telemarketing/phone survey work

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How do you think someone who's an aspie or HFA would handle working on the phone? Does anyone have any experiences to share? I need to get a part-time job soon.

Frankly, I hated it and avoid jobs that require doing surveys or sales...especially over the phone.

The problem is if you come across as dull (monotone speaking voice), but on top of that, surveys and sales (especially over the phone) involve calling people AT HOME when it is not practical for them to take calls.

The people you are are properly upset at being bothered by a solicitor and they can be very rude. If you're lucky, they just say "don't call back" and hang up on you.

In any sales job, you get a lot of "no" answers before you ever get a "yes" and your job performance is based on how many "yes" answers you manage to land.

Unless you have a talent or gift for making sales, I'd avoid these jobs. It'll crush your self-esteem.

I hate work on the phone

Actually, I thrive working on the phones. I don't own a phone, myself, (something Alex (web developer) just can't understand when he wants to get ahold of me!) but I work NON SALES job on the telephone and I find it easier than working face to face.

On the phone the OTHER PERSON is forced to use only their words and their voice to communicate with me. I, on the other hand, have a computer and can look up what they are trying to express. I don't have to wonder what their facial expressions mean, or how they are holding their body, or some such hidden messages. Nope, they are forced to use only the same communication skills I have, and that is words. Then I put on my 'act' of being kind, helpful, resourseful, witty (I flatter myself, here) and generally get their situation taken care of.

I have been technical troubleshooting support for a vast array of software platforms, computers (both desk and laptop) life insurance (did I mention NO SELLING?) health insurance benefits and on and on and on. I got my experience by being an adult phone sex operator (did that put you off? sorry, but no muss, no fuss, over in 12 minutes and not even a flush!) I learned that mostly people wanted to feel confident someone was going to take care of their issue. I made it work and now I don't live on the streets anymore (always a plus! )

so, do what you can, I find being a 'phone actor' is a good fit with me. And the funny thing is, I sell hundreds of product a year, just by being good at my job!

your mileage may vary.

I tried that once in college, calling alumni asking for donations and hated it so much that I quit within a month of starting. I'm able to answer phones as part of a job, but that's my limit when it comes to phones. I also prefer having a regular salary instead of having to rely on commissions, since if you have a slow day, you're not getting paid. I turned down a telemarketing assignment from a temp agency, and made sure that my job counselor knew not to give me job leads for those jobs as well.

I worked for a few months as a commercial (high-volume) recruiter, which was mostly over the phone. It wasn't a "sales" job, and people were not usually upset at my calling because my goal was to find people jobs... I liked it a lot, but I wasn't very good at it, and there were aspects of it that were super stressful. The worst is when you have to call someone but you can't even fathom the pronunciation of their name, I know that's just a little thing in the scheme of things but for some reason that tilted me out so bad.

When I worked doing phone surveys, i thought it really sucked. I got used to it after a couple of weeks though. After that time, you know what to expect and get used to angry people and being hung up on multiple times in a row.
There are some pros to the job though. You don't have to interact with people face to face, so you can ignore your personal hygiene and wear inappropriate t-shirts (if that's your thing). A lot of people I worked with also read in between surveys. I used to doodle a lot. If you have the classic AS monotone voice (like I do), they like that, because you won't sound biased while you're giving surveys.

Cool! You work with phone surveys? I'm actually thinking of making a phone survey, but don't know how. What program/website do you use (for free) and will it record your number on the people's phones? (I want mine to be anonymous). Do you also have to record your voice? Because I only have access to a computer around people and don't want anyone to know I'm making one.

Also, are there many surveys, that are not automated? Like, if I use someone else's phone for one, will people suspect my survey isn't official?

Didn't really think too much 'bout that.
Is there a certain amount of time, after which a post is (unofficially) counted as over?

Well, check my "To All Those Learning German And Fluent German Speakers)" post. It had an almost 2-month gap between the replies of Friend_of_Sankt_Veit and Prometheus18)

For me, it sometimes takes waay more than 1 month to answer people.
Hadn't noticed this before, but sometimes I even think up responses to people I've actually talked to years ago and who'd well forgotten about me)

I couldn't. Perhaps the only thing I loathe more than talking to people is talking to people on the phone.