New job, new attitude...
It occurs to me that I've been working at my new job for the better part of a month without telling you about it. Well, here I'm correcting that.
My new job is working for a company called Tetra Tech, which by their own description is 'an independent research firm'. Now that may sound exciting, but in all brutal honesty it's not much more than a phone bank where people saturation-bomb a call list with the goal of getting the people on the other end to take a 15 minute survey on behalf of a client. Now I've done this sort of phone-blitzing work before (raising money for charity, which I stunk out loud at) so I had my doubts, but I actually feel a bit better about doing this sort of work this time around for a few reasons:
First, the people who run the place are realistic. There are no 'make this quota or you can clean out your desk' ultimatums here. There are 'planned goals' but no ultimatums. The unit of measurement in this job is the 'complete' or the completed survey, and the planned goal for this study is .6 completes an hour. In other words I have to complete 3 surveys in any one five-hour workshift to make that goal.
Second, The company WANTS it's workers to do well. Anyone who's worked in a phone bank knows that it's usually a total turn-and-burn meatgrinder of a job: Employee not making the numbers? Kick her to the curb and get another ass in that seat! This company however seems to go the opposite route: They actually spend time to train their employees, and regular review sessions with the interviewers are improvement minded.
Third, the hours and the pay are both good. Sadly, it's not full time, with hours ranging from 28-36 hours a week. But the work is stable, none of this 'Come in every day. We might need you, then again we might not" BS. The pay is $10.50 an hour, which may not be a lot to some of you, but after multiple years of minimum wage and minimum hours, it's a godsend.
The fourth reason is that I may actually be good at it. As I said above, the planned goal for this particular study is .6 completes an hour. I'm usually above that. I've been accused of having a 'radio voice' in the past (and at this job!) and since radio is pretty much kaput, this may be where I actually put it to good use.
And the last reason I like this job is that I like the way it makes me feel. I don't come away from a workshift hating my job and my life. Working here makes me feel, well, professional. Is it the dream job? No. But it's a step up, and that's exactly what I need right now!
My new job is working for a company called Tetra Tech, which by their own description is 'an independent research firm'. Now that may sound exciting, but in all brutal honesty it's not much more than a phone bank where people saturation-bomb a call list with the goal of getting the people on the other end to take a 15 minute survey on behalf of a client. Now I've done this sort of phone-blitzing work before (raising money for charity, which I stunk out loud at) so I had my doubts, but I actually feel a bit better about doing this sort of work this time around for a few reasons:
First, the people who run the place are realistic. There are no 'make this quota or you can clean out your desk' ultimatums here. There are 'planned goals' but no ultimatums. The unit of measurement in this job is the 'complete' or the completed survey, and the planned goal for this study is .6 completes an hour. In other words I have to complete 3 surveys in any one five-hour workshift to make that goal.
Second, The company WANTS it's workers to do well. Anyone who's worked in a phone bank knows that it's usually a total turn-and-burn meatgrinder of a job: Employee not making the numbers? Kick her to the curb and get another ass in that seat! This company however seems to go the opposite route: They actually spend time to train their employees, and regular review sessions with the interviewers are improvement minded.
Third, the hours and the pay are both good. Sadly, it's not full time, with hours ranging from 28-36 hours a week. But the work is stable, none of this 'Come in every day. We might need you, then again we might not" BS. The pay is $10.50 an hour, which may not be a lot to some of you, but after multiple years of minimum wage and minimum hours, it's a godsend.
The fourth reason is that I may actually be good at it. As I said above, the planned goal for this particular study is .6 completes an hour. I'm usually above that. I've been accused of having a 'radio voice' in the past (and at this job!) and since radio is pretty much kaput, this may be where I actually put it to good use.
And the last reason I like this job is that I like the way it makes me feel. I don't come away from a workshift hating my job and my life. Working here makes me feel, well, professional. Is it the dream job? No. But it's a step up, and that's exactly what I need right now!