administrative assistant

customer service representative

service à la clientèle

receptionist

bilingual customer service associate

Kelly

Worked at the Markham location.I provided technical support (Tech Connect) at IBM for Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney in 2012. Not sure if the account is still there since they were in the process of migrating the call center to Colorado/India.

Pros: You definitely learn a lot since it was the first point of contact for ALL issues. Supported XP/'7, Office Suite,Outlook, Hardware(Mouse/Keyboard/Scanners/Printers/Projectors/etc...), Financial Software, Internet Connectivity, Account creations, Password Resets, IMAC requests,How-to's, & much much more.
There was always something new coming up so you need to pay attention.

Team Leads/Kelly Service Representative/Co-workers: The people I worked with were fine. They would try to the best of their ability to help you, answer your questions, and was very understanding. Co-workers I was surrounded with were cool people. Once in a while we would get pizza/cake/snacks to keep the morale up. However, this is all based on my personal experience.

Training was sufficient. It was primarily getting you familiar with the terms, software you'll use, and shadowing other call center agents. The real learning comes when you're actually on the phones.

Nice building, free parking and close to a Chinese plaza; although by the time you get there and order half of your lunch time is already gone since you get 30 minutes only. I would usually eat in between calls and use the 30 minutes to walk outside to clear my mind.

Pay- $14.26/hr. It's better than minimum wage but lower than if IBM hired you. It's to be expected since you're a contractor. All I can say in this economy, it is what it is.

The Job- Since it is a call center, it will feel like it's soul crushing. Some days you will wonder why are there so many calls and will they ever stop although this is why you have the job in the first place. I supported working professional so it is at least better than the general public. I've worked there for a year and which is like senior level in terms of call center. I've seen so many people get burnt out and leave only after a couple of weeks.Stressful, boring, and always looking towards Friday.

Promotion- in terms of pay increase, rarely. If there is, it will only be 1-2 dollars if that. In terms of responsibility, yes if you do well enough on the phones they will probably have you do other support. Don't hold your breath.

Pace- they want to you to resolve calls under 10 minutes although most of the time it will go over due to the plethora of issues and difficulty.

It's a call center job so, don't hope for any kind of overhaul or significant changes happening.

Main objective is to get experience and money to find something better or closer to what you want to do.

As I said previously, they prey on those who think that their work will help others through interpretation. They'll claim to they are there to help and make a difference, but they know that once you are in you will essentially work non-stop for extremely little pay.  

They also make sure employees do not contact each other so that conversations do not evolve regarding the horrible lack of HR, pay raises, and lack of true managerial support. 

For a select few, they offer to pay them a dollar more an hour to be "supervisor/recruiters", giving them the illusion of power and thereby creating an almost gestapo type of atmosphere of "snitches" that insert themselves in whatsApp group chats of those employees that actually managed to find each other to discuss working conditions.  It's no coincidence that grievances discussed in these group chats magically appear as warnings on the employee platform (where you are also discouraged to express any opinion because it is not "professional").  

These "supervisors" that get paid that extra dollar an hour tend to promote the "if you don't like it you can leave" mindset because "we are getting many more new interpreters".  It's you that have the problem if there's an issue.  A great corporate example of gaslighting.  

So yes, they portray themselves as a progressive company (with a $100 lottery for a couple of random devoted employees, just be "adherent" and you're set!), but on the inside they slowly push the narrative that you are disposable and are fortunate to work for them.  Besides, there is always a new wave of potential interpreters to grab, exploit, drain, and spit out.

