Charming old music
I Danmark er jeg født - Axel Schiøtz
This is fantastic. Axel Schiøtz sings I Danmark er jeg født in that glorious, classical style that seems to have died out today in favor of more “naturalistic” styles.
Being Fairly Fair to the Fairer Sex.
As I sit and ponder life over a cup of chamomile tea, I have taken the time to consider the question of feminine titles. Read the rest of this entry »
Market research #2
So, I’m at work right now. I’ve got some down time while I wait for my calls to connect. It’s the eternal problem with business-to-business (b2b) jobs; you always spend more than half your actual time on the phone negotiating with receptionists, dialling your way through phone menu… (why isn’t there ever a “… dial 7 if you’re a market researcher trying to find an able and willing respondent…”?) and being told that the head of Marketing / Sales / Human Ressources / etc.. isn’t available till next week. However, surprisingly, companies will tell you a lot if you just ask persistently and politely.
Gave up on market survey by interviewing; sales figures simply aren’t accessible that way. Mini-qualitative investigation didn’t yield other than expected results based on websurvey findings. Well, it’s interesting anyway… I do need to practice doing qualitative interviews some more though. They’re supposed to be my forte as an anthropologist(-in-the-making).
New job: Market Research Deluxe
So, I finally found a new job. Phew.
I’m working two-three days a week at Optimizers, a pretty small market research / consultancy in downtown Copenhagen. Now, rather than just interviewing day and day out, I’m actually involved in the entire research process: Meeting with the client, drafting questionnaires, processing survey results, writing reports, conducting interviews … It’s great. It’s quite a mouthful, but I’ve been dying to get out and do something with my studies. … Oh, and the pay is better., and I’m no longer working nights and weekends.
I called and quit at Nielsen Company this evening, and I’ll be going in Thursday to say goodbye and see if I can get my reference, otherwise they’ll just mail it to me. I’ve been there two years, learned a lot, but it’s was definitely time to move on. It just wasn’t going anywhere. I’ve tried moving on and upwards twice in Nielsen, but to no avail. Last year, I contacted the Qualitative Research dept., since I was considering applying for an internship there. I exchanged some emails, had an interview with them… and then never heard a thing. This year, I applied for a job as a qualitative project assistant … but I haven’t heard a thing either. So I started looking elsewhere, and got it. Bu-bye Nielsen. There really isn’t all that much to say.
Except hurray! I have a real job!
Market research #1 Experiences of a phone interviewer
From April 06 till March 08, I worked part time as a phone interviewer at (the) Nielsen Company. The time I’ve spent on vacation and in Finland aside. It’s probably been about 17 months, and I’ve typically been coming in twice a week or so and staying between 4 and 5 hours with one thirty mint break. 68 weeks, 9 hours weekly makes 612 hours. In 612 hours, you can learn quite a bit about random people. Or at least a lot about their tobacco habits, what phone books they have t home and at the office, what they think about whaling and if they’ve seen the commercial with the guy and the stuff advertising that product… on a scale from 1 to 5.
It’s was an OK job. It can be boring, but at times there are at least moderately interesting surveys, but most of all, it’s just a blur. I have to admit to feeling a little bit overqualified for this job (even though I wasn’t when I was hired), considering the fact that I’m about four months away from handing in the final anthropology work for my Bachelor’s …. on consumption. Sigh. I can’t say I haven’t learnt a thing or two from being here – I definitely have. Interview I just feel like it’s about time to move on. I want to get into qualitative market research – assisting with focus groups, interview transcription, or just something. I am sick of phone interviews.
If you consider yourself a warm person with…
