call center representative

customer service representative

support analyst

records clerk

partner

Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA)

If you like your day to be under the microscope, this is the job for you! Typically, after your cram training program which never ever covers everything your are going to encounter but are expected to automatically know, you are expected to answer calls spending 5 mins with the caller and then wrapping up the call in 30 seconds. You are to strive for at the minimum, 10 calls per hr. You are expected to address the callers problems, resolve them, refer them for whatever the company is pushing at the moment, mention online banking and use a good solid closing,asking them if they are completely satisfied with their customer service, and at the same time try to ensure that the caller won't call back in an hour, a day or at any time within that month or you will be asked to comment on each of your callers who did call back for what ever reason on a report. Then, each of your calls are monitored for "quality assurance" by a team called QA review, your supervisor will also listen in on your calls and rate your performance, and you also have to listen to 3 of your calls in a weeks period, and rate yourself, and other members of the staff can also "report" you to the QA staff if it was found your committed an "error" when speaking or performing a task for your caller. You are also required to take 2 monthly tests for which you must strive to get an 80% or higher. 80% means you have missed 2 questions on a 10 question test. The tests are meant to make you have wrong answers, there are plenty of trick questions in each monthly test which doesnt really teach anyone anything other than try to find out what the trick is in the question as it was presented. Recently, the individual teams are being grouped together on a "team chat". On the team chat, the sup is monitoring when you try to perform other duties in line with calls you have just taken and have to go into whats known as an aux code. You are not permitted to go into an aux code without first notifying your sup, if you do, the sup will call you out on the team chat and ask you what you are doing. And, lastly, don't ever get ill while on the phone, do not ever try to go and use the bathroom if it is not your break times or lunch time. You will be asked if you need a schedule change. There is no such thing as having a bathroom emergency or a health emergency. The breaks and lunchs are timed to the exact second. You are expected to be at your desk at the exact moment you begin work you must be ready to take calls, and come back from your lunch and breaks on time. If you are a minute late, you could be written up and have it as a permanent record in your employee file. As a clerical wage employee, the benefits are the absolute worst I have ever seen for any company I have ever worked for. The medical is very high in cost and does not cover any previous conditions. You also "earn" sick time and personal time off as you continue to attend work. In a year, you may get 3.5 days of personal time off which must be scheduled in advance. You accumulate sick time at a little bit faster rate. You earn 1.00 more for starting your shift at 11:30 am, you get the shift differential. You are also advised that "You ARE joining the union, there are no refusals accepted", If this outline sounds wonderful to you, then apply, if not, you may want to reconsider applying with this company.

Trust me you'll do better flipping hamburgers at McDonalds then to work for this place. I am a previous employer who worked for this company for 7 years! the last two years I'm still mad about because I can't get them back. When I started and for along, things were god.  But then they get caught for being naughty and all HE double hockey sticks breaks out.  This place became  horrible at least when I started,  I came in as a direct State employee. because when I started there were people who had been there after 15 years as temporary employees waiting to be hired full time. They were transitioning everyone over to the state, so some of these people,  2 of which I knew one there, 11 years and the other 15 years were both fired as they were not wanted in at that transition. This is the type of company will domote a manager and instead of at least sending him  to another department, and there are many, they would put him in a cubby hole  beside the side a clerk l  he used to manage. ( yes this really happened ) the  micromanaging was amazing and for NO reason as my entire department all work very hard at what we did.  Management was more concerned about how many times  you went to the bathroom then the real concerns of the department. They would fire people who were close to retirement just to keep from giving them their full benefits that they were due. That happened time and time again.  Even handicap people who had been there years who at one time, who were   probably hired to make Pheaa  look good in the first place,  with Im sure some  monetary incentive from the government or State not far behind, they let many of even these go after they got in trouble for misuse of money,  money none of us little people even saw.  They got caught and punished us for it This is only a few of MANY issues I had with Pheaa. When I left this company I swore I would never work for the state again they ruined that vision for me as I was like everyone else,   thinking  this is one of the best jobs you could have. Well not here.  At least when I was there benefits were decent,  but now even that has changed and judging from these reviews, this place has only gotten worse.  So like I said, Run! Like another reviewer said "stay away like the plague" tell your friends,  your family,  and even your foes,  just say no!!

