Interview for Vodafone Customer Service

Dave!

Hey folks,

Just wondering has anyone worked for these before? It's in the call centre in Leopardstown

I'm gonna be there for 3 hours, doing role plays, group tasks, PC skills tests, and a 1-on-1 interview. For a call centre job.

Not looking forward to it.

So if anyone has been through this kind of sh*t, could they give me an indication of what to expect? Cheers

Random

Vodafone (like most customer focused organisations) want to be seen as "customer friendly, approachable and centered". Suggest you come across as going the extra mile and giving the customer the best experience - while obviously trying to keep costs down.

eamon234

Have you worked in a call centre before? If not bear in mind it's a lot different from most workplaces you are being constantly watched, measured and monitored and you don't have the same kind of freedom associated with a lot of office jobs. Customer services in particular is a pretty stressful job and not suited to everyone you will come across some of the most stupid, ignorant people you have ever met who will try your patience in ways you can't even imagine yet.
On the flipside it's great experience if dealing with people is a skill you want to develop.
As far as the interview is concerned they're not going to be looking for a huge skillset, they'll be looking more on personality, reliability and judgement. Customer services call centres generally have huge turnover of staff so they won't be too picky as long as you don't come across as a complete plonker! Oh, and the salary will be sh1t!

Dave!

Cheers Yeah I really don't want the job, but this is my first interview despite all my applications Beggers can't be choosers and all that... I know I'm gonna be smacking my head off the desk if I do get in, but oh well. I'm told it's a nice place to work, and lots of attractive females, so I'll stay positive

helimachoptor

Dave, I worked there a few years ago while in college. Its one of the better places around.
In regards to the interview, it'll be easy but there is a lot of competition for those jobs these days. Best of luck!

Dave!

Cheers Do you remember anything about the recruitment process? Did you have to do similar sh*t, ie. group things, role plays ?

Just wondering what I should be expecting

smilingeyerish

hello, i also worked in vodafone in customer service when i was in college (i wonder who you are helimachopter? there were only a few people there part time) anyway, it was a great job, i loved it although i hear its not like itused to be anymore, not as much fun. the recruitment day began with some computer test i think, and there was an individual interview, easy enough stuff, just went through CV i think. then they had a group talk and i think the topic for my group was "is the customer always right?" and everyone chatted about that while the interviewer listened on. by the way you wont work for vodafone you will work for rigney dolphin, a recruiter who in contracted for vodafone.

it was a good few years ago that i did the interview but ill try remember more. not everyone gets in, just be normal and friendly and confident but not too confident.

good luck!

Dave!

That's very helpful thanks If you could remember any more about the interview that'd be great, I'm nervous as fook at the moment, first interview in like 2 years

smilingeyerish

i honestly cant remember specific questions from the interview but i know it was fairly standard and there was nothing too difficult at all. just think about any other job you have done that involved helping customers,strengths and weaknesses in relation to that, dealing with awkward customers, being a team player. make sure you talk away to the other people and be friendly all the time. they will be watching to see how you get on with others, you will train for three weeks with the team that is chosen and they will be the team you work with too,it is important to get on with your team.

dont be nervous, everyone is really nice in there and the people interviewing you will be nice too, id say there will be one person from rigney dolphin, the recruitmers and another one or two will be a team leader/manager from the call centre so really only one of them is fully trained in intervieiwing. as i said they are looking for normal people with good people skills and people with a bit of intelligence.

also there is room for progression in vodafone (when/if things get better) so dont think this is just a crappy call centre job. go in there and act like you really want it. over time they really turn their employees into "vodfone people" you really believe in the brand and the way they work. so giving an impression that you really want to work for vodafone would probably work in your favour.

anyway, good luck! hope you get the job!

helimachoptor

smilingeyerish wrote: »

hello, i also worked in vodafone in customer service when i was in college (i wonder who you are helimachopter? there were only a few people there part time) anyway, it was a great job, i loved it although i hear its not like itused to be anymore, not as much fun. the recruitment day began with some computer test i think, and there was an individual interview, easy enough stuff, just went through CV i think. then they had a group talk and i think the topic for my group was "is the customer always right?" and everyone chatted about that while the interviewer listened on. by the way you wont work for vodafone you will work for rigney dolphin, a recruiter who in contracted for vodafone.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say Bronagh!

smilingeyerish

nope...............keith

helimachoptor

Ah you'll have to PM me with your identity!

