Institute for Social Research

i worked part time evening and weekend shifts at ISR 
shifts start time during the week 6-9:45pm or 6-11 or 12 midnight 
weekend shifts 10-2pm Saturdays & 2-6pm Sundays 

Management: shift supervisors and telephone monitors were approachable. they provided coaching and feedback 

the job was located at York University main campus (keele) 
the job was interesting because we worked on various projects from health and wellness to politics. 

the work environment was diverse:mainly students, various backgrounds, different age groups. 

most difficult part of the job: would dial SAMPLE and no respondents are available OR numbers are out of service. 

I enjoyed the projects that I worked on. I was able to hear various persons commentary on social issues in Toronto and across Canada.
I also enjoyed interacting with my co workers

Each shift is about 4 hours long, within that time I speak to multiple people of different age groups and ethnicities. The reason for the calls are because the study RRFSS requires we get views on their local health departments policies and programs. I learned that every call outcome can be different, so to be ready for anything; with refusals, have rebuttals, with questions, have those answers. The hardest part of this job is having someone hang up on you when you know what you're doing is beneficial but the other person thinks it's either a waste of their time or we're telemarketers. The enjoyable part of this job is getting to speak with different people about their experiences and thoughts on the health department.

This job consisted of conducting health surveys on the phone related to the issues in a city in Canada. Perhaps the toughest past of the job was to be able to persuade people into taking the interview when there was a lot of hesitation. The environment of the workplace was very controlled since the data had to be standardized, therefore as a data clerk, I had to follow strict rules in order for the data to be valid. Working at ISR for a year taught me to be a lot more professional when dealing with participants on the phone and how to persuade using information and reasoning in order for them to participate.

We were given sheets of numbers to call out and were required to log the outcome of every call. We were required to follow a script and conduct research studies for institutes such as the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, Ontario Ministry of Health, and CAMH. I learned to be persuasive and improve my customer service skills. My coworkers were very nice and friendly. The hardest part of my job was dealing with difficult people on the phone who would swear at me and yell. The best part of my job was calling people who had refused to do a study and successfully convincing them to participate in the study

It used to be an ok student job, then union got us raises, and ISR figured out ways to lower salaries even more than in the beginning. Job is boring, supervising is both lacking (not enough monitors for constructive critic) and overbearing (some supervisors). Minimal effort requiered of interviewers if you can string 3 coherent sentences together on the phone. Management will let you alone if you can do that as they cannot event manage to find willing employees who actually can speak and sound professional.

Working at the research institute was awesome.I learned how to be patient to rude customers. 
My co-workers were fun interesting people. There was never a dull moment there.
My manager was totally awesome. She was always checking up on all the workers. She always loved talking to us about so many things mostly funny things.
The most enjoyable part was every single day

If you want a job that is boring and mind-numbing and in it for the money then go ahead. But if you are young and wanting to progress your experiences and career, try to avoid. 

Management (especially the recruiter) was very good. Great, comprehensive training. The job itself is pretty boring.

The organisation is an amazing organisation conducting research across Canada. It is a great job for bilingual students who are looking to practice their French communication skills. It was my favorite job and the reason why I decided to pursue a career in the field of social research.

Very comfortable and relaxing job but can often get very repetitive and boring. Management was very nice, you sit at your own cubicle and do your own thing, good for people who enjoy being alone/ independence.

the coworkers and management are great and i love being there. i feel cheerful and comfortable. i love talking on the phone to my respondents and doing surveys.

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