Neilson

I have worked for one company that personified excellence in productivity and treatment of employees. For several months in 2006 I worked for Neilson Media Research, which is perhaps the largest media research company. My job specifically was to give away movie tickets. It sounds easy, but getting people to take movie tickets and not think you are trying to sell them something is harder than you might think. One aspect that made this a difficult job was that you had to profile people to give the tickets too. One movie might just be looking for Males ages 25-35, or African Americans, children. The point is that you couldn’t just set up shop on any street corner with a sign that says free movie tickets.
Any particular day at work would go something like this. First I would drive to the building Neilson Media Research worked out of in Hollywood. I’d go in the building show my I’d card and take the elevator to the 11th floor. So, already even in this lowly job I feel important. I get access to go into the House of Blues building in Hollywood. Which didn’t seem back for basically a job that was to the company basically grunt work. At the 11th floor I go into the corner conference room that has two walls of floor to ceiling windows with a view of downtown LA. There awaits me today’s assignment, food, and refreshments. There are no time constraints, I stand around and chat with others and relax before I move to location. Today’s assignment I’m sent to Pasadena to give away tickets to Blood Diamond (which had not been released yet). So, off I go to Old Pasadena. Then comes the hard part; getting rid of the tickets. At this point I have turned into someone everyone hates: that person trying to get you to do something while you are just trying to have a pleasant day in Old Pas. It is like being constantly rejected and misunderstood; people just could never understand that you are not getting them to buy something. All Neilson was trying to do was give tickets away so the people would fill out a survey. Cut to the end of the day. I’ve talked to enough people that my throat is a bit horse, I’m tired from standing all day so I go back to Neilson. There I turn in the list of names I have gotten and relax and if I got my quota I can order lunch/dinner from downstairs.
The point is Neilson did not have to treat us as well as they did for the small job we had. Work was entirely on commission so in reality they could have made it so it was not even necessary for the solicitors to come into the office. They could have just emailed the movie tickets in the morning and we could have just as easily mailed them back at night. But having us come in and letting us use some space on the 11th story of a very nice high rise where other Neilson employees worked made me feel like I was more important and made me feel like I had some connection to the company. In addition, Los Angeles as I know it is a place of networking, i.e. the only way you ever really get a good job is knowing someone who is already in the business. They were very good at letting you know about other opportunities within the company.