At Pheaa I handled customer service and web technical support in a busy call center environment. I received inbound customer service calls daily from students, parents, lenders, professionals, and others about the status of their student loans with help managing student loan debts. I provide web technical support for the Pheaa website directing student on how to complete online application, how to view loan status and how to use internet options clear cache and clear advance setting. Daily receiving  and responding to  inbound emails. Responding to escalated calls to help resolve customer service complaints and other issues. Processing demographic data from customers forms and application. Trained new representative and trained on the proper way to handles emails.      

I learned working with customers that being friendly and helpful makes the phone experience more easy to handle. Work ethics, being organized and being friendly is what I learned most working in a call center. 

Management could have been more understanding to get the work done. More incentive should have been offered and more respect.  Learning to deal with it and do my job was a struggle. Everyday not knowing what management was going to change or who they was going to fire next was very intense. The more they fired the more work and more training to new hires.      

I loved working with my peers. They was always helpful if a situation appeared. My co-workers was very friendly, out going and kind to each other. Being union organized we came together to really try to  understands our rights and understanding the business. And being respectful to both made a great group of people to work around.

A typical day at PHEAA would be, coming in, logging into your computer system that takes 10-15 minutes to start up and then getting in-bound calls. These calls could range from simple and pleasant to having to deal with complete nutjobs who threaten to personally sue you or the company. Several of the calls consist of parents or spouses of loan holders verbally assaulting you for not offering information on the customer or telling them the amount of loan payments. A few of the calls consist of people telling you you're  a horrible person for working in the student loan industry and to quit your job (which is funny, considering PHEAA is a non-for profit that provides grants to PA students, myself included). If you can survive this for a year or two you may be eligible to become a state employee at which point you can get state benefits, including health insurance, tuition reimbursement, paid sick and vacation days. Don't expect to be able to get a change in schedule. The 1pm-9pm is the only shift available with several people on the waiting list to get a 9-5 position. The good news is there is an onsite gym, free parking, an on site daycare center and you get an hour lunch. Overtime is also frequently available. I would also say the training was outstanding and the management team is made up of really great people I enjoyed working with. All employees except management are unionized from day one, which I would consider another pro of this position.

The job itself is fine as in we're counselors at a call center so expect to be "chained" to your desk. However, it was my first call center job & I've been told other call centers aren't as controlling. I work well with people so dealing with 70-100 calls a day wasn't too bad for me. You WILL have days where you question why the heck you are there. When they have mandatory OT your life is over because it's either be there or you will get fired. My coworkers with families HATED it! We all did because it lasted for like 7 months with majority of that time being 10 hours a week. The pay would be fine for someone like me; single and no kids, but taxes take between $400 - $600 out of your check. I do not know how people with families are making ends meet. When I had roommates the pay was great and I was able to pay off some debt. I was lucky to have a laid-back supervisor unlike a few others that micro manage. They do a lot of events with food. I now understand how people get fat at these type of jobs. My coworkers are pretty awesome and made work fun. People do quit often and/or get fired but mainly just quit. If you're content where you're at in life then this job is for you. The job could improve dramatically if they treat people like human beings and not robots! Request days off months in advance or they'll deny it. Or come up with an excuse why you need a day or two off 3 weeks or month and half from now.

This was an awful place to work.  The trainers barely know the job themselves.  I remember them reading us the answers to the quizes before giving us the quiz.  The are just a machine.  Pheaa wants a warm body in a seat.  People make stuff up as they go along and put borrowers at risk because the company is so incompetent.  They are so far behind in processing of IBR's that people are having their credit ruined.  They are even at times in jeopardy of losing their contracts with the DOE because it is so awful and inaccurate.  Apparently, the Harrisburg office is much better to work for than the Mechanicsburg office.  My supervisor left my personnel file open on her desk and she was in the break room all evening.  The supervisors want absolutely nothing to do with their employees or the customers.  Another supervisor used to sit at his desk and watch basketball games on his computer.  The real problem at that Mechanicsburg office is their directors. They collect their benefits and  blame everything on everyone else. If you complain or make a suggestion for improvement, you will get fired.  Also, all their clocks are on different times, so they can use that as justification for writing you up to fire you.  They provide no feedback for helping you and its just a horrible place to be.  You get paid so little is not even a liveable wage.  They don't tell you anything in the interview process and they basically lie to put you in a position to set you up to fail.  The environment is all drama, all the time.

