“I first heard about Arise UK through a friend of mine in the US who works for them and highly recommended them. I checked out www.Arise UK.com and saw that they had a page for the UK and were taking email addresses, and put in my email address straight away. I was delighted when I was contacted just a month later to begin the training process!”
Sarah Watt, Aberdeen Read More

“When I was 18, I worked for EarthLink (in the US) and started as a tech support agent on the phones, worked my way up through various positions and ended up as a project manager. When I moved to the UK I was unable to work for a few years (due to immigration laws) and sort of had to start over, career-wise and ended up working as an HR Assistant (most recently at Aberdeen Prison).

I brought quite a lot of call centre/customer service experience to my work as an ACP for Arise UK. I had worked as a tech support rep taking calls in the call centre and then was moved up to be a supervisor in the same call centre. Later I created training documents and classes to train both technical/customer service reps to enable them to work within the call centre.

“I first heard about Arise UK through a friend of mine in the US who works for them and highly recommended them. I checked out www.Arise UK.com and saw that they had a page for the UK and were taking email addresses, and put in my email address straight away. I was delighted when I was contacted just a month later to begin the training process!”

I found the training process very enjoyable and informative and felt like it really prepared me well for working as an agent. The Arise UK training instructors are incredible people, very approachable and sharp, and the e-learning was easy to follow and very streamlined. The initial training course was all done through e-learning and only took me a day or two to complete. That was followed by two weeks of training in an instructor-led online class.

In terms of setting up at home, I didn't find it to be difficult at all. I already had a limited company formed, as well as a laptop available to use as and a broadband internet connection. All I had to purchase was a headset and a business phone line, neither of which were difficult to obtain. I was actually quite surprised at how simple the whole process was!

I currently work anywhere from 20 to 35 hours each week. Because you can schedule the time in half hour increments, I find it incredibly easy to fit into my life! I find that I even enjoy working on weekend evenings (something I never would have dreamed I'd say to anyone!). It's so easy to schedule an hour or two on Saturday evening and work through it quickly before going out to enjoy the night! Plus it means I can have a long lie when I want!

It can be a demanding job when the calls are back to back, but if you schedule in regular breaks you can alleviate that somewhat. It can also be a bit tough to get a nice, quiet professional workspace when pets and family members aren't mindful of the fact that you're on the phone with customers, so I tend to schedule my hours around my husband's free time (and lock the pets in another room when necessary!)

The most rewarding aspect is definitely the people. Not just the customers, who are an incredibly lovely bunch of people on the whole, but the other Arise UK agents and Arise UK employees as well. It's great to spend every day interacting with people in a positive way. It really leaves me feeling great about my job and I find it to be fun and enjoyable. When you work from home, for some reason, it just doesn't feel like 'work'.
Sarah Watt, Aberdeen Hide

“I am divorced with two young children, aged five and ten, and my children take priority in all I do. So I fit Arise UK around them. I work between 35 to 40 hours a week, based on my availability. So I work long hours when they are in school and one or two hours when they are at home with me. I have a weekly timetable to help keep my children busy (not television!), while I am servicing my committed shifts for the day. I'd say the most rewarding aspect of working with Arise UK is the satisfaction that I have earned a living without depriving myself and kids of quality time.”
Cynthia Odunsi, Northampton Read More

“Arise UK I came to Arise UK with a mixture of both call centre and customer service experience. All my working life has been customer service related. I have worked with BMW Munich Germany (as Customer Administrative Manager), Siemens UK and Philips Electronics UK. I also worked for Micro Surf Ltd. (as Customer Manager) and TalkTalk Direct as a call enter agent.

I registered with Arise UK after hearing about them on a website called Working Mums.co.uk. The training process was a little weird without a physical instructor but, after a couple of hours you realise you’re not alone. There's instant live help from support, which was always available. And I can honestly say I found setting up at home very straight forward.

