Going into the customer service profession was the best decision I’ve ever made

Suzanne Bogman (1985) started working as a front office agent at Q-Park in November 2012. A year ago, she was promoted to the post of service desk operative. Suzanne trained as a hairdresser and beautician. ‘I worked as a hairdresser for two years. Then I had other jobs, including as an assistant branch manager in a fashion company, then in a firm of coffee roasters and a sweet shop. What was important to me was not what I sold, but the fact that I could give personal service; how could I best help my customers, what was important to them? Being helpful to people comes naturally to me. After my last employer went bankrupt, I looked for a job. I applied for a vacancy as an online employee in the front office of Q-Park. I thought customer service was ideal for me. I’m customer-focused and speak Dutch, English and French. I’m Belgian and my mother is French-speaking. Unfortunately I was not raised bilingually, but I have a good feeling for language and heard a lot of French spoken at home. French is also an important language at school in Belgium. The first two weeks as a front office employee were overwhelming. I thought: ‘I’ll never be able to do this. How am I going to cope?’ But you get a lot of guidance and you do need some time to get to grips with the systems and procedures. It’s a job many people look down on. Unfairly! You need to respond appropriately, be patient and ensure that customers listen to what you say. They often panic because the barrier doesn’t open. They just want to drive out and only half listen to what you say. A lot is expected of you.’ Suzanne looks back on her front office job with a lot of pleasure. ‘I deliberately never applied for internal vacancies. Until a year ago when the service desk job came up. I hesitated, but ultimately took the plunge. It felt right. A new step. The service desk is part of the ICT department. If you’d told me that four years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. But now it’s my daily job. I’m really enjoying it. I couldn’t have imagined that when I applied for the front office job three years ago. In retrospect it was the best decision I’ve ever made.’
Q-Park is one of the largest European parking service providers and manages 5,800 car parks in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. It has a total of around 840,000 parking spaces.
Does Suzanne’s story appeal to you?