Conduit Ireland

Gazza22

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody here works for or has ever worked for Conduit Ireland? [11850 directory enquiries/Teleservices]

I have a interview next week followed by a exam in spelling, typing and geography, verbal + written English, customer service skills....i'm not concerned or anything should be easy judging by what the girl said on the phone but does anybody know what they are like? Or what the company is like to work for in general?

Just a part time position to get me some €€€'s for college!

Doctor DooM

I had a friend who worked there who wasn't a huge fan, but if its only a part time thing I always found that helps a bit

oceansapart

I worked there for a summer. You'll find most people are in your position working a various raft of part time shifts, it's pretty laid back and a bit of a revolving door - people coming and going all the time. good experience for the c.v. nontheless.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Harmless enough if you're part time. If you're going for a position with Orange, I'd say try to learn how to spell awkward English placenames like Loughborough and Aberystwyth, but if you do a good interview, they'll hire you.

The customers were the main annoyance when I was there. Especially on the evening shifts.

Gazza22

Thanks for the replys.

Did any of you guys do the assessments? Or is this a new thing?

What is the pay like?

jellycopter

I hope you don't get the job!

I worked there for over 3 1/2 years in total (part and full time) and honestly, the place is awful. It's a very monotonous job but that's only half of it. You really are only a number when you work for Conduit (no pun intended). All they care about is profit and if you're a chancer or someone who genuinely cares about the job, you'll be pretty much treated the same.

Some of the stunts they pulled while I worked there was amazing!

1.
When the whole directory enquiries industry was deregulated a while back (when all those other 118 companies came to life in the UK) they experienced a drop off of incoming calls, so they cut the hours of all the staff (hundreds of people) so they wouldn't make as big a loss. Guys with kids and mortgages, students paying rent.... were all brought into an office and told they'd be working something like 40% less hours for the foreseable future. They also hired about 50 people a couple of weeks previously and then sacked them all for the same reason.

2.
If you work in the Orange department, Conduit have a contract with them to answer x amount of calls within x amount of time. If Conduit are exceeding this target, it makes it look like the targets set by Orange are too easy to meet... So they will often send staff home. This means the queues are bigger as there is less staff to answer the calls. So apart from the fact Orange and their customers are being shafted, the poor souls left behind who have to answer the calls get the shaft too. I once saw about 30 people sent home, so me and about 15 others could deal with a manufactured queue of about 60 people. And this was about 9 hours into a 12 hour shift.

3.
They reserve the right to change your breaks at the drop of a hat. So you can come in for an 8 hours shift, an hour later be told it's time to take your 30 min break and then have to work the remaining 6 1/2 hours with only a fifteen minute break in between!

4.
If you get the job, get ready to work Christmas day... seriously.

5.
They don't acknowledge Irish holidays if you work in a dept that deals with the UK. Funnily enough though, they don't acknowledge UK holidays either...

6.
They will tell you that you can earn a bonus if you meet certain targets. Some of these targets are impossible to meet. Come back from breaks on time - easy. Have an average talk time of 20 seconds or whatever - easy when you get a grip on the job. Connect 50% of all your customers - er, impossible unless you "cheat". Ever ring direcroty enquiries and find yourself connected to the number when you asked not to be - guess why that happened...

All in all, Conduit are terrible to work for. I really wouldn't take the job. Go work in McDonalds if you're desperate.

Oh and one other thing in my 3 1/2 years, I was never paid the same amount twice for the same amount of work. Ditto all my friends. Figure that one out. Oops, one more thing. Even though I was pretty much the model employee, I was never given a pay rise in all my time there. So if you wanna take the piss, or work really hard - you get the same treatment.

/flicks chip off shoulder.

Moonbeam

11850 is a happy happy place compared to Orange.

I worked there part time during 1st year college, which was many years ago now.The money was quite good,the hours are great for a student but it is really boring and never got any of the vouchers or anyhting they promised for certain shifts or working certain days.
I worked for Orange the average customer is not the happiest that they are through to an Irish call centre,staff morale is pretty low it is like a room of robots.
You had to swipe out for toilet breaks and other silly things.

stepbar

I rem goin for a part time job there a while back. They really do assume stupidity.... if ur anyway intelligent forget about it because its a joke of a place. I told them I could only do 15 hrs a week, kinda talked myself out of a job but sure I didnt give a fu3k. Id have rather go hungry. Got a nice letter in the post fairly soon after that. I regret I didnt frame it. Anyhow I got a handier number in a well known market research company in the City Cen another joke of a place :rolleyes: Im afraid there's no such thing as a nice part time job......

Dord

i work there at the moment but not in 11850, i have friends in 11850. theyre not a bad company to work for.

btw the orange contract no longer exists.

the assement/interview is easy. just a few questions/general knowledge on the location of some citys in ireland and the uk. typing test is easy too.

regarding breaks, you normally get your break list when you get into work by email or printed. if theyre unsuitable you can get them changed easily.

also bonuses are pretty easy to get.

as with hours, i believe 11850 are very flexible. you wont be working on xmas day as,even if you start soon you will have to do some training. i think 11850 is about a week or two of easy training thats paid.

any more questions just ask!

priya190983

I have n interview tomorow please let me know what question they can ask me. I h a face to face interview.

thanks