By TONIA ANDRUS
To phone or not to phone is just another question to ask when searching for that perfect summer job. Advantages of telecemmunications employment includes flexible hours, reasonable pay, you can start immediately, and it's fairly easy to land a job. The disadvantages include people yelling at you and the job may seem boring.
OK, so you don't want to sit at a phone all summer and try and sell someone a light bulb they don't want. Telecommunications isn?t always calling and trying to make a sale. Many jobs don't involve selling at all, selling by phone is telemarketing. Gordon Bishop from Western Watts said that they employ market researchers, people who call for a company and survey customer satisfaction. The data collection calls may involve business-to-business or consumer calls.
At some jobs, employees don't make outgoing calls, customers actually call in.(Don't call us, we'll call you.) Workers at Sears take service orders, says Sandra Nielson, human resource supervisor. Sunny Shin, a junior from Portland Ore., majoring in marketing communications, currently works for Sears. 'It's a good job because people call me, I don't call them.' Shin said.
Even though the customers make the calls, they're not always pleasant. 'People call me, but they're still rude. They act as if it's my fault their washing machine is broken,' Shin said.
The goods. How much money can be made? The answer? It depends. Some companies pay a base salary of five to six bucks, and then pay commission on top of that for the number of surveys you complete. Some companies using the service may add another commision on top of that. Dave Janeway, a senior from Simi Valley, Calif., says he could make over $10 in that situation. Other companies just pay a base salary.
Talking on the phone isn't for everyone. 'It's really different than working with people in person,' said Shin. 'They can hear in your voive how you feel. You can't disguise it with a fake smile.'
Amber Andrus, a freshman from Salem, Utah, majoring in political science worked as a data collector for Allied Marketing last summer. Why did she work there? 'It was an easy job to get, it started right away and paid well.'Andrus called for mortgage companies asking people if they wanted to refinance or change thier mortgage. If they did she would fill out an information sheet. She also made calls for American online, asking former customers is they wanted to sign up again.
'I call people up and bug them and see if they want their windshilds repaired,' said Dave Janeway, a senior from Simi Valley, Calif., majoring in music. Janeway started working for Allied Marketing three weeks ago. 'I like it because I have time to think about things,' he said. Janeway reads the Brigham Young manual while making calls.
Janeway says the people he works with are cool and the atmosphere is nice, but that there is a high turnover. Why? 'It could get annoying and boring after a while, and if you weren?t successful you might not like it,' explained Janeway.
Elora Bybee, a sophomore from Provo, Utah, majoring in family science worked in telecommunications for Western Watts and Pariah Group, recently bought by PGM Incorporated. 'I didn't really like it,' said Bybee. 'It was ok at first, but everyone thinks you're selling something. People are just rude. It's hard to get the number of surveys you need,' said Bybee.
Bybee took the job because it was easy, had flexible hours and they hired on the spot. Your pay is determined by your schooling at Western Watts, said Bybee. Pariah Group paid more, but sometimes the checks wouldn't go through.
To sum it all up: Reasonable money, flexible hours, easy to get a job, it starts immediately. It's not extremely demanding, but you may get bored. Some people are rude, and you have to be able to sound pleasant on the phone.