It was a decent job. You come in and do miscellaneous tasks involving records depending on what's in demand or what your supervisor decides to stick you with. The tasks themselves are not hard. You really need to have common sense because training is limited. Supervisors mean well but they are not very good at explaining themselves. It's a typical corporate environment where you have to be careful who you open up to and there's constant whispering and gossiping going on. Just do what you're told and don't break any of the rules. If you're on managements good side, then you get a break. Lots of favoritism. 

The day I handed in my resignation letter, the entire office knew I was quitting before I even handed it to my manager because they were watching me walk up to her desk with a piece of paper in my hand. That should give you a hint as to what kind of environment you'll be working in. Subtle hawk-watching and gossip travels lightening fast here. 

Follow the rules, do as you're told, and be nice but not too nice. Be superficial nice. And be good at your job but not TOO good or they will dump more tasks on you but won't promote you to state level.

Advancement is not based on performance. It's based on how much kissing up you can do or how much people vibe with you.

All in all, if you need a predictable job to pay bills with, this is your place. It wasn't the greatest place but my time here was well spent and I don't regret it.

I am a previous employee. I quit because of an internship this summer. Anyways, PHEAA has the potential to be a GREAT company, but the slave mentality sucks! A typical day at work consisted of answering inbound calls from federal student loan borrowers. Most had questions about getting setup on a lower payment plan. The thing I hated most about this job is that most of the managers were VERY LAZY and didnt know the accurate answers to important things. They will make you do mandatory overtime at some point, Usually around the holidays. The cubicles are very small, and pinched in together. Its more like a divider rather than cubicle. The lunch area is extremely small, not enough space for all of the employees. You wont have the opportunity to become a state employee until 6 months, and even then their is no gurantee. Being late, calling off, Being sick, counts against you like crazy and could affect you making state. Some employees have been with pheaa over a year, still havent made state, which effects time off and job stability. The hardest part of the job was dealing with mandatory overtime. I was a student and i had to quit school for a semester because of it. PHEAA didnt care about my school schedule whatsoever. They try to do fun things around the call center, but its usually just with food.

My day consist of calling Student loan borrowers to collect month payment on their loans with American Education Services and Fedloan Services. If the loan borrowers can't afford their loans, I look into available options for a lower payment, deferments, and forbearances. I also receive calls from borrowers calling in to make payments on their student loans or who need to see what repayment options they have with lower repayment, Deferments, and Forbearances.
I learn to notate account while reviewing loans while speaking with borrowers to make sure all info received and explained is noted for next contact with the loan councilor. Always make sure the info your providing to borrowers is true, due to UDAPP laws. Always listen to the borrower situation to make sure providing them with the best option available for repayment.
My supervisor is a wonderful man he explains what I need to do to make myself a better employee to help all borrowers I have contact with. My co workers are great always supportive and helpful when needed. Hardest part of the job is dealing with borrowers that was upset with previous services and being called horrific names cause they can't make payments and we keep calling. Best part of the job is being praised by management or borrowers I help for doing a great job.

Like many other reviewers here, I agree about the "bait and switch" tactics of the hiring process.  You're lead to believe that after just a few short months you can apply for a state position, which offers all the great benefits the company lures you in with.  WRONG!  I worked there for a year and a half and still was considered a "permanent" but not "state" employee.  This means I was paying all the union fees without any payoff.  Plus you're basically considered a temp, until you get lucky enough to get one of those state positions.  It's like hitting the lottery.  There are thousands of employees, and a limited number of state positions.  So you basically have to wait until someone retires or dies, then hundreds of people apply for that one position.  Its ridiculous.  I met many people that worked there for years and were still not "state".  Stay away from this place!

As far as the work goes, it's a call center, you can't really complain about being tied to the phone, thats the nature of the business.  Management wasn't as strict about bathroom breaks as most other reviewers here are claiming.  

Overall, probably one of my least favorite jobs ever.  But it's OK if you just need something for a few months until you find better work.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Call center representative 6 salaries reported	$16.04 per hour
Customer service representative 4 salaries reported	$14.25 per hour
Support analyst 1 salary reported	$41,117 per year
Records clerk 2 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Partner 2 salaries reported	$62,998 per year

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