Bilingual Customer Service Representative
Alex Berg
Bilingual Customer Service Representative for Idaho Housing and Finance Association
About the Position
The Idaho Housing and Finance Association are looking for someone who has the ability to speak both Spanish and English and is well versed in mortgage related terms. This position includes answering questions about taxes, mortgages, and other real estate loan inquiries. The position offers full benefits along with the ability to go remote if approved after six months of in office work. The position requires fluency in both positions along with at least a forty words per minute typing average with high accuracy.
Question & Answer
How did you find this position?
Indeed.com
What are the minimum qualifications?
- Must be fluent in Spanish
- Must be able to work in the office for 6 months; after 6 months with great performance, you are eligible to work remotely
- Ability to work independently, organize, prioritize, and perform job responsibilities
- Ability to maintain excellent customer relations at all times
What are the preferred qualifications?
- Call Center experience preferred
- 1-2 years of experience in residential real estate lending, residential loan processing, loan closing, and/or loan servicing preferred
- Having beyond what is the minimum requirements would be considered preferred for this role. The employer didn’t have very many items listed under preferred so perhaps many different skills could be useful in this position.
What are some other skills that are important for success in this field?
I think a background in finance or accounting would be very useful for this field or anything in the real estate industry would be beneficial. Having a good solid background in these things in your native language would prove useful for when attempting to explain them in
Spanish.
What might be helpful to prepare for this field?
I think that similar to the position above it would be nice to have experience in the field prior to jumping into it all. Also with it being a financial institution it might be helpful to know a thing or two about finances or be pursuing a degree in accounting or finance. There wasn’t a lot of interesting information about this job, it just seems to be a run of the mill customer service job that just happens to need Spanish proficiency.
How is proficiency in another language useful or important in this position?
Due to the nature of this position one will most likely be dealing with other native speakers of a foreign language on a daily basis. This role is likely the main person to talk to when a Spanish speaking customer shows up and needs help. Being the frontline person for those customers could be very stressful but would provide good job security.
How is the ability to communicate and work with people from different cultural backgrounds useful or important in this position?
Being able to communicate with native speakers would be very important for this field along with understanding all the different cultural intricacies that come along with that. It wouldn’t surprise me if the person who takes this role is expected to understand all of the cultures of the Spanish speaking world from Spain to Mexico to Chile to anywhere else.
