Post Interview Reflection

For my interview, I questioned Pepsi, a benefit authorizer for Social Security in Baltimore.  I asked this person 10 questions, and the answers are summarized as followed.

1.      How did you end up working for social security?

A: They were looking for a job because they didn’t enjoy the one that they had before.  And they ended up applying and getting hired as a benefit authorizer

2.      Who did you communicate with to get there and what documents did you pass along

A: They applied for this position electronically and had to take a test.  When they passed it, they were then scheduled for an interview.  All of this was found online, and they turned in their resume online at the same place

3.      What’s a typical day throughout the workplace in terms of people that you communicate with?

4.      And Can you name the positions of these people that you’re communicating with?

A: Boss, supervisor, manager, assistant manager, people in the field, other benefit authorizers. Spoke with benefit authorizers about policy and procedures, and supervisor about work instructions.  Boss, managers about the progress regarding work.  Status reports.

5.      How do you speak with people in your workplace compared to the clients that you communicate with?

A: Laid back conversation with people that they work with.  When speaking with clients, a very professional tone and attitude is required.

6.      Are there any technical terms that you use with your co-workers regarding work?

A: Social Security is different from any federal agency, so there’s a special set of words to use.  Benefit authorizers receive a year of training with various sample cases to work on.  Example would be FRA, which just stands for full retirement age.  The special language can be found online, but they must memorize these terms to know them on the spot.

7.      Besides direct communication, what types of advertising techniques does your company use to speak with the public?

A: MSSA.gov is a website where people can go online to get any info they need about social security.

8.      Can you give an example of what the normal communication process would like between you and a client?

A: People locked out of there accounts, talk to them to correct their login.  Reset passwords.  General questions.  Benefit amounts.  How much are they being overpaid.  Discussion about Medicare.  Any type of forms if people want to appeal benefits.

9.      Is this normal procedure what you would consider an effective method of communication?  Why?

A: Yes, because people are given the tools to do what they need to.  They are directed and given various options.  Social security is essential to everyone, and everybody has social security specific to them.

10.   What do you believe are personal challenges when communicating and how do you overcome them?

A: People sometimes just don’t understand social security, so we must guide them toward that knowledge, while answering questions along the way.  Sometimes people want things that they can’t be provided, and we must follow the rules and regulations and tell them why they can’t get what they want.

11.   Can you give an example of you overcoming a communication challenge?

A: A person doesn’t pay something and gets their benefits cut.  They’re angry and we must explain to them why they were cut, and the steps that they can take to get some of these benefits back.

I had a lot of fun with this interview.  I was nervous throughout the entire thing, but I think the nerves calmed down around question 4 and I slowed myself down.  The interviewee could tell, but they still worked with me to get the nerves out.  

I feel like I kept a good flow with the interview, but I didn’t ask for enough clarification on some things.  For example, when asking for more technical terms that are used in the workplace, I feel as if I could have gotten more examples that this person must memorize.  Perhaps the priority of certain terms over others.  And I’m sure that this person couldn’t tell me some other terms that are most likely confidential.  Also, I should’ve asked for an example of them speaking differently with co-workers compared to clients.  To add on, I didn't ask what appeal benefits means when they gave me that answer, planning to look it up later.  Looking back, I should've asked them about it because they may have a different interpretation of it.  Lastly, they mentioned working at other jobs, but I never asked what those jobs were.  I'm not sure if knowing the past jobs would've been useful for the purpose of this assignment, however.

I had fun with the entire interview and feel like I got some good answers.  Like learning that benefit authorizers get a year of training instead of the six months that I read before, and that the application process was more than just applying but answering a questionnaire as well.  Also, when asking if they believe that their normal communication process was an effective method of communication, they suddenly got really passionate.  There was a clear different tone in this question compared to the rest of the interview, and it gave me the impression that this person really cared that everybody was getting the correct information in regards to social security.  In regards to that, I believe that this must've been a very good question if I got that kind of response. Besides getting answers, I think that I was very respectful during the interview by trying not to interrupt and maintaining eye contact.  I also replied to answers that this person gave me, and kept an engaging conversation the entire time, even when nervous.  It could've went better, but it also could've went much worse.  I'm glad that it was the former.

It was great speaking to a person that has been working at various jobs and currently for social security.  I noticed that they thought about what they were going to say before answering my interview questions, and that could possibly be because there is a lot of confidential information.  Besides that, it was a new experience for me.  I’m usually the one getting interviewed when in this type of situation, so deciding what types of questions to ask, preparing for follow up questions, noting down the answers, was all something I’ve never done before to this degree.

To connect with what we’ve read/learned in class, this person mentions keeping a professional tone when speaking with people on the outside.  Clients need to understand what their social security benefits are and speaking to them in a professional tone lessens the chance of confusion.  This person didn’t speak much on how they speak to them in this manner, just that they do and that it's an important part of the job.

Also, I asked them to list examples of communication processes, and they gave me some rhetorical situations.  For example, when a person is locked out of their social security online account, they could potentially call, or send an email to benefit authorizers to fix this situation.  Even something like calling and asking a general question is a rhetorical situation.  These weren't in depth answers, but they are situations that happen daily in the workplace for this person

Another thing mentioned was explaining why certain clients are unable to receive certain benefits.  This involves writing negative messages, or even saying these things over the phone with them.  Clients won’t be happy to hear the bad news, and the benefit authorizer might have to apologize for something that really isn’t their fault, such as the client not paying a bill.

Overall, this was certainly a fun experience and is something that I’d like to do again, just to learn more about how different types of jobs communicate with each other.  I'd also get better at interviewing people, which could use some improvement.