Working at CyraCom in Houston, TX: 2 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Houston, TX Area

"Not hard to get the job. Training was good. Getting legit experience in many different fields. Very affordable health insurance for single employees. But I only think of this company as just a stepping stone. Trying to find another interpreting job once I get 3 years experience. Honestly, I was shocked to find out that our clients pay up to $1.89 per minute for our service when we only get paid $15/hr(=0.25/min). No wonder the clients have such high expectations and try to use us as scapegoats for whatever problems they have, for example, they bring an elderly LEP who can barely hear anything on the line, then if they can't understand, the English speaker keeps telling me to speak louder, then the LEP says they can't understand because of my pronunciation even though I always get complimented on how clear I sound when I get monitored. I think it's too much mental stress to put up with for $15/hr, especially when you have to deal with 2 or more people at the same time. And then there is some serious micromanagement. To be honest, I kind of abuse this after I started working from home after COVID, but back at the center, no electronics of any sorts. You can only browse on list of approved sites at the center, and can't even google things when you need it. Worst part is that you have to stay on 'Available' at all times when you're not on break. You will get another call in less than 2 seconds even after getting done with a long/stressing call. You have to fill out reports for anything unusual about the call, but you have to multi-task and fill that out while taking the next call. If your scheduled shift ends at 5 for example, you have to stay on "Available' until 4:59:59, take all the calls that come in and finish them. That's why I get frustrated when a call ends on the 58th minute, because I'll get another one for sure before I can go. I can't make any plans right after work because who knows I might get a 2 hour long call right before my scheduled time ends."