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I
hate my job...as a Telephone Interviewer Welcome to cubicle hell - Dilbert eat your heart out. My world is two foot six wide and walled with paper covered in scribbles (and that's on a part-CATI job- for the odd paper one we still do, read one foot six wide because the paper takes up the rest). The subject for today is financial services, and the interviews are taking 35 minutes average - we're saying 25 and it still goes down like a lead balloon. They're not even customers and we can't tell them who it's for until the end. It seems like an endless procession of embarrassed, irritated people who wish I hadn't rung. There's no particular pressure on me to get N completed by the end of the day but I like to have some motivation in my work and if I'm not getting interviews it is very, very depressing. A couple of times I've found a willing person only to discover they're going on holiday in fifteen minutes, or just dashing out, and could have done it if only etc. etc. This is pure heartbreak when completeds are proving difficult - it's like finding the girl of your dreams only to be told she's married or leaving for the Bahamas forever tomorrow. What a stupid comparison to make. How sad is that? But that's the kind of depths to which you can sink in the middle of a job like this - it's not a straightforward interview and I have to concentrate on the content even in the screener, so I can't switch off and think about something else. The goal of getting someone to spare just over half an hour, by telling them it's just under and sounding very nice and earnest, becomes my life's only goal. Two of the five people working on this job seem to be having more luck than the rest of us. I have overheard one of them saying 'about a quarter of an hour' and I'm afraid that may be the trade-off, integrity vs achievement. Tricky one. The other three of us have a handful of interviews each and are wearing a deep frown when we meet at the coffee machine. Even having a coffee machine tells you that I'm in one of the better telephone room environments, with all mod cons and upwards of £50 a day in your pocket. And I still hate it. If I wasn't hoping to get a cushy job next time round - maybe 10 minutes on mobile phones or 15 on holiday choices - I'd have jacked it in. But being a telephone interviewer isn't something you do by choice. It's not a career decision, it's a filling-in job. By the way, am I getting paid for this article?
I
love my job...as a Telephone Interviewer [ this month's 'I Love' author was shown the 'I Hate' in advance ] Oh Honestly! It's not that bad! If it's not your cup of tea, do something else. Hardly rocket science that one, was it? I've been a fieldworker on and off for nearly twenty years and it's served me very well on the whole. Here are ten things I like about it. Yes, Ten! Ya big Wuss ... 1. it's convenient - I can pick it up and drop it when I wish, within reason, and mix it with other things in my life, like having children. And by the way if you think a 35 minute financial services is stressful, try a 35 minute trip to the supermarket with three children between the ages of 1 and 6 2. on the other hand, if I want to establish more of a long-term relationship with a research agency I can, and I get a kind of progression - I work on more interesting jobs, I can pick and choose more 3. it's a 'contact' job. I like talking and listening to people and I'm talking with new people all the time 4. the subject matter isn't always interesting but it isn't always boring either. Sometimes I feel quite up-to-speed on subjects I wouldn't otherwise even touch on 5. I like the people who work in research - I like the field controllers I've worked with and I even like the REs. Sometimes ;) 6. the hours are regular - there are evening and weekend jobs but once you get to know an agency, for example, you can be fairly selective about which of those you take 7. the stress level is actually quite low because you can drop it when you leave. And ... 8. those difficult quotas are not really your problem, are they Sweetie, provided the execs know you're good and doing your best. At the end of each day, you can forget 'em, and party. 9. I like meeting other interviewers, and we're quite a sociable bunch. When I've worked in a telephone room we've always gone for a drink, and when you're working from home you enjoy the times you do come into the office for a briefing or a Christmas knees-up 10. Once, in the '80s, when I worked in a telephone room in EC1, there was this supervisor called Dave, and in the lunch break ... Well, those cubicles are awful small but he was Gorgeous. This is totally anonymous isn't it?
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