I do spoke English good.
For those of you who don't know, my job is to interview job applicants at my company's branch in The Philippines. My job consists of me asking the apps a series of questions and judging their English and conversational skills from an American customer's standpoint. With that in mind, I have randomly decided to answer the questions that I ask the apps myself. Just for fun.
Q: Tell me about The Philippines.
A: Well, when I first began this job, I knew that it was a country...somewhere in Asia and that it had a city, possibly the capital, named Manila. After doing this job for over two years, I know a little bit more, like the fact that it is an archipelago country in southeast Asia consisting of about 7,100 islands during low tide, and about 1,000 during high tide. Also, the islands are broken down into three major sections-Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The Philippines is also the largest Christian nation in Asia. It's home to the Mayon Volcano which, apparently, the worlds most perfectly conical volcano. And let's not forget about the Benaue Rice Terraces, which is one of the 20 or so things across the world that the locals of that country consider to be the 8th Wonder of the World(King Kong's the actually 8th ;)) Oh! Also, the Philippines is also one of several asian countries that think that they are the 'Pearl of the Orient.' I could go on, but I don't want to, this is much more than I would want from my app anyway.
Q: What do you know about America.
A: I don't want to answer this one, we all know about America.
Q: In this position you'll be taking customer care phone calls from Americans. What concerns do you have about talking to people from America?
A: Well...being an American who deals regularly with Filipinos and has been a Customer Service rep for a total of about 6 years I know how well a Filipino could deal with an American customer...and it doesn't look good. The Filipinos are a calm, easy-going people who don't seem to handle pressure very well, and Americans are gruff, angry people who don't like dealing with foreigners in any type of service situation. Now, I can't really answer this question because I am American, but...if I were to place myself into one of my apps' shoes I would have to say that I would be worried that the customer would be instantly upset as soon as they heard my accent and would instantly reject me and I would have a hard time getting them to accept me as an agent.
Q: What do you feel is the best way to soothe an irate customer?
A: Obviously when a customer is upset right from the beginning of the call it's going to be hard to get the problem out of them. The best thing to do is to stay calm and try to persuade the customer to tell you exactly why they are upset and then do the best that you can do to resolve the problem without getting unnecessarily upset or frustrated with the customer.
Q: What skills do you have that you feel you could bring to Teleperformance?
A: Well, with TP being a call center dealing with customer service, I can bring in the ability to listen to customers and to adequately deal with their problems. Also, I really don't mind when a customer is upset, in fact I actually almost prefer it when a customer is pissed from the get-go because it offers a variety to the job.
Q: What traits do you have that you feel need improvement?
A: In contrast with my last answer, one of my main problems is that I get bored and distracted WAY too easily so when I'm dealing with the same old boring normal customers I start to resent my job. Also, I hate people...all of them. So when I have to deal with them on a regular basis I get extremely upset over any given period of time.
Q: What are your long term career goals?
A: Well...my greatest career dream in life is to become a certified paranormal investigator and/or cryptozoologist...but, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, so I will have to be satisfied with amateur hobbyist. However, as any of you who have ever attended a gathering at my place can attest to, I enjoy cooking and have been recently considering enrolling in a school for the culinary arts(though I will have to settle with the major at SLCC) and because an actual accredited chef. I wouldn't mind having my own restaurant someday.
Q: What do you like to do for fun?
A: As cliche as it sounds, I do like to read and write and try to draw. I also occasionally like to cross-stitch. I also like watching weekend movies with my wife, Noelle...not to mention having relations of the intimate nature with her. :) But...mostly, I just like to play video games...a LOT, I'm serious here, I mean it's insane. Almost my every free moment I'm playing a video game of some sort. Hell, I'm at work right now, taking calls reading a book AND watching CSI...and I'm still playing a game(yay ADD), about 20 minutes ago I was playing two different games at the same time.
Q: Tell me about The Philippines.
A: Well, when I first began this job, I knew that it was a country...somewhere in Asia and that it had a city, possibly the capital, named Manila. After doing this job for over two years, I know a little bit more, like the fact that it is an archipelago country in southeast Asia consisting of about 7,100 islands during low tide, and about 1,000 during high tide. Also, the islands are broken down into three major sections-Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The Philippines is also the largest Christian nation in Asia. It's home to the Mayon Volcano which, apparently, the worlds most perfectly conical volcano. And let's not forget about the Benaue Rice Terraces, which is one of the 20 or so things across the world that the locals of that country consider to be the 8th Wonder of the World(King Kong's the actually 8th ;)) Oh! Also, the Philippines is also one of several asian countries that think that they are the 'Pearl of the Orient.' I could go on, but I don't want to, this is much more than I would want from my app anyway.
Q: What do you know about America.
A: I don't want to answer this one, we all know about America.
Q: In this position you'll be taking customer care phone calls from Americans. What concerns do you have about talking to people from America?
A: Well...being an American who deals regularly with Filipinos and has been a Customer Service rep for a total of about 6 years I know how well a Filipino could deal with an American customer...and it doesn't look good. The Filipinos are a calm, easy-going people who don't seem to handle pressure very well, and Americans are gruff, angry people who don't like dealing with foreigners in any type of service situation. Now, I can't really answer this question because I am American, but...if I were to place myself into one of my apps' shoes I would have to say that I would be worried that the customer would be instantly upset as soon as they heard my accent and would instantly reject me and I would have a hard time getting them to accept me as an agent.
Q: What do you feel is the best way to soothe an irate customer?
A: Obviously when a customer is upset right from the beginning of the call it's going to be hard to get the problem out of them. The best thing to do is to stay calm and try to persuade the customer to tell you exactly why they are upset and then do the best that you can do to resolve the problem without getting unnecessarily upset or frustrated with the customer.
Q: What skills do you have that you feel you could bring to Teleperformance?
A: Well, with TP being a call center dealing with customer service, I can bring in the ability to listen to customers and to adequately deal with their problems. Also, I really don't mind when a customer is upset, in fact I actually almost prefer it when a customer is pissed from the get-go because it offers a variety to the job.
Q: What traits do you have that you feel need improvement?
A: In contrast with my last answer, one of my main problems is that I get bored and distracted WAY too easily so when I'm dealing with the same old boring normal customers I start to resent my job. Also, I hate people...all of them. So when I have to deal with them on a regular basis I get extremely upset over any given period of time.
Q: What are your long term career goals?
A: Well...my greatest career dream in life is to become a certified paranormal investigator and/or cryptozoologist...but, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, so I will have to be satisfied with amateur hobbyist. However, as any of you who have ever attended a gathering at my place can attest to, I enjoy cooking and have been recently considering enrolling in a school for the culinary arts(though I will have to settle with the major at SLCC) and because an actual accredited chef. I wouldn't mind having my own restaurant someday.
Q: What do you like to do for fun?
A: As cliche as it sounds, I do like to read and write and try to draw. I also occasionally like to cross-stitch. I also like watching weekend movies with my wife, Noelle...not to mention having relations of the intimate nature with her. :) But...mostly, I just like to play video games...a LOT, I'm serious here, I mean it's insane. Almost my every free moment I'm playing a video game of some sort. Hell, I'm at work right now, taking calls reading a book AND watching CSI...and I'm still playing a game(yay ADD), about 20 minutes ago I was playing two different games at the same time.