Let’s imagine this scenario.
Let’s time-travel to a time when you’re younger.
Let’s go back to when you’re eighteen years old.
You’re single and looking for a date.
You find a potential mate.
You go out on your first date.
The person you’re dating is physically beautiful.
People will say that you’re going out with a celebrity.
The person you’re dating is intelligent and is fun to talk to.
The person seems to have a good job and income.
The person’s family owns a business.
It seems that you won’t worry about money if you go out with this person.
The person you’re dating seems to like you and enjoy your company.
Here’s the thing.
You’re flattered that your date chose to go out with you.
You acknowledge that your date is a good catch.
It looks like you’re the type of person who can go out with whoever you want.
You opened an uncomfortable topic.
You ask “why did you decide to go out with me?”
Your date smiles.
You’re okay. Your date said.
I’m content with my life.
I don’t really want anything from you.
I want to go out with you because I’d like to practice how to be in a relationship.
I’d like to become a good partner one day.
I feel that you’d become a good person to practice with.
When I was younger I fell in love with someone that I met in school.
My high school crush went to the states.
We can go out for seven years.
I’ll do my best to act like a perfect partner to you.
I’m doing all this to get a lot of practice.
When my high school crush comes back, I’m breaking up with you to continue my relationship with that person.
Are you perfectly okay with this arrangement?
I’ve asked many of my students to put themselves in this situation.
Instead of a random date, I’d ask my students to name their celebrity crush.
The person they’re potentially dating is their celebrity crush and I’d continue describing the scenario that you just read.
The answer is always a solid “No. I don’t want to go out with you” when my student discovers that their celebrity crush is just going to use them for practice.
Why did we go through this daydreaming exercise?
I’d like to talk about common interview answers that potentially kill job appications.
I want to work in a call center because I’d like to enhance my English communication skills.
I want to work in a call center to develop customer service skills.
Money isn’t the most important factor why I’m getting a job.
The salary isn’t important to me.
These are interview answers that I’ve heard from many of my students.
Many of my students do not want to admit that they’d like to earn more money.
My students who give these answers decide that it would be more acceptable to say that they’re interested in learning a skill.
Here’s the thing.
You’re having the exact same conversation in the dating scenario that we discussed abobe whenever you tell the interviewer that you’d like to learn a skill and money is not important.
The only difference is that you’re the good looking date character in this scenario.
You’re the person telling your date that.
I’m content.
Money isn’t important to me.
I only want to use you as practice.
When my true love comes back, I’ll abandon you to be with that person.
It’s okay to admit that you’ll benefit from earning a high salary.
You’re allowed to talk about your plans to improve your life.
You’re encouraged to discuss how career success will push your personal goals forward.
Doing your best in your job and making more money will allow you to pay for your personal goals.
In 2013, my interviewer was hesitant to hire me in a call center.
I have a sales background.
I have, at many times, earned more than what a call center agent earned.
The maximum amount that I can offer is ₱28,000 a month.
I don’t feel that you’ll be satisfied with that amount.
I told my interviewer a story about sales work.
I’ve been working in sales since I was eighteen.
I’ve worked a lot of commission only jobs.
If I made a lot of sales, I’d earn a lot of money.
I can now sell consistently.
Here’s the thing.
There are months when I don’t have any new customers.
There are months when my total sales are way below my sales target.
My income goes down if I don’t have enough sales.
If I don’t make a sale, I don’t earn money.
I’m 26 years old now.
I’m looking for a source of income that’s more stable.
I have more responsibilities at home.
I need to help out with the expenses at the house.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to fund my personal projects.
I watched a lot of cooking shows.
I’d like to renovate our kitchen.
I’d like to buy new kitchen tools.
I’d also like to get some cooking lessons.
It’s embarassing to admit that I’m 26 and I still don’t know how to cook.
I’d like to save money to buy a computer.
I’d like to get internet installed at home.
You’re correct to say that sales jobs have a higher potential income than call center work.
However, the lack of pretictability in the pay tends to become extremely stressful.
I’ve tried to reach my goals in sales.
My goals, however, keep getting postponed when my income drops.
I feel that working in a call center would give me a more stable income.
The money may be a little slower but I can finally predict when I’ll reach my target.
You mentioned that ₱28,000 is the highest amount that you can offer.
If I do really well at the job…
Do you have incentives or other ways for me to make more money?
Don’t you guys pay more for good performance?
The hiring manager smiled and paused for a moment.
Twenty eight is the base pay.
We give our agents an extra ₱4,000 for perfect customer service feedback.
We also give an extra ₱2,000-4,000 for hitting the sales target.
Okay. I said.
I’ll earn ₱28,000 a month if I do an “okay” job.
I’ll earn ₱36,000 if I do a spectacular job.
Now that’s more like it.
You don’t need to worry about my pay then.
I’m in. I told the interviewer.
We continued the interview to discuss my knowledge with internet technologies.
The interviewer tested my selling skills.
We ended the interview talking about my hobbies.
Do you remember how I said that I wanted to buy kitchen gear?
This office is close to where I can get professional grade kitchen tools.
I’m so excited to start.
I’d like to buy better quality food and get a gym membership.
Does your company have any tie ups with big gyms.
My interviewer looks embarrassed.
Yes we do.
I bought a membership a few months ago but haven’t gone to the gym.
I smiled at the interviewer.
That’s really important since you work at night.
Going to the gym helps you maintain a regular sleep schedule.
Staying healthy is more important now that we’re working at night.
If our schedules match let’s go to the gym together.
Sounds like a great idea. My interviewer told me.
We didn’t really go to the gym together.
I heard that my interviewer got promoted and became an operations manager for another account.
Anyway, this is an actual interview conversation.
Conversations are more dynamic than static.
Interviewers asks follow up questions.
The topics in the interview circle back to your previous answers as well.
I hope you learned a little bit from this lesson.
READ: Call Center Work Won’t Enhance Your Enlish Skills
Thank you for your time and thank you for your attention.
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Thank you for reading this far and thanks for your attention.
I am praying for your success. God bless!
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