ne step further and apply this to self-employment. If you work for yourself, you will be required to deal with people. Would answering the telephone at a large company provide you with the experience you need? Or would you be able to learn howFor many years I managed a computer training centre. During those years I handled the financials, sales and marketing, human resources and anything else that required input. During this time I also on rare occasions and as an emergency, took over in reception answering the phones. This was not difficult and I did a fair job of it. Certainly never had any complaints! I abided by the easy principle of being friendly to people. I would hazard a guess that I would not be able to find employment as a receptionist as I would not have sufficient work experience.

What experience would be considered essential to being a good receptionist? I would guess, being able to deal with people would be the most important. Learning how to use the telephone system would require a maximum of half a day's learning, and any clerical systems the company used, would be different from company to company. This means previous experience would not count.

Take this reasoning one step further and apply this to self-employment. If you work for yourself, you will be required to deal with people. Would answering the telephone at a large company provide you with the experience you need? Or would you be able to learn how

ver in reception answering the phones. This was not difficult and I did a fair job of it. Certainly never had any complaints! I abided by the easy principle of being friendly to people. I would hazard a guess that I would not be able to find employment as a receptionist as I would not have sufficient work experience.

What experience would be considered essential to being a good receptionist? I would guess, being able to deal with people would be the most important. Learning how to use the telephone system would require a maximum of half a day's learning, and any clerical systems the company used, would be different from company to company. This means previous experience would not count.

Take this reasoning one step further and apply this to self-employment. If you work for yourself, you will be required to deal with people. Would answering the telephone at a large company provide you with the experience you need? Or would you be able to learn how

mployment as a receptionist as I would not have sufficient work experience.

What experience would be considered essential to being a good receptionist? I would guess, being able to deal with people would be the most important. Learning how to use the telephone system would require a maximum of half a day's learning, and any clerical systems the company used, would be different from company to company. This means previous experience would not count.

Take this reasoning one step further and apply this to self-employment. If you work for yourself, you will be required to deal with people. Would answering the telephone at a large company provide you with the experience you need? Or would you be able to learn how

ow to use the telephone system would require a maximum of half a day's learning, and any clerical systems the company used, would be different from company to company. This means previous experience would not count.

Take this reasoning one step further and apply this to self-employment. If you work for yourself, you will be required to deal with people. Would answering the telephone at a large company provide you with the experience you need? Or would you be able to learn how

ne step further and apply this to self-employment. If you work for yourself, you will be required to deal with people. Would answering the telephone at a large company provide you with the experience you need? Or would you be able to learn how to do this by following a few basic steps such as being friendly and helpful. In fact one would almost be inclined to say, that working for a company could mean that you pick up bad habits. Recently I had occasion to phone companies to find out who the relevant people would be to send information to on training. The general rudeness that I came across during this exercise has been quite staggering. If anybody handling their own business, were to behave like this to callers, you would be out of business.

I can hear the objections already. Low skilled jobs are different to high skilled jobs. Working as an investment broker for instance requires work experience. What is experience? It generally involves learning from doing something right or from making mistakes. Some people also learn from following people blindly, but those generally tend not to be in senior positions, or if they are, not for very long. Does it matter where this experienced is gained?