The Life of a Student Caller

“We are NOT telemarketers.  We are student callers.”

This is one of the first things that our employer makes us know upon accepting employment at the UCSC Telephone Outreach Program.  What the job essentially entails is calling all friends, alumni, and parents of the university, building rapport with them over the phone, updating them on campus news while updating their mailing information, and lastly and most importantly, asking them to donate to our annual fund.  The difference is that we are mere students, seeking to outreach for the benefit of the university.  Most of us got the job through work study.  Most of us spend those three and a half hours sitting at a cubicle, the phone constantly dialing, as we search for something to occupy us in the long periods of time that people don’t pick up.  And I’m sure many of us, myself included, spend those three and a half hours wishing they were somewhere else doing something else.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that what we do for the university is extremely noble in that the funds we raise go to so much more than people actually believe.  What people don’t know is that the money the university receives from taxes has a limited window in which it can fund aspects of the college experience.  We don’t work for the regents and not a single penny that we raise goes towards them.  The money goes straight towards things like tutoring, financial aid and scholarships, and even to designations of your choice, like clubs, fraternities, or to certain studies.

Every week we raise thousands of dollars to different university funds; however, as one can imagine, not everyone can give due to external issues.  This is completely fine and we as college students can definitely sympathize with the various plights that we hear over the phone.  Even if a prospective donor can’t give at the current time, it’s nice to hear the experiences that these alumni and parents have.  In the few months that I’ve worked at the Telephone Outreach Program, I’ve engaged with several people and simply just talked, person to person, sharing our different experiences at Santa Cruz and even have received tips from fellow Literature majors!

The one and only qualm I have when I walk through those University Relations doors are the inevitable people who pick up the phone and don’t see us as students trying to make a living, but blood-sucking cold callers.  I have been hung up on several times, yelled at, sworn at, and had my integrity questioned by prospects who completely misunderstand our mission.  It almost conditions us to the harshness of human nature, and yet in the months I’ve worked here, I can say that it still unnerves me how removed people are from sympathy.

At the same time that I can understand that people get frustrated with unwarranted calls, it’s still feels nice to call that occasional prospect who at the least politefully asks to be removed from the calling list, or otherwise, spend the time and effort to chat like two equal individuals.  After all, we are all united under our fantastic university!  Why not take a few minutes from your day to talk to your fellow comrade?