My working life..

Jul 11 2008 Justene Donnelly

Justene Donnelly, head of Glasgow and Erskine contact centres for beCogent

Having started out taking queries about mobile phones Justene Donnelly is now running contact centres.

Her first job was answering phone calls about Motorola mobiles but now she is in charge of the Glasgow and Erskine bases for Scots firm beCogent.

For some, working in the contact centre industry for 12 years might be seen as a hard shift and Donnelly believes everyone in the industry has a duty to change that perception.

The 34-year-old said: "Working in a contact centre can be one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs, if you want it enough you can also make a good career out of it." Before starting her new role in April she worked for companies including McQueen, Cap Gemini, Telecom Service Centres and ClientLogic.

Each morning starts by reviewing performance from the previous day and looking at forecasts for the day and week ahead.

Several times throughout the day she gets in touch with business managers to keep up to date.

Add in resource meetings, financial planning, coaching, management and community involvement and it is clear she is a busy woman.

She also works closely with the commercial and operations directors on business development to support new business opportunities.

She said: "I am working towards maximising the overall potential of staff and creating an environment which is award winning in its achievements, for and by our teams, and by what we do in partnership with our clients for the best outcome for them and for beCogent as a business."

Weekends can be just as hectic as she and her two sons cheer on their beloved Hearts FC.

The children's guitar, drums and tuba ensure there is little peace and quiet but getting the chance to read a book is one way Donnelly likes to relax.