Extremely hard to request time off. (even months in advance you are automatically denied.) Even if you try to request time off with a manager or higher up they just say they can't help you, refer you to the (broken) vacation planner software.
 Managers don't help you, they just send you an article to read. Contradictory information all over the place,. extremely frustrating. 
No down time, most days you get 0-10 seconds between calls, it is constant and they demand you have no more than 1 minute between calls or your are punished.
Training teaches you a bunch of stuff that is obsolete within weeks, also thrown into fire without any practice. (training was 90% worthless)
There are always changes happening within the company and no one is told. (managers being moved, fired, changed, changing teams and groups etc...)
We have staff and other meetings weekly, they are canceled a lot but staff is never told, there have been multiple times we sign into the meeting (that has been canceled ) and no one knows. Even after reaching out to management they don't seem to know about it (happens all the time)
Extremely hard to request schedule changes, I have been trying for nearly 5 months now. Can only apply for a schedule change monthly, every month I send the request and it is denied with no real reason or option to help.
The software always crashes or breaks (even hardware) so there will be down time but you don't get paid for it.
There are no real benefits. I asked about benefits package/dental/health  a couple of months  into the job, was told I would have to wait a year to even apply for them.

Honest Feedback on Current Employer

I have been employed as an interpreter with this company for the past three years. The job is challenging, and the compensation is not adequate considering the demanding nature of back-to-back calls every day. However, it's important to note that the job does offer flexibility in scheduling; you can set your hours a month in advance. It's entirely remote, allowing you to work comfortably from home without the need to commute to an office.

Recently, the company disabled communication channels among interpreters on our communication website, which has hindered our ability to discuss concerns about administrative decisions and express frustrations to management. This move reflects a misuse of authority by the admin team.

It's crucial for new hires to understand that this is a contracted position without any employment benefits, and the pay is unsatisfactory given the workload. To address the communication blockade preemptively, interpreters established unofficial channels like a WhatsApp group and a Discord server a year ago. Unfortunately, due to the recent communication restrictions, we are unable to invite new interpreters to join these platforms.

In summary, while the job offers remote work and flexibility, the compensation is subpar, and any potential raise is tied to a demanding hourly threshold. The disconnect between workload and compensation is evident and remains a significant issue for interpreters.



I was a former employ as an interpreter. Being very honest, if you have home office set up, latest smartphone, headset, high speed internet all at your own cost, with absolute privacy, this may work. You have 15 sec for a sip of water in between calls during busy hours (only availability they can offer now). 
Be prepared to use your smartphone  and to buy an expensive headset for work with your own expenses (we need a shredder too). You must put your phone on ‘airplane’mode when working, so if you expect any urgent calls coming regarding kids and all, be ready to buy another phone for that. It keeps requiring a newer model. 

The pay is absolutely below what you get to give. This company pays way less then US employess who do the same work. You’ll see why this is unacceptable for the work you do once you start getting calls. 

Seems like the upper management pretend to offer you some attention but in reality, there is no real help coming. Expect no courtesy from your one and only scheduler. You get an ultimatum (“give me what we need or go ahead and quit” kind) if your availability is not in line with the hours they have in hands. I guess they have all the international students as employees, so no desire to keep you and make you grow. 

No commuting required. The main company is from US, you get some technical support from them when apps work up.

No issues with coworkers at all, well, you work alone. No raise unless you approach. 

TLDR: The job was alright a year ago but recently, it's been unbearable. This company will do whatever it takes to deduct every single penny from your paycheque while crunching you as much as possible. Do yourself a favor, and stay away from it.

Job's nature is alright. Most of our clients are doctors and nurses talking about medical issues which I am fine with. However, the job will be great if they just don't crunch us. Recently, it's been back-to-back calls with zero interval time. The end of a call also means the beginning of the next one immediately.

Management: Nightmarish! Management doesn't have a clue what's going on. It's a WORK-FROM-HOME job and they all expect you to act as in you are in an office and in some cases, even worse. You are expected to stay available all the time while on shift and with them crunching us out like that, we don't even have toilet breaks. You either mute yourself (which is not allowed by management) or take a short break (from which they will deduct your pay) to use the toilet. How is that legal? I don't know but they do, and in case you muted yourself or did something wrong, management will call you to talk about that during your BREAK. Here's your 30 minutes break... Oh no, I will need 15 minutes to talk about your work because we like to take your time for free.