I am divorced with two young children, aged five and ten, and my children take priority in all I do. So I fit Arise UK around them. I work between 35 to 40 hours a week, based on my availability. So I work long hours when they are in school and one or two hours when they are at home with me. I have a weekly timetable to help keep my children busy (not television!), while I am servicing my committed shifts for the day. I'd say the most rewarding aspect of working with Arise UK is the satisfaction that I have earned a living without depriving myself and kids of quality time.”
Cynthia Odunsi, Northampton Hide

“The training was fantastic, the Arise UK University is user-friendly and the trainers are only ever an email or a phonecall away. All I needed was a plain and simple telephone landline with no added features such as call waiting or messaging, and a PC (which we all have these days, and you can check the compatibility on Arise UK website). Having no huge setup costs was a godsend. Arise UK does not contract individuals but companies, so I set up my very own limited company which was done in a day!”
Kiran Ram, Wraysbury Read More

“I had been looking for a second job a year but with little success due to my shift working, as employers were looking for set work patterns which I couldn't offer. And doing overtime at work to boost my earnings would mean more shifts (and odd hours). I discovered Arise UK on the Working Mums.co.uk website, registered in May 2008 and started working in October after a 10 day training class.

The training was fantastic, the Arise UK University is user-friendly and the trainers are only ever an email or a phonecall away. All I needed was a plain and simple telephone landline with no added features such as call waiting or messaging, and a PC (which we all have these days, and you can check the compatibility on Arise UK website). Having no huge setup costs was a godsend. Arise UK does not contract individuals but companies, so I set up my very own limited company which was done in a day!

I work try to work between 20 to 30 hours a week. The best part is that I can choose the times when I work without affecting my job and family commitments. Moreover, I am at home and not rushing around frantically, which saves money on fuel, saves commuting, and I can work in my PJs! Now what workplace would allow that?! Most importantly, I am around my daughter at home which makes her feel more secure. The thought of running your own company was a little daunting at first, but you get used to it. I have a few friends who have also joined Arise UK and work under my VSC. The trainers and Performance Facilitators are brilliant. They are always there to answer any queries and boost your morale.

No two days are the same with Arise UK. The customers are different and you handle them accordingly. In the first few weeks I was a little uptight (despite having my call centre experience!) but now I work in a relaxed manner and you tend to become more confident and build a rapport with the other VSCs, exchanging tips and sharing jokes just like any other office. It's like having the best of both worlds.

I would strongly recommend Arise UK to individuals and corporations. To individuals, it gives flexibility, financial independence and confidence. Corporations get trained personnel without having to deal with staffing issues, setting up a call centre, sickness and dependency leave etc. Especially now, when we are at a time when employment is low and the firms are looking to cut costs. With Arise UK, they can achieve that along with providing jobs. I like being in control and with Arise UK I know I am. Also, the more I work, the more I earn so I can see the benefits of my hard work straight away. I sure am glad that I found Arise UK.”
Kiran Ram, Wraysbury Hide

“Ironically, after changing to this style of homeworking, my core hours have tended to be 9am to 5pm, but these are the hours I have chosen as opposed to having my timetable dictated to me. The current client work and the Arise UK set up gives the flexibility of working any time between 7am and 11pm, seven days a week, so I can fit work around the rest of my life as needed, and work the days and hours that suit me!”
David Bigwood, Nottingham Read More

“Since graduating from University around nine years ago, I have worked for a couple of large multi-national corporations in the areas of finance, credit control and legal debt recovery. Last year I was offered the option of voluntary redundancy after a corporate restructure and an outsourcing of a large chunk of the business overseas. Although I was offered a new job in a different field, I opted to take the redundancy package on offer. Taking this option gave me a bit of time to reflect on what I wanted from my career and also spend a bit more quality time with my partner and new baby daughter. Like many people who work for large corporations in an office environment, I had become weary of the day to day commute, the corporate culture and of course the 'office politics'. I knew I wanted a change and also a different way of working, but didn't quite know what steps to take to move in the right direction for me. It was then that I came across an article on homeworking, in an online article in USA Today, which mentioned some different ideas and companies, but it was Arise UK that stood out as the most convincing. I did some more research into Arise UK and before I knew it I was attending an online seminar, which explained the whole Arise UK way of working and their plans to start in the UK. Within a matter of weeks Arise UK opened up their UK recruitment process and I was one of the first on board working my way through the initial training process. This first stage took a couple of weeks in total and involved an initial background check as part of the screening process, followed by self paced online study of the ACP (Arise UK Certified Professional) training course, and a final online exam. There was also the rather daunting prospect of setting up my own limited company. In fact, this turned out to be relatively simple once I'd come up with a name for my company, and I found there to be a wealth of online incorporation agents who could quickly guide me through this process, establishing me with my own limited company within a matter of hours for a small fee.

