When Buse Alpay was in high school it looked like she would be taking a rather traditional career choice. Yet it didn’t take long before her life took the first surprising turn. Today, Buse is a successful BSH customer service technician in Turkey – still not a very common task for a woman.
Born in 1987 in Samsun, home to Turkey’s largest port on the Black Sea, Buse Alpay focused on child development and education in high school. But then her life took a different course: Buse started her professional life as a marketing representative at one of the major Turkish telecommunication networks before she moved on to BSH.
After joining the BSH family in 2013 and working as a customer operations representative for five years, Buse participated in a project to bring more female workers into technical jobs. “I was keen to shift into a role in which I would be in constant interaction with customers in the field,” Buse says. “Every new visit to a customer offers new challenges and I can gain new experiences every day.”
Her job is a perfect fit for her: “My reason for choosing such a line of work is that I would like to add a female point of view. At the same time, this helps me to further my own career.“
Enthusiasm wins
Buse’s still somewhat unusual choice received great support from family and friends. “They were a little hesitant initially, but after I started as a customer service technician, I received many more positive reactions than I expected.” Male colleagues on the job, who were surprised at first to have a female colleague, have also come to appreciate Buse’s enthusiasm and the experiences gained together.
Truth be told, however, some clients do not expect to see a female technician. “They often ask me how I got here, but are appreciative when I tell them the full story,” she recounts. Open scepticism about a woman’s ability to deal with the nuts and bolts of home appliances is a rare event, yet overcoming prejudices when they occur can be onerous at times.
One prejudice occasionally expressed is that women are not very capable in dealing with technical issues – Buse proves this very wrong. Apart from her technical skills, she sees her capability for empathy as very valuable for her job: “I can understand how customers feel and put myself in their place. This makes it easier for me to develop a trust relationship with them.”
Ideally, Buse’s success encourages other women to break new ground as well choosing a profession that matches their skills and career wishes against all stereotypes.
