Have you ever had a bad job?

Oh my God, absolutely yes! It was actually a very short experience, lasting a week, but it was the longest week of my life.

It all started by chance, I was a customer of a telephone agency that had recently opened a call center and I, having no experience in the sales sector, still wanted to apply and test my skills. In reality, I was well aware of not being a good salesman but I had the certainty from day one: zero sales. I admit that the product sold, an alleged slimming pill, was really not very credible, I myself knew it was a false message. Probably a more marketable product would have had greater acceptance from customers.

But it was so much so that after a few days, speaking with the manager, we reached an agreement to cease my presence. In fact, I hadn't yet sold any products but above all, not believing in this magical pill myself, I didn't convey any enthusiasm or optimism to customers. In a nutshell, I was not good at scamming them, luckily.

What have I learned from this bad experience?

Confirmation of the obvious: it's difficult to be good and productive if you don't like the job. You risk wasting time and money, as in my case because at the end of this disastrous experience I wasn't even paid. I could have also proceeded with legal actions but basically I was well aware of the risk, mine was a first test necessary to test the ground.

But not all bad comes to hurt.

Years later, I interviewed at a large call center company, during the interview I explained why I would not be able to fill an outbound role. So I offered myself for the inbound role and today, 9 years later it's still my job, with many satisfactions and opportunities for growth.

Today, when I think back to my experience almost 20 years ago, I smile because I was young and perhaps I should have taken the consequences of that experience less seriously. In fact, I was a little demoralized and stopped looking for work for a while. As previously mentioned, it was my first work experience and it wasn't a good start. But all experiences, even negative ones, contribute to making a person stronger and more prepared. Emotion management is essential especially during a job interview and admitting some weaknesses, in a sincere way, sometimes pays off.

My advice during job interviews is: be yourself, nothing more.

Greetings

P.S. The photos were taken during my morning walk, taking advantage of the good weather I went beyond the city limits, breathing in some healthy air and enjoying the warmth of the winter sun.