Successful Interviews

These past couple of weeks, guest speakers were invited to prepare us for real life interviews. They taught us how to dress appropriately, the most common questions asked during an interview, what to expect, the appropriate way to sit, and much more. This week however, many more guest speakers were invited, not to particularly teach us about interviews, but to interview us as we would for an actual job. The guest speakers were given a list of what we thought were the most common questions asked by interviewers and used that as guidance. Luckily, the class was able to prepare themselves with more than enough time. Thanks to this, most of us felt more confident about ourselves. However on my side, I was still scared that I was going to mess up or not be well prepared enough to answer a question and get stuck. All the students were given instructions to dress as we were going into a real interview , bring resumes, and of course, be prepared!
In my opinion, all of the Price Scholars that attended class that day gave it their all, looked great, and did an outstanding job. There was no one that didn't seem prepared or like they were nervous. Very casual. No pressure seemed to devour anyone, smiles were visible in everyones face, everything was great. Then it came down for the interviews to begin. Oh lord!
Personally, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be. I shook my interviewers hand firmly and made direct eye contact, I made sure I maintained that direct eye contact throughout the entire time, no fidgeting whatsoever, and I was well prepared for the questions. The only question I believe I  wasn't prepared for was: "Why should I hire you?" This question was totally unexpected! Inside me I panicked but made sure not to show it. There was no way I could get out of it! One thing I learned from previous classes were things you can say to give you a bit more time. For example: "I have never thought about that before", "That's a very good question", or "I'm so glad you asked that question." So that is what I did. That way it at least helped me think a bit more of the best way to answer the question and making more sense.
Overall, I am glad that we did this activity because there are a lot of people who haven't gone to a REAL interview. They don't know the pressure that overcomes people at times, or what to expect. And with this, I feel that it helped students grow and learn that this is simple and that the more you practice, the better you will get, the less stressed out you will be which will make the person much more confident. And at the end, there will be better results.
It was unbelievable to hear that there were students not attending class simply because "they were tired" or because it was "dumb" to do this. They thought there was no point. Well they are wrong! I know for a fact there isn't one single person that attended class that thought this was pointless. Those peoples actions seem unfair. Especially to me due to the fact that a week before class, I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. How do they think I felt? Like it was nothing and like I wasn't in pain nor tired?! Well they should guess again because I do everything for my baby which means stay up late to either do homework or to take care of him. It isn't easy. I hardly sleep and you don't see me missing class nor not turning in my assignments. So these people had no real excuse to not attend class. It isn't fair for me, it isn't fair to the other students, nor to the instructors, and it especially wasn't fair to the guest speakers. These students that missed class simply do not know of a great opportunity that they missed.
However, overall the interviews were a great success! Thank you so much for this great opportunity Leslie and Sandy, my instructors, for this great chance to learn more and grow from it.

Customer Service

Good customer service is essential to getting a job and keeping it too. But what is considered to be good customer service? And what is considered as bad customer service? According to the sources online, it is defined as "the provision of service to customers before, during, and after a purchase." Customer Service is also meeting the customers expectations, making them feel important and have a good experience, you must know the product you either represent and/or trying to sale, anticipating a customers needs, and last but not least, demonstrating good communication skills. 
Communicating may not only come verbally, but through body language as well. One must always show positive body language in order to show interest in the customer and make them feel both comfortable and welcome. Positive body language consists of smiling  and making direct eye contact, to show that we are listening to what they have to say.
On the other hand, bad customer service is the opposite of all of this. Ignoring the customer, giving attitude, rudeness, not knowing the product nor what you are talking about, making them feel uncomfortable and unsure are ways to give bad customer service.  
One thing to think about and have noticed is that when we do receive a great service, we rarely bother to share it with friends and family. However, when we get a bad service at a certain place, we end up talking about it to others and trying to convince them to not go there again. I am very certain that every single person, at one time, has received both good and bad customer service. 

My experience of good customer service is at a store inside the mall, Charlotte Russe. The employees are always on top of things. Having people always available at the cashier, never having people wait for a long time, employees asking customers if they need any assistance or if they are finding everything alright, resolving peoples complaints and handling them in a well manner, patience, smiling and making the customers feel welcome. They also have employees working the front end of the store to greet the customers as they come in which is an excellent way to attract people. One time that I was in there, I was looking for a particular style of shirt that I had seen on the website. As I asked for assistance, the lady seemed happy to help me, listened to what I had to say and asked other employees for further assistance when she was unsure. Once finding the shirt, she showed me to the fitting rooms and even offered to get a different size for me that way i didn't have to go over and do it myself. At the end, employees working at the cash register were very friendly. They asked if we found everything we were looking for and then gave us a parting comment after leaving. This was an experience I would like to get in the future.
My example of bad customer service was the worst! It happened to be at the Walmart located in National City. I was looking for a SD Card for my camera in the electronics department. Unfortunately, there was only 1 person working there at the time with a million people trying to buy something. Once I found the appropriate SD Card, I went over to the customer service desk to ask for assistance in opening the case. The employee told me that he will be with me to help in just a few minutes. I didn't think that a few minutes meant 15-20 minutes of waiting. I grew desperate, especially after seeing others being helped even when I had arrived there before them. It was unfair. I saw another employee walk by and so I immediately took action. I asked for his help and his reply was simply of, "He will help you as soon as he can." pointing to the guy I had asked in the first place. 
I felt so mad at the end and like I never wanted to return to that Walmart. Once he finally realized that I had been waiting for him for a long time, he turned his attention to me. He pretended as if nothing was wrong. He didn't bother to apologize nor to even look at me! This was super inappropriate and disrespectful. Without saying anything of it, I paid for what I had came for and left without looking back. 
Ever since then, I have not returned to that Walmart, especially to that particular department.