The whole process was relatively painless and was certainly helped by the course material being available to study at my leisure online before sitting the final exam. Once certified, Arise UK immediately offered me work to help recruiting other potential candidates for a couple of weeks before training for the first client opportunity!

The only other step which I had to undertake was making sure I had all of the right equipment and a home office in place to meet all of Arise UK's technical requirements. I already had a laptop and broadband connection in place so it was then just a case of arranging installation of a second landline (POTS) phone line and investing in a new phone and headset and I was more or less ready to go! Any discrepancies between my PC hardware and software, and Arise UK's systems were easily resolved and there was plenty of guidance material available, and live technical support on offer to help through this process. The first client opportunity involved an initial, intensive two-week course involving daily online instructor led sessions, more self study of the Arise UK University training material, culminating in a final exam and live assessed calls with customers. This training process, although hard work, was fun and very effective. Arise UK's professional organisation and delivery of this course should certainly serve as a blue print for online based courses for others to follow, and I'm sure this style of learning will become the widespread norm in the years to come!

Since qualifying as an ACP and progressing through training course I have now been servicing one particular client for fours months. Originally I was working between 30-40 hours per week but as the pool of ACP's has grown there have become fewer hours available a present, although this should soon changed now I'm qualified to take a wider variety of calls from customers. Ironically, after changing to this style of homeworking, my core hours have tended to be 9am to 5pm, but these are the hours I have chosen as opposed to having my timetable dictated to me. The current client work and the Arise UK set up gives the flexibility of working any time between 7am and 11pm, seven days a week, so I can fit work around the rest of my life as needed, and work the days and hours that suit me!

For me, the most challenging aspect of working as a virtual agent has probably been having to change my psychological mindset about the way I work! Part of my home is now also my place of work so it can become very easy for the work/home boundaries to become blurred and keep checking updates and emails when I'm actually on an off day! Also, it's weird, but at first I also felt a bit guilty working from home, as if I should be suffering with the daily traffic jam and putting up with co-workers all day long! The truth is though I'm now actually working harder, more efficiently and productively than I ever have before, so there is no reason to feel bad!

The most rewarding aspect, apart from the obvious of not having to commute to work or endure meetings and office politics, has definitely been the sense of freedom and autonomy I now have about my work and life. I now get to choose my own schedule and just seem to have more time available even when working a 40 hour week! I also know, that my efforts are now more readily noticed. The average large corporate office environment can be an easy place to hide and in my experience some people get away with doing very little. The Arise UK set up is different, and because work and results are logged and monitored, I know that my hard work is recognised and rewarded fairly.

The thought of being regularly monitored, listened to, and recorded may not be for everybody, but if you are self motivated and hardworking, then the working with a Arise UK is a great way to make a living and all from the comfort of your own home office!”
David Bigwood, Nottingham Hide

“As I am used to working with computers the tech side of setting up at home was not a problem. Ordering and setting up broadband was equally straightforward. I am now working between 20 and 50 hours per week - depending on the availability of hours - and if the truth be told; life fits around Arise UK at the moment.”
John Olufawo, Kent Read More

“My career background is in IT support. I used to be an IT manager, then an IT consultant, but I'm taking a break to be with the kids at the moment.

I first heard about Arise UK through my wife, who was researching the internet for home working jobs. I decided to take the plunge and, from that moment, it took two weeks or training, plus another two weeks of study. It was time consuming to an extent, but not complex. I didn't come with any call centre experience, apart from helping colleagues and clients in the call centre space deal with IT issues.

As I am used to working with computers the tech side of setting up at home was not a problem. Ordering and setting up broadband was equally straightforward. I am now working between 20 and 50 hours per week - depending on the availability of hours - and if the truth be told; life fits around Arise UK at the moment.”
John Olufawo, Kent Hide