a Support Ops Project Manager who joined Sendwave in May.
How did you get into customer support work? “I started my Customer Support career as a front line support agent, over the years I learned to appreciate the customer support world and have been able to graduate into several support leadership positions. Honestly, my first time working in the sector was pretty much against my will! A previous startup I worked for had no support team, so I was stepping in just to get the job done. I learned the basics of how support is crucial for business needs, and what infrastructure needed to be put into place for the team to be successful. My first experience helped me set my aspirations as a support leader and figure out what I wanted to specialize in. I’m glad I began as an agent, it is an incredibly humbling role and as a leader, it reminds me to keep the human element in mind in everything I do simply because I have learned how the ”smallest“ of leadership decisions can significantly affect an individuals day-to-day work.”
What about Sendwave’s mission resonates with you? I come from an immigrant family with LatAM roots and sending money to loved ones is something that I personally do. The fact that Sendwave has focused on countries that need it the most resonates with me since I am also a user with a need for a service that is easy to use, affordable, and that provides quick turnaround.
What do you think makes Support jobs special? Many people may not think of customer support as a special job, but it truly can be rewarding. Working in customer support develops your emotional intelligence. You learn to not take an angry customer’s remarks personally — and that takes quite a bit of practice and patience! There are transferrable skills you obtain that prepare you to transition roles or into other careers like sales, marketing, and product. In my opinion, the skills you most enhance are around communication. Developing the capability to think on your feet, learning to effectively solve problems, and communicate resolutions as clearly as possible while instilling confidence (remember, sometimes people are angry) are why I believe customer support is such a special job.
What was your biggest surprise when you joined Sendwave? “The biggest surprise for me when joining Sendwave was that we don’t shelter new employees — I think it’s a plus! Sendwave has an open Slack channel policy which came across as overwhelming and uncomfortable at first but in time I realized that discussions in open channels prompt great collaboration and result in a treasure trove of knowledge. I was also immediately pulled into critical initiatives to help us scale. My team had me hit the ground running, and I jumped into such a fast-paced environment instead of being scheduled for two or three weeks of meetings to absorb info passively. As to be expected, the initial learning curve was challenging, but the leadership team and my peers have been great in filling all the gaps.“
What do you do when you’re not supporting our users?During last year’s quarantine, I learned that I have a green thumb! Caring for plants during such a strange time gave me a greater sense of appreciation for nature and reminded me that it is OK to slow down sometimes. Who knew caring for something you cultivated could be so therapeutic?! At home, I’m the mother of a 6 year old and a new doxen puppy. My time is very occupied helping my daughter explore her interests and for activities to help her development. Our favorite things to do together are cooking, gardening, and practicing gymnastics.
If you’d like to join Sendwave’s support team, we’re continuing to grow in Senegal, Costa Rica and Kenya! Find all our roles at sendwave.com/careers.
