London Telephones
'Join the headset' - There's no generation gap in telephone exchanges. If you've got the qualities and personality we are looking for, you're right for the job. Telephone exchanges are happy places these days with a pleasant friendly atmosphere. The modern headset is light and comfortable to wear.
Produced by The Post Office London Telecommunications Region (PRO). Printed by Balding + Mansell, London and Wisbech.
A good operator is someone who cares about people and responds to them. Someone who is courteous and discreet, quick and tactful. Someone who is patient with an old lady who needs help with a call because she has mislaid her spectacles and can't see to dial. Someone who doesn't waste a moment when connecting an urgent business call.
There are so many good things about being a telephone operator. You're playing an important part in the often exciting life of London. No day is quite like another, no call is quite like another. Most of the time you're an individualist, dealing with a call from beginning to end. You have a feeling of accomplishment.
People make mistakes and have difficulties on telephone calls. When they do they need help from someone skilled in solving problems. We'll train you to have that skill. That, and a little experience, will give you a knowledge that can be used anywhere.
Your job is secure because operators will always be needed. Holidays are good, there are annual wage increases, chances of overtime, and promotion prospects. And it's a job you leave behind at the end of the day - there are no problems to take home with you.
The Post Office is spending £4,000 million over the next five years on improving and modernising the service. Among other things, this means that switchboards are becoming more compact and easier to operate and working conditions are getting better all the time. Which leaves you free to concentrate on the important thing - helping people.
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There are basically three kinds of jobs. Each is different and requires different training. One may suit you more than another.
1 - Exchange operators
You'll do the sort of work that most people associate with operators. Our customers dial most of their calls direct. They'll come to you for calls they can't dial themselves or for help with calls they have had difficulty with. They'll ask you for the skilled assistance that only an operator can provide, the detailed knowledge that only an operator has. You'll provide the essential special services, arranging personal calls and transfer charge calls, finding out whether the number a customer has been trying to get for half an hour is really engaged.
You'll also deal with emergency calls to the fire, police or ambulance service.
You're not expected to be able to do all of these things at once. When your initial training is finished and you are settled at your exchange you'll receive further training in operating the switchboard equipment, learning in easy stages. Soon you'll be connecting calls all over the country.
As an exchange operator you'll be the personal link between the telephone service and the public.
You will find the other operators cheerful and pleasant and you will soon make new friends among them. After gaining experience you'll also have the chance of working at specialist clerical work within the exchange, for which you'll receive extra pay.
2 - Directory enquiry operators
Our customers get directories to cover the area in which they live and work, but they also want to make calls to other towns and cities. Directory Enquiry has the information about those other towns and cities. As well, modern Britain is on the move - people changes houses, businesses change offices, new factories are built. Directory Enquiry has a weekly supplement* to keep up with these changes that customers want to know about.
Here you'll also be able to use your initiative. With practice you'll be able to find the number even though the information you have been given is vague. Sometimes you'll have to say, politely, that you haven't been given enough information to trace the number.
* In the days of paper printed directories, DQ centres had Flexocopy inserts which were filed in ring binders and could be changed weekly.
3 - Government Private Branch Exchange (PBX) operators
Government PBXs are like an exchange, except that they serve a Government department instead of a district. There are also Private Branch Exchanges in the many Post Office headquarter offices and departments.
You'll handle incoming and outgoing calls, building up a detailed knowledge of how the department works, which sections deal with particular questions. You'll get to know other people in the department and they will come to depend on your ability to help with their problems quickly and efficiently.
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