Dave!

Cheers lads, ye have both been very helpful ! I'll let ye know how I get on tomorrow

Ruu_Old

Best of luck, if only other people had such enthusiasm when going for an interview these days.

smilingeyerish

well? how did you get on Dave?

Dave!

Sorry forgot to report back !

I think I did pretty well overall, but boy was it an intensive process ! :eek: My mate applied for district manager at Aldi and says it wasn't as bad as my one !

Anyways there was only 8 of us there, which surprised me. I was the youngest (21), 2 girls about 24/25, and then the others were in their 40's I'd say ! Sign of the times I guess.

The main recruitment person gave a little presentation of the role, company, etc.

Then we were given the group discussion topic 'the customer is always right -- even when they're wrong!', which we had 5 minutes to think about and take notes on, before we all sat in a circle and discussed it. Kinda cringe-worthy, but I think I did well there. Made valuable contributions It was only about 5 minutes before the conversation dried up The HR people were taking notes down the back

Then we were given a numerical reasoning test. 5 minutes to do 20 maths questions basically, just adding and subtracting big numbers really, and times. I didn't really have enough time, so only got about half of them done. I'd say the rest did likewise. Don't think you were supposed to get them all. It was negative marking too. And I'd be fairly confident that none of the multiple choices (4 for each) were correct, on several of the questions. Could be some silly HR ploy.

Anyways after that we had our PC skills test. Just a sheet of paper with 3 briefs describing a customer with a problem, and you had to navigate to the right .doc file with the relevant info in it.

Then we were given time to look over a role play, so I studied that for 10 minutes or so before being called in. Except it was for the interview, not the role play That caught me off guard. Pretty basic interview, talking about previous jobs, college, etc. There was also the normal questions, talk about when you've dealt with a difficult customer, etc. She was scribbling my answers frantically on the sheet!

After that was the role play. In a different room, sat back to back with one of the team leaders from the call centre, and just went through a role play with a difficult customer. Easy enough.

Then had a written role play kinda thing, 3 scenarios described and I write in bullet points how to deal with them.

That's all !

Oh yeah we then went up to the call centre and eavesdropped on one of the people there. Each of us sat beside someone and plugged into their phone. Interesting.

Was told we'd hear back before Friday whether we got it or not... I guess we'll hear tomorrow

Thanks for the help everyone, it was very useful !

Ah-Watch

Sorry for digging up an old topic but I was wondering is Dundalk the only Vodafone call centre Rigney Dolphin have or do they have one in Waterford too? I think they'd be a good company to work for and feel I have quite a good knowledge of price plans, the usual stuff for customer care if I were to try get a job with them as opposed to one of the other mobile networks which I wouldn't have as good a knowledge as I have with Vodafone

tenchi-fan

As far as I know they only have the one in Dundalk.
Steer well clear of it! They're not a good company to work for.

helimachoptor

One in Waterford, the ones in sandyford and dundalk are Vf call centres

Ah-Watch

helimachoptor wrote: »

One in Waterford, the ones in sandyford and dundalk are Vf call centres

Perfect, I would love to go for an interview but I dont know that it'd work out with college and stuff. Somehow have it in my head I'd be a good vodafone customer care rep :rolleyes: Might get onto Rigney Dolphin and see where it takes me. Thanks guys

helimachoptor

They take on pt staff for fri sat and sun

jkmanc1974

Rigney in Waterford is more or less a Sales Call Centre for UPC amongst others, both inbound and outbound

Brgds
Johnny

Ah-Watch

Grand, will look into it at some stage. Thanks again

cdor25

Just wondering did you get the job?

Dave!

Didn't get it, no

Quite glad I didn't couldn't imagine working in a call center now

Ended up going to Australia for a year

cdor25

Done 4 years in Oz myself Travelling the coast and settled in mingenew, great spot