There are lots (and lots) of people who work in accounts, finance, sales and all the other areas of business. They all think they are the most important cog in their particular business wheel. They probably are, up to a point. However, if the money doesn’t come in then they are all redundant. Which may just be where you come in…
Lots of people work, or have worked, in various admin and clerical jobs in finance or other service and support departments. Others also work in telesales in call centres or elsewhere, where their daily liaison with customers involves trying to get people to promise to part with their cash. In the latter case, the stress of sales is often one of the things that makes people give it up. “Oh for a nice quiet job in finance or admin” is frequently their refrain…
All of these people could work in credit control. It’s a really interesting, very varied job. You talk to, literally, all sorts of customers from across the spectrum of business. As such, you learn far more about what’s going on across all your company’s activities and the economy in general than many of your colleagues ever will. And the money is a lot better than many people make in the aforementioned telesales/admin/finance roles, from £16K at least, upwards to £24K and more - and much more once you progress to supervisor or managerial levels.
Despite this, there is a general shortage of credit controllers (which makes you more employable if you do get into it!). There are quite a lot who work in insurance or similar industries, but once you get into sector specific areas (I’m currently recruiting for an fmcg company), where relevant experience and/or a demonstrable ability to stand the pace and cope with the large range of different customers is particularly important, then it’s often even more difficult for firms to find the right candidate.
Some people are put off by the fact that the job involves, and there is no way of disguising this, asking people for money. However, it is money that is due, and the fun part is a bit like a detective game, where you are trying to piece together whether there is a real problem with payment (with potentially serious bad debt problems as a result) or whether it’s all part of the everyday cut and thrust of business cash flow. You get to develop terrific relationships with many customers, many of whom become, believe it or not, good telephone friends. It is a unique, and as stated above, really important role in every business. And the fact that there is a shortage of candidates means that if you’re really good then you can advance quickly and make good money.
If you’d like to know more, especially if you’ve relevant skills for a credit control position in fmcg, then get in touch with me here:
Tricia McKinlay, Consultant, 9-20 Business Services