Kyle Begins at Navient

Kyle interviewed for a position at Navient in a section that just opened up in Muncie about a month before we made the decision for him to find something else to do for work.  He was hired immediately and began work after a few weeks.  I was kind of nervous because neither of us have student loans and he went in knowing very little about them.  Kyle did about twelve total weeks of training before he got on the phones in his own right.  I think Kyle and I both were surprised at how good at his job he is.  Not because he’s just a terrible worker or something like that...it just seems that his personality fits so well with what he does in a way we never could have predicted.

Kyle answers phones at Navient and works with people who have questions about their payments.  He knows all about deferments, forebearances, the student loan laws in each state, the ins and outs of each type of loan, student loan forgiveness, income-based pay, I don’t even know what else.  It makes my head spin to think of all the intricate details of student loans (and as of last fall, income taxes in the state of Indiana when Navient picked up a Tax Amnesty Program that Kyle was a part of). He’s not the collector who calls and hassles people about their loans; he’s the guy people call when there’s a problem.  

Kyle has some social anxieties that made me worry about him taking this job.  Kyle doesn’t like to make phone calls personally, but it doesn’t bother him to take them. This social anxiety causes him to want to naturally resolve the problem as quickly as possible and get off the phone, which puts his stats through the roof on first call resolution and handle time per call.  He has enough empathy to console the borrower but not enough to draw out the problem, helping them to fix the issue the first time.  Kyle also has a ridiculous talent for learning trivial information, so remembering all the individual procedures and protocols of his job was nothing for him.  He scored 100% on every test he took in training since his initial twelve weeks and each training he’s done since.  He’s been promoted already, given more responsibility, and gets regularly pulled off the phones and put into chat, which is basically a computer system in which other people who work at the call center can type problems they’re having into the system and Kyle answers them on how to handle the problems.  He was selected as a Mentor in December for the incoming training group.  He’s never missed a bonus. When there was a shift bid, Kyle was the second-highest ranking agent in the site for his department (the first highest was a transfer from Fishers, so he came in with experience already), so he easily got to choose whatever shift he wanted to work.  This means he’s on an 8-5 schedule, whereas before he was on 10-7 with the group he came in with.  His team leads and supervisors leave him alone because they trusts him and he knows what he’s doing.  

Kyle has worked so hard at Navient the first year he’s been there.  I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished.  When we were looking for jobs for him, we prayed so earnestly for him to find something that would benefit our family, and it seems that we’ve found it.  The only thing that I wish is that Kyle had more time to write, which is the thing he loves.  We are working on a way to make that happen for him.

We have been and are so blessed.  At the forefront of all my blessings is Kyle, and Audrey and I love him so much.