Phone Interview in a Developing Country

There are some things that, even though I am half way around the world, I need to tune back into reality and remember that I have a life that’s not just Madagascar for, like interviews.

I’m glad that I’ve had this experience, because I think that it’ll make real interviews in the future a lot easier in comparison.

Obstacles you face when on a phone interview in a developing country:

1. The mice that run over your feet while you’re talking. I’ve learned that it is possible to suppress a high-pitched girly scream when scampered on by mice while on the phone with the US, but my next couple of sentences were probably complete nonsense because in my head I was completely freaking out and deciding I just contracted the plague.

2. The men who try to sell you things while you’re on the phone. Since it was around 10 PM here, there were no indoor locations that I could be on the phone since I wasn’t at my house. This meant that I sat on some stairs by the Bord de la Mer and tried to ignore the weird distractions around me. Unfortunately this included men who are really adamant about getting you to ride their pousse-pousse cart or sell you fruit. Speaking in hushed and angry French while covering the speaking of the phone is never a great interview technique.

3. The huge truck sponsored by “Orange Telephones” that rides up and down the street you’re on, blasting music from speakers. I wanted to say, “I swear I’m not in a club… this is just how Madagascar is: weird, loud trucks with dancing people trying to sell you telephones” But that doesn’t sound like something that would go over well.

4. The fact that they couldn’t call me because my number wasn’t working from their line, and I couldn’t call them because I didn’t have any phone credit. This resulted in my getting my mom to three-way call both of us. Can’t wait to see that phone bill. Thanks Mom!

5. The hardest part of this whole thing, though, was something I didn’t expect. It is really difficult to get back into the US/ Villanova world mentality when you are in a developing country. Trying to remember things that happened two years ago when I was stressing about robbers breaking into my house again and the creatures that were biting me was quite the mental challenge. It’s times like this when I remember that reverse culture shock is definitely going to hit me and is just going to SUCK majorly.