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Posted by David Whitehouse on October 27, 1997 at 15:03:14:
In Reply to: entry-level analyst careers? posted by Jaelae Smith on October 25, 1997 at 15:01:17:
What are your qualifications compared to the
other interviewers you are working with? A
couple of years ago I was working as an
interviewer at a small company. I think I was
the only interviewer with a college degree, and
the only one with real aspirations of becoming a
"marketing researcher". The other interviewers
were mostly housewives and students just trying
to earn a living.
After conducting a bunch of interviews, I spoke
with both my direct boss and the president of
the company. I let them know my desire to make
marketing research my career, and asked them to
assign me projects to help them out. They were
more than happy to give me some of their "grunt"
work. In my case, none of this included help in
actually analyzing surveys, but it did teach me
other aspects of the business (and I personally
felt it was more fun than interviewing).
Also, it made me stand out from the other
interviewers. Keep in mind that the work you
may be asked to do may be in place of
interviewing, OR in addition to interviewing.
You may end up working more than the others,
perhaps even at home,but that's part of
the price of learning and moving up.
By the way, once you are writing questionnaires,
NEVER forget your experience as an interviewer.
Remember how difficult and tedious it can be, and
how much work it can actually be. While you must
keep both the client and the respondent in mind,
you must also keep the interviewer in mind, so
that the questionnaire is as simple to fill out
as possible.