I Used to Call You on my Headseat

         If you didn’t read the title of this article in the way Drake sings his song, “Hotline Bling”, then you should try it because it makes it about ten times more fun. I just started my job this year at Ohio Northern in the Campus Call Center working for the Phonathon. I have been working here for about three weeks now actually calling people. We call alumni, families, and friends of the university here and ask if they would like to give money to our Northern Fund. The Northern Fund is a scholarship/ financial aid program that we do here at Ohio Northern that helps provide over 90% of our students with some kind of aid so they can attend school here. It also helps aid research projects and programs with faculty and for students, helps improve campus as a whole, and helps with internships and experience opportunities for our students.

            We have different calling pools that we put all of our alumni in. They depend on if they have given or not in the past, their ages, how often they have given before, and what college they attended while they went here (Pharmacy, Engineering, Arts and Sciences, etc.). In a perfect call, we ask the prospect we are calling if we can update their contact information with us. Afterwards, we ask them a couple of questions about their time here at Ohio Northern. This can include favorite memories, activities they were involved in, favorite professors and or classes, and so on. The good thing about calling is that the college we are in coincides with the college that they attended, so it is likely we could have both been involved in the same things on campus. After we have talked to them for a little bit, we ask them if they would like to give to the Northern Fund. We ask a certain amount and that amount depends on whether they have given or not before. If they have given, it is three times the amount they previously gave. If they refuse, it goes to double, then just matching, and after that, they either give whatever amount they feel like giving or not at all. If the prospect has never given before, we start out by asking $50, then $25, then whatever they want, or they refuse altogether. We accept both credit or debit cards, but some people like to be sent a physical pledge card.

            9 times out of 10, our phone calls do not go this smoothly. We get a lot of answering machines, hang-ups, or people asking to be taken off our call lists. In the three weeks or so that I have been here, I have only received one pledge. The job isn’t too bad. I am only required to work two shifts a week and they are each three hours long. We also receive $9.00 an hour, which happens to be the highest paid job on campus. It is my first job on campus and I am glad to say that I enjoy it!