Introduction
I am interviewing someone with over one-year working experience. My respondent is Edwin Smith, who works with Barclays bank in England as a sales representative. He has worked with this bank for two years and seven months. I had visited their branch seeking some services, he attended to me and I was satisfied and hence I requested him to grant me an interview which he obliged.
How did you get the Job?
I landed this job after attending three interviews, I applied for the job online and I received a call after a week. The vacancies had been advertised on local dailies and hence there was a very huge turnout and this called for thorough scrutiny. I met all the set requirements and hence my qualifications earned me this job. We the newly recruited employees were taken for a two-week induction course to acquaint ourselves with the organization and its operations.
What is your Job Nature?
I am a bank sales representative and this makes me the liaison between the bank and its customers. My job entails selling and promoting our bank’s financial products and services. I assist our customers in making financial decisions by informing them of various products being offered and helping them in choosing financial packages that would suit individuals or organizations depending on their nature of needs. I also scrutinize loan applications and process loans. This calls for thorough data scrutiny of the applicants to come up with comprehensive information that will help in correct loan approvals. It is very important to dig as much as possible to ascertain a customer’s creditworthiness.
What Qualifications are needed?
Some of the important qualifications that are required in this field are a degree in any field, but those with qualifications in sales and marketing or communication and finance are better placed since that is the core nature of the business in the sales department. One should also be abreast with the current economic news since this comes in handy when making presentations. Eloquence is an important tool since many will be the times when one needs to convince customers, this calls for someone who will manage to persuade customers without much ado.
How does one succeed?
For one to succeed in this field, lots of aggressiveness is required, there is stiff competition from dozens of other banks which offer similar products. They are all over wooing customers using all available means possible. This calls for a self-driven individual who can convince and close deals. One has to endear themselves to customers to stay in business; this can be achieved by being honest and sticking to given deadlines. In the course of duty one comes across confidential information, we are supposed to maintain high integrity and keep any information accessed as secret. The use of modern sales techniques like online method will also increase the success in this field.
What can make one Fail?
This department is not for all, some people are bound to fail. Laziness is a sure way of one failing as a salesperson. Due to its nature of strict deadlines and set targets, slow paces will lead to delays and contract cancelations. Those who are not polished in their arithmetic will also perform poorly since there is no room for error in this department since this involves money. Poor communication skills will lead to poor performance since there are presentations to be made and lots of convincing t be done.
What is the Culture of your company?
This organization has a culture of honesty and transparency, the basis of this institution. There are the stakeholders who form the bank they are the staff, investors, and the management, it is part of the culture to keep harmony. This should be manifested in the relationship between the three in daily undertakings. The company adopts a high flexibility and adaptability mode since it has to keep with current market trends. (Jian, Wei, Xuebing, 2005)
How can one effectively search for a job?
Job hunting is a tedious exercise that requires one to be very aggressive. It is important to have an updated resume all the time since a vacancy might arise within short notice. The resume should be a comprehensive document giving all the details about the applicant. It is also important to be specific about the job one is looking for since ambiguous applications might not be considered.
Work Cited
Xuebing An. Wei Zhang. Jian Yang (2005) Stakeholder theory and cultivating Bank’s Ecological Culture. Web.