According to recruiting specialists, most job seekers are so dedicated to the hunt that they don't really stop to consider whether they will be happy doing the work, if they capture the position.
So, imagine this scenario.
Rosie has just been informed that she has earned a spot at Happy Time Telemarketing, and she is to report to work, first thing in the morning.
She's excited, and can't wait to start.
She has never sold anything by phone, but she liked the interviewer, and if she succeeds, she'll earn more than her job as a server at a restaurant. And, she'll be off her feet!
So, the time arrives and she reports to work, but she meets with several surprises:
(1) There are no private cubicles, which she expected. So there aren't any fabric walls where she can place pictures of her family. Boo, hoo!
(2) Everybody on the telemarketing team is seated in rows, one desk behind the next. This looks like a big, grade school classroom. Yuck!
(3) Supervisors are marching up and down the rows, feeding words and phrases to the telemarketers. How distracting! How rude!
(4) Every time a sale is made, someone rings a bell. She thought they only used those silly things at hotels to summon luggage carriers and front desk people. Eek!
(5) It seems people are having conversation after conversation, without any break time. How regimented!
"I don't like it here," she thinks. "I'm only going to do this until I find something else."
This very quick disillusionment happens all the time, and some of it is preventable, if you let people test-drive the job before officially hiring them.
This doesn't include actual calling, but it does encompass the following:
(1) They get a tour of the facilities and they're shown where they'll be working.
(2) They are allowed to sit next to a successful rep, to listen to at least one side of conversations, and to ask that rep any questions they wish.
(3) They are debriefed about what they saw and heard, and how they feel about everything. At this point, they're encouraged to surface any doubts or misgivings they have about the work, the environment, or their future cohorts.
(4) They're sent home, and asked to call back the following day to discuss the opportunity further.
One of the reasons there is such rampant turnover in telemarketing is people are never fully enfranchised into the role that they're being asked to perform. So, emotionally, they never connected with the job, the place, or the people.
Before investing in all of the paperwork, expense, and training associated with bringing a new person aboard, it's important to know whether they're ready, willing, and able to join the crew.
The test drive helps you with that.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
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