Some things I wish I had known before I started:
Very few people leave the call center for professional jobs at Garmin headquarters. Maybe a few out of the several hundred of us every year due to a severe lack of opportunities and unwillingness to offer any training that might help further your career.
Your time and performance at the call center will mean nothing when applying for internal jobs at headquarters. They are not even sure what we do and you will have to explain yourself as if you came in off the street when you interview with them.
If you have a good year expect about a 3% raise.
Your starting pay will be very low in comparison to other large companies for similar positions.
You will never be considered for management at the call center unless you leave and get management experience somewhere else, no matter how long you have worked there. Why do I say that? A prerequisite for the few management positions that come up is that you already have management experience from another call center. They really do not want to hire anyone in the company and set things up so that its virtually impossible.
There is a workout room to give the appearance that Garmin cares about your health. This is actually a very unhealthy environment where you are forced to sit for long periods and can only walk as far as your phone cord reaches. It's ironic considering our largest department is for health and fitness devices.
HR or hiring managers will not give you any type of feedback if you interview for a position and it's not offered to you.
Customers can be very rude and unreasonable at times.
If you do decide to work at the call center do yourself a huge favor and take advantage of tuition assistance. It should be part of your exit strategy for the call center.
