Should I be a support specialist?

Do you enjoy supporting your family, friends, or even strangers? Do you enjoy talking to people? Are you a tech savvy person?

If you thought "yes" to any of the above questions, you might be a great fit for a support specialist!

A support specialist is a customer-facing role to assist, guide, and help customers find solutions to their issues and inquiries.

Photo by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Okay...but what do they actually do?

• Provide accurate information and troubleshoot with customers

• Have friendly but clear and concise conversations with customers

• Document the customers' situations accurately

• Get trained to stay up-to-date on in-depth product/service knowledge and improve your technical skills for better troubleshooting

• Work collaboratively with different internal teams to resolve the issues and develop the product/service

• Collect feedback from customers and pass it to the right development teams

This is the cool part about support specialists — you're not limited to working from the office!

Photo by Mikey Harris on Unsplash

It depends on the company you work for, but you could be working from:

• An office — you can work more collaboratively with your colleagues in person, but you have to commute to work

• Your home — you don't have to commute to work, but it might feel lonely at times

• Hybrid — a mix of both office and remote work

No matter where you work, your typical work day would include a mix of:

• Handling customer support interactions

• Team meeting or a 1:1 meeting with your manager

• Training

Here's a list of skills that are often considered important to be a support specialist:

1. Communication — understand customer needs and emotions and support them with empathy

2. Problem solving — analyze issues and find the right solutions

3. Technical — conduct the troubleshooting for the customers

4. Time management — handle multiple support interactions at the same time and choose the priority

5. Teamwork — work collaboratively with your colleagues

Not sure if you got the skills?

Fear not! Companies have training programs to get you ready for the role. Your growth mindset will help you develop these skills and be an excellent support specialist in no time :)

You'd be a great support specialist if you:

• enjoy talking to people

• enjoy helping others

• are tech savvy

• like solving puzzles

It might not be a good fit for you if you:

• don't work well under pressure

• get tired from socializing

• get bored of repetitive tasks

Want to learn more about support specialist roles?