"Seasoned" female candidate interviewing for a position outside my "field." Advice, please?

Question

I have an interview scheduled for a custom service rep. in a big financial company that deals with mutual funds for sm. to med. sized companies. This is an entry level, call-center position. This field is totally new to me. My background is in social service/non-profit arena. I am a "seasoned" female with a master's degree in counseling psych. Other than learning all I can about the company, what other tips can you give me? What's the culture like? How should I dress for this initial interview. Can you guess as to how this interview may differ from an interview in the social service field? Anything else I should know and prepare for? I really want a good shot at this job....Thanks.

Answer 1

All good questions- first, there are loads of "transferable" skills that you need to emphasize. Make a list of the skills that you developed and used in your prior career that are applicable to this new job. You have a master's degree and it is highly unlikely that they are interviewing any other candidates with this accredidation, so play that up with how it will be relevant to this job. Also, when switching to a new field you want to emphasize how quickly you pick up new concepts. Think of a story to tell that exemplifies this.

Lastly, the best rule of thumb on how to dress is how you would dress for the most formal day at this new job. Imagine you were to be giving a presentation to the company CEO, and dress accordingly. You can never go wrong with a dark suit and white shirt. One way a friend of mine decided to dress for an interview is he went on the company web site and paid particular attention to the way the employees featured are dressed. These photos are images of how the company wants to be represented, so it makes sense.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

Suggest you know everything you need to know about mutual funds sine it's a custom service rep.....dress professionally.  Call centers employ people that are fairly transient....you will be working independently, on the phone with people who are either angry or asking questions about their investments.  Expect little face to face interaction with colleagues on a day to day basis.  They will expect you to answer questions as quickly as possible, process as many calls as possible/hour....those are the usual performance goals....very different than the counseling arena.  I worked with Geico call center people for a while, called in to improve their performance....(retired IBM exec mgr/psychologist)  Good luck to you!  

Answer 3

Ok, firstly Pearl, I LOVE that you refer to yourself as "seasoned". Good sense of humor. Anyhow, there are certain 'musts' that could potentially disqualify you for the position. However, if you can determine which qualifications/past working experiences correlate to the new position, your lack of experience may be viewed as irrelevant. Simply relate even the most minute 'musts' of your former position/education to the new one. Good luck.

Answer 4

Get ready for culture shock. This ain't social work my dear. Its very "aggressive sales", meaning you may be forced to stretch the truth, annoy people, and lose all sef-esteem. Good luck.