Ethnography first half
Every couple of months or so my company Starwood hires about 20 plus people. the first thing they receive is a tour around the building. Our building sits between the old Blockbuster and Cvs. When you walk into the building you have to walk through two doors. When you pass through the second door you meet Jane she is at the front desk. Next you walk down the hall and you come to the trainer offices. Then if you look straight ahead to the purple walls off set by one green wall and you begin to ask yourself what you have gotten yourself into. In front of you are 300 people on the phones and taking phone calls. The new class then takes there journey walk through the center having the walk of embarrassment. They walk through the call center of all their new colleagues thinking "oh my". The new class is all dressed to impress with the blank stare on their faces. They then take the stairs to the training room.
After three weeks of vigorous training; the first day on the floor you can see the nerves and excitement. As they log in and prepare to get there first call, you see them turn to their buddy on the side of them telling them that they scare and excited. Then "ding" its the first call there buddy gets. A tap on the shoulder saying "OMG I got a call" their buddy replies back "take it take it". They are so nervous the buddy is just staring at their friend to see how he/she handles the call. The second day they know how to set up the computer they feel like they know it all but little do they know, you should see how many questions they have that day and how stressed they look. It is not like we just train them and set them out to the wolves; We have the trainers and supervisors downstairs to help them with every question and anything they need the first week so that they are well prepared but they clearly look like thy are not. So the first week is over and there their on own.
Now outside the training class there is balcony where you can look over the entire center. While they are looking over the balcony at their senior colleagues They watch and listen to all the representatives. The senior colleagues are down on the floor and looking up to the newbie’s. The senior colleagues are chatting of how the new class is going to react to the new environment. The seniors start to begin the chattering and pick out who will be here for a while , and what they did before they received this job. Basically they gossip amongst themselves.
It is now the three month marker of whether the new reps can withstand the job in customer service sales or not. I have had first hand in seeing this new class bloom from "caterpillars into butterflies" or "beautiful sunflowers that wither away". To work in customer service sales you have to have a talent to drive the customers to choose specifically what room and place they want to stay at and convinced them of something never seen before except in pictures. These first three months are the most critical because you need to learn the system, the lingo and you have to learn how to never give up without a booking.
Eventually the new reps settle into their jobs and we all work well together. Those that struggle don't make it and unfortunately quit or get fired. but the cycle of this position all depends on the person. I know it is not easy and I work hard every day to keep up with the required stats, and life goes on...
