Today was Great!! I slept in.....I mean Really slept in. Sam had to go to Saint John yesterday because I guess his brother is really sick and he wanted to be there for his family. So last night little Miss Gizmo took it upon herself to guard the apartment. I mean guard, she was up and down on and off the bed all night patrolling the apartment, doing her rounds I guess and occasionally she would start barking to warn off any potential intruders. So...needless to say I didn't get the rest that I could have, but I was able to sleep in. I caught the bus downtown and walked around Kings Place for awhile before heading over to my interview. I got there at about 3:05pm (I left early to get there b/c I wasn't sure exactly where it was), it turned out to be in the exact spot that maps.com had inticated and so I waited for about 25-30mins before my interview. I looked through all the little pamphlets and noticed one with a picture of a woman wearing a headset in what appeared to be another call centre. I was going for an interview to become a customer service representative, but the ad hadn't said anything about calls, so I dismissed that. A lady came out and introduced herself as Cory and I stood up and shook her hand and introduced myself as well. I forgot to write this earlier, but I was looking pretty snazzy wearing my beige high collared sweater (not quite a turtleneck but similar) and the black suit that I had bought last year. I had black boots and my black purse and all in all looked pretty friggin co-ordinated! :) She lead me through the doors and into the conference room where she introduced me to another woman named vicky. She told me all about the job before the interview even started. Recently the starting wage had increased from 16$ to 17$. Employees get full benefits and a pension program from day one of their employment. She told me that the entire interview consisted of 5 questions. She asked me if I was currently employed and I told her that I was a customer care representative at Accenture business services and had been since September, I offered pulled out my new resume and references from my purse. She laughed and said that that would take care of the first two questions (also noting that I had rolled it and put an elastic around it instead of folding it). I never thought I would say this, but I am SO happy that I stuck it out at Connect North America (it had a reputation as being a difficult place to work being an outbound call centre). The questions that Vicky asked me were really easy, tell me about a time you've dealt with a difficult customer? and tell me about a time where you had to deal with someone who wasn't listening to what you were saying? I answered those without even having to think about it. That happened all the time at Connect, no one wanted to listen to me, I was interrupting their dinner or something. Cory asked me about a situation that I've been in where it was very important to listen to details. I told her about working in the billing department and every call is different and the details are very important to finding a quick resolution to the problem. I told them that I provided service to BC and alot of the customers did not speak English and trying to figure out what they needed was challenging. The next question was something about trying to deal with people who speak another language, and I had already answered it! The interview went well and they told me the interviews would finish up sometime in February and I would be getting a letter in March telling me if I had been selected for the inventory (for jobs in the next 2 years). I think I scored some brownie points by saying that I would need to be able to give two weeks notice at my current job before starting a job there. Cory said that they always give their employees lots of notice before the job will start because they don't want to get a reputation as a place that won't allow employees to give good notice. I'm glad that I did well and it was a good day, but it's to bad that I won't know for another couple of months if I'm even in the running for jobs. I said that I would be interested in permanent full time, and maybe in term jobs (because I asked and they said they try to keep trained people, before hiring outside). I was going to say part time as well, but the part time is only guaranteed 12.5 hours a week and that's crazy. The hours rock though. 8am-5pm Monday to Friday and 12pm-5pm on Saturdays, but you really only work one Saturday a month! The training is for 2 weeks in the class, 1 week you observe while the trainer takes calls and the 4th week you take calls while the trainer is observing you and can help whenever you need it. The busy season is March to September I think she said. Property tax season and something else. Hopefully something will be available for me in March, a week or less after I get my letter telling me I'm in the inventory. They said that the training is only offered at one site at a time, so if I need to travel to Saint John, Moncton or Mirimichi they would pay for my travel, accomodations and meal expenses. Woohoo! That would be a whole month away from home, but I'd do it for a wicked job like that! They said that 700 people applied, about 150 were dropped because they didn't pass the test and another 100 had not been interested in an interview. So, that leaves about 450 people that I'm up against, but really I live right in Fredericton, alot of those people probably don't live as close, maybe that will give me an advantage? I'm hoping it does! I only have to work tomorrow and Friday before the glorious weekend and my two whole days off. I'm really hoping I get weekends off next shift bid, I really like it. I lost all my attendence point because I had to miss those extra days for grampy's funeral. For some reason they didn't score any of my calls, so I didn't get any quality points either...hmm....last shift bid I had an extra 28 quality points which was very helpful. Anyway I'm going to go get a drink....woohoo for me! hehe...