Photo's and jobs

Dear all,

Attempt number two at writing this post... SIGH.

Do check out the gorgeous photo's Derek took on our wee holiday up in the North-West. Aren't they just glorious?
http://www.protactin.co.uk/photos/lochaline

In other news: I have another interview!!!! It's with IBM in Greenock. I know I have the IT-skills of a grandmother, but I will receive full training. Also I will solve more organisational problems and let the engineers to the technical part;). To give you some idea of what the job will be like, here are the questions they sent me, and my answers:


"Customer Relation questions

Can you give me 3 real life examples of where you have had to solve a customer issue by either your own resolution or by interfacing with another organisation to close the issue?

1. In my role as a board member on a Student Accommodation Committee I solved students' problems on a regular basis. For instance when I found that the dryers in our building weren't working. People had made several complaints, but nothing was being done. I went to the reception in my official capacity and talked to the manager. Because I complained on behalf of many people their voice was heard and the dryers were replaced the following morning.
2. In the same role I helped organise many large events for several hundred students. On one occasion something had gone wrong with the ticketing, which meant that people who had paid did not have a ticket. At the venue the staff, understandably, refused to let people in that I knew had paid for their ticket. I talked to the manager, explaining the situation and acknowledging responsibility for the mistake. After some consideration the people were let in.
3. In my time on several staff-student committees I have resolved many issues between the university and the students. For instance problems with examinations. If more than one student complained about a certain question on an exam I would bring this up at the staff-student meeting. By explaining objectively how a certain question was not clearly stated, or was not covered by the material studied, I managed on several occasions to get the grading changed in the students' favour.

Can you also advise how you would tackle the following situations:

RolePlay 1:
Mr X is going on a business trip at the weekend and you promised to have his laptop repaired and returned to him by Friday . The Repair Centre calls you on Thursday to advise that they are short staffed and they cannot return Mr X's laptop until next Monday . Mr X leaves on Saturday for a business trip and needs his laptop. He is very irate and needs a solution. How would you handle this situation?

First of all it is very important to acknowledge Mr X's complaint, and to take responsibility for its resolution. He has a good reason to be upset, and it is important that he feels you understand his situation. The first thing to do is therefore to apologise on behalf of IBM. I would go on to explain the situation calmly to him, and would then ask him if he would accept a different laptop on loan, until his own laptop has been repaired. To alleviate the situation I would also try and arrange for his data to be transferred from his laptop to the one he will receive on loan.

RolePlay 2:
On 1st April Ms Y based in France ordered 1 server and 100 laptops for a customer installation. The order was due to be delivered on 1st May and the installation was due to start on 7th May. It is now 15th May and the following issues have been encountered:
1. 1 server arrived but does not boot up
2. Only 85 laptops have arrived
3. 5 of the laptops have UK power cords
4. There is a 10% functional fallout rate on the laptops
5. 2 of the laptop boxes had water damage
6. The customer wants to cancel their order. This is a new customer and they are not too impressed.

As with RolePlay 1, it is very important to acknowledge Ms Y's complaint, and to take responsibility for its resolution. She has every reason to want to cancel her order. I would first of all apologise on behalf of IBM. Because she is a new customer it is all the more important for her to have a positive image of IBM, so that the company can retain her.
I would do everything in my power to try and resolve the situation as quickly as possible, ensuring thereby that she does not cancel her order. I would explain that I will try to have as much of the installation as possible up and running within the coming days, explaining that I would send out an engineer to take care of this. He would replace the power cords, and boot up the server so that the customer would be able to use about 78 of the laptops. I would also ensure 25 more laptops are delivered asap. If IBM's customer relation rules allow for it I would offer Ms Y a discount, or something similar to entice her into agreeing on my resolution.
If she is still unwilling to take this offer I would liaise with my manager to try and come to an even better solution. If she still says no after I've tried everything in my power I would organise for the faulty installation to be picked up and I would cancel her order. This would however definitely be the last resort. "

It really sounds like a challenging job that does not get boring, which is good. Moreover it will teach me some marketing and retention skills that might come in handy when (or if?) I apply again to Explore Learning in about a year's time. Because I really still want that job!

yesterday I had another interview at a recruitment company as well, which was slightly disastrous. The lady had called me the week before and had asked me whether I spoke German, as well as Dutch. I told her the situation, namely that I understand German really well and have an A-level in it, but that I cannot speak it very well, but for the right job would be very willing to put in some effort. I then met her yesterday, and she asked me about it again. I gave the same answer. But she insisted that she had told me to work on it before the interview, yes in 5 days or less, and said they were going to test me there and then. I told here I did not know about this, so we arranged the interview for Friday. But when I got home I found this all a bit too ridiculous, especially when I thought about the fact that it was DEBT COLLECTION... Not really the job for me. By the time I got home IBM had called me as well, so I called her back to tell her I was not interested. She then asked if I would be ok with traveling to Greenock! Yes, for the same job! I felt great being able to tell her that I already have an interview with them, through a different recruiter! Yeah, point scored for me:)!

So I will now write my cover letters (one in Dutch and one in English) to IBM, and I hope to have that interview very very soon! Back here soon to tell you how it went!

Love,