I just came across an article online which provides 50 Worst of the worst Job Interview Mistakes. It reminded me of the time when I was persuaded by my friends and colleagues to leave my previous employer. I suddenly became a serial applicant, submitting my resume left and right without any clue what to expect. A few years ago, call centers are very strict when it comes to job interviews. Some still are. Nowadays, you can see applicants in their jeans, flip flops, short skirts, etc.

Obviously, some people would think (even I did) that Kara* is feelingera. She had no clue what she was talking about and she has a lot to learn about this industry. Unfortunately, she wasn't willing to take her time. She was ready to jump into any kind of opportunity that was presented to her.

And she did.

A certain headhunter approached her and said there is a new call center in town. They're currently looking for supervisors to help manage the business. The headhunter told her: 'Judging from what you already know and the way you speak and the way you present yourself, I feel that you're a shoe-in'. Kara's face was glowing. She was ready to sign anything that says 'contract' on it. She resigned after only 3 days and she was bragging to everyone at work that she's getting paid more and she's found growth elsewhere. Then she told us to suck it.

Fast forward two months after: Kara is unemployed and this call center which hired her as a supervisor is non-existent. It turned out that the business wasn't managed very well. This is one thing I do not like about outbound programs (no offense). They are consistently looking for leads and clients which are sometimes either scamming people or are just in an industry which has absolutely no staying power. Unfortunately for Kara, her employer fell under one of those categories.

Here's what happened. The offer was good. It was relatively lower but she was told 'it's outbound' so she just signed it. The first month was great. She has a cool team and they were all happy. That's good. The only problem is that they weren't selling a lot of their products. First of all, she doesn't have a lot of sales experience. Add to that is the fact that she has zero management experience. She was basically an uncooked viand in front of the buffet table. She was weak but it was not her fault. She didn't have the tools and knowledge to handle things.

On her second month, she and one other supervisor was called into the Director's room. In her mind, this is one of those critical, super mature management meeting so she can't screw up. She practiced for a minute and retouched her make-up. Here's how it went:

'Kara, Dave' The Ops Manager said.
'Yes Bob. So nice to see you.'
'I - I have some bad news.'
'I know, sales have been down for two weeks and...'
'Actually since you came on board it's bad but that's not why I called you guys.'
'Okay, what's going on?'
'I'm afraid we won't be able to pay for your services anymore.'

And with those words, Kara's world crumbled. She tried to hold on to the fact that she may still be able to salvage everything with her bubbly personality so she tried to motivate her team to sell more and even more. But she failed.

As I write this, Kara is working at her new employer as an agent. I asked her permission if I could have her story as my first official blog post and she said yes but she didn't want her photo or real name to be seen here. She said she learned one valuable lesson which is to take your time.

One more thing, don't be lured by crazy offers and promises from new/developing companies out there. It's always a risk. Risk is something you take when you know you have a back-up plan. If not, and things fail, it's no longer called a risk - it's a stupid mistake.

It's that time of the year -- Cinemalaya 2008 has started and there are more than 70 films (full length and short films ) included this year. Make sure you check the screenings so you can catch all the good ones. Last year, I was fortunate enough to watch good films such as Endo. This year, my eyes are on three films: My Fake American Accent, Baby Angelo, and 100. I just saw My Fake American Accent today and it was a good treat.


I was so excited to see this film. I have been in the BPO industry for more 5 years now and I wanted to find out if the director would be able to accurately depict the lives of call center employees -- not just the agents but the supervisors, managers and other departments.

The story of My Fake American Accent revolves on the operations side of the business, with one team of 4 agents, 1 Quality Specialist led by one supervisor who is working on a promotion. The movies touches on the sleepless mornings and nights, the frustrations, the fun times, sad times -- even the times when agents get mugged. The director has given us some of the types of call center employees - the bed hopper, the agent with an attitude problem, the irresponsible agent, the hardworking agent and the clueless agent. Each one has a story to tell.

I kind of laughed at the scene where this writer confessed that she suspended her life as a writer and worked as an agent because writing doesn't really pay for your bills. I remember when I was still an agent, I was also a student and at the same time a part-time correspondent for a major daily and a college magazine. There were times when I tried to make that the 'better' part of my life when in reality, it only constitutes less than half of it.

Whoever wrote the script for this should be given credit for writing the winning lines in the movie. However, I cannot say that this is a well polished film -- there was too much background noise that some of the funny lines were not very easy to understand. Some folks at the audience failed to hear them. As for the shots, it is quite inevitable for independent filmmakers not to use tripods to make the film look 'more indie'. Unfortunately for the viewer, the shots were too shaky.

This is a film that all call center employees should watch. Actually, EVERYONE should watch this. I noticed some people were laughing as if they were being shown something that occurred in a place strange to them. I have to say, a lot of people still think working in a call center is just about answering phones and perfecting your english. They don't realize that there's a lot of hardwork involved.