Pay: For this type of job what they had been paying prior to the recent crunching mess was not enough. Now after adding extra work, extra rules, and disrespect to personal privacy. The pay is just outright ridiculous.



The job was good before and during Covid but afterwards the call volume was way too intense for typical work hours. We do professional over-the-phone interpreting for clients in many industries that deal with people's lives and livelihood and yet the company really underpays us for our services. We are promised pay increase after working enough accumulated hours, but unless you actively reach out multiple times and track your own hours, the pay increase will never come. Management barely consults you individually for anything. You also get random nonsense policies that really stress out workers for absolutely no benefits. Yes, there aren't any benefits except free counselling because they know the job is stressful.

Aside from that, the paid training was nice and thorough - really helps you prepare for the job. The library is a good addition but could be more comprehensive and up-to-date. You also get to choose your own hours depending on the availability they offer.

Overall, good for short term employment because you feel rewarding helping people, but stay too long and you become numb. There are minimal advancement opportunities and it isn't worth it in the long run.

It's not an easy job like you might think it is, that you just need to be fluent in the languages and you will be good to go. There will be a lot of obstacles you might need to jump over before you can get used to the job, e.g., the app that we use to conduct our services always encounters problems that make it very frustrating, esp. when you try to stretch your brain out and listen to cutting voices on a constantly disrupted line is one huge problem that stood out in my mind. And remember not all phone conversations will be relaxing, sometimes you will have to deal with a labour delivery call, when you have a mom yelling and screaming out of pain and a doctor trying to communicate hopelessly with everyone who doesn't understand english on the other side, and you on this side draining every ounce of your focus attempting to have a grasp of what is going on but you can't because the audio quality is inadequate. But the point is, if you are looking for excitement as in every day is different and that you will always learn something along the way, you will like this job. 
Make sure you push management for that pay raise when you reach however many hours of service they tell you at the beginning. It won't come automatically. 

When I signed up for Kelly services I was truly mislead. They had advertised ONLY the position they had to offer and neglected to tell me that by applying I was also signing up for their service. Boy was I in for a surprise.
Had I have known I would be thrown into jobs I had literally no training for, had I have known I'd be working a job that was worth $18:00 an hour and receiving merely minimum wage for all my hard work, had I have known that I'd be told that I would eventually be hired full time, then strung out like dirty laundry after spending 6 months of my life working my fingers to the bone to impress my employer, only to be shafted with two weeks to find a job because there are "just no more hours for me", I would have been more careful singing up for the job in the first place.

All in all, Kelly services lied to me from the get go. They roped me in to their head hunting company without even a hint of what was to come, and made me work for basically peanuts with absolutely no pay off. I was treated poorly at my job and cleaned up after everyone's mistakes, hoping I would eventually be hired and it was all for nothing. 

A huge waste of time.

I was assigned to Language Line Solutions through Kelly Services. The initial training and mentoring program was excellent — thorough, supportive, and well-organized. It really helped me feel prepared for the role, and the interpreting work itself is manageable as long as you carefully follow protocols and remain professional.
However, beyond the training phase, the support becomes minimal. The so-called "talent advisor" offered little to no guidance or recognition. Despite consistently strong performance and reliability, I rarely received feedback or acknowledgment, which made the environment feel unappreciative and impersonal. 
What was especially disappointing was the recent round of layoffs. Performance didn’t seem to factor into their decisions at all — hard work and dedication were overlooked. The process felt abrupt and disheartening, especially for those of us who consistently met or exceeded expectations.
Overall, while the role itself can be fulfilling if you’re self-motivated and value structure, the lack of appreciation, communication, and transparency from Kelly Services makes it hard to feel secure or valued in the long term.



Top Job Titles	Average salary
Administrative assistant 29 salaries reported	$24.11 per hour
Customer service representative 7 salaries reported	$19.63 per hour
Service à la clientèle 16 salaries reported	$24.75 per hour
Receptionist 16 salaries reported	$20.18 per hour
Bilingual customer service associate 6 salaries reported	$54,500 per year

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