As part of our ongoing interview series, we caught up with Customer Service Advisor, Mia Hardy, to find out more about her role within the business.
Hi Mia, great to meet you – thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to speak to us. Can you tell me a bit about your role and how you came to join City Transport Solution?
I work within the operations department. We are the first port of call for all customers – however they need us – whether that’s by phone or email – we are there to make sure that any issues, breakdowns, or bookings get dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Do you come from this industry?
No I’m actually new to the business. I’ve been with the team just over a year – I joined last January. Before that I was doing something completely different. I was a manager in the hospitality industry for 5 years.
I dealt with every customer you can possibly imagine from 16 year olds to OAPs and I’ve had to deal with almost any situation thrown at me. I think that experience was helpful in preparation for this role.
As a frontline hospitality worker, I’m used to diffusing difficult customer situations – it was a great training ground. I think that was the main reason I got the job. Having never worked in an office environment nor the replacement vehicle industry before, my experience wasn’t obvious however the team knew what was important for the role and because of their trust and support I’ve found the transition a lot more natural than you might expect.
It sounds like you come from a completely different workplace – how did you find the move initially?
It was definitely a little bit of a shock at first but I’m now really settled and enjoying it. It’s so much nicer working with the same people everyday – I really enjoy the sense of working as part of a consistent team. It really helps me as I’m still learning and different challenges come up almost every day so it’s really good to be surrounded and supported by the experience of the team. I can literally turn around and ask for help – everyone is really close and they all have such great knowledge and are open to helping me.
There’s also a much better work/life balance that was always tricky to manage in hospitality.
Of course, that’s so interesting. Do you wish you made the change earlier in your career?
No, I think it was the right time for me. I’m only 21 so I needed that time in hospitality to bring me out of my shell. When I started working, I was very shy. My experience in hospitality really brought me out of myself, boosted my confidence and helped my character develop.
Now, my main point of contact in this role is on the phone. Without my time and experience in hospitality I wouldn’t have had the capability or confidence to manage the breadth of customer interactions that I need to deal with. Hospitality shaped my personality and character.
What do you enjoy most about the role?
I really enjoy speaking to different customers and understanding more about what they do within their business. You get to build relationships (and experience) by understanding more about their challenges, what they’re using the vehicles for etc. That knowledge and understanding really helps me to help them as efficiently and quickly as possible. It is very satisfying when you resolve a complex issue and you make the customer happy.
Thanks so much for your time. You sound like the perfect person I’d want to speak you if we needed help – very calm, very confident. Keep up the great work Mia!
