Employment Field Operations

Field Operations Positions

Field Director

A Field Director will have significant experience as both an interviewer and Field Supervisor. The job responsibilities and requirements will thus not be a surprise to any candidate, since the nature of these responsibilities do not vary greatly from firm to firm, but rather are inherent in the nature of the task. A Field Director is responsible for:

  • Quality of interviewing: Through monitoring, coaching and training.

  • Productivity: Achieved, again, through monitoring, coaching and training.

  • Full staffing: This includes hiring, training and scheduling sufficient to maintain an appropriate level of staff to meet our deadlines.

  • Communications: This is achieved through the development of and execution of appropriate administrative procedures and paperwork. Other office staff personnel are kept appraised of field activities largely through the systematic completion of all paperwork, logs, schedules and other documents.

The relevant skills for this position are twofold.

  • This position involves significant personnel management. Thus, an intuitive ability to manage and motivate is an integral part of the job.

  • A basic understanding of interviewing research principles is also relevant. This may be acquired either through academic training or on the job. A Field Director as part of this understanding will also be able to program CATI questionnaires and conduct pretests with little or no supervision (though Project Director/Analyst involvement in this process is encouraged).

While most of our interviewing work involves telephone interviewing, there are occasional projects involving in-person interviews. A Field Director is responsible for these activities as well as the supervision of telephone operations.

A Field Director is distinguished from a Supervisor primarily in that they should have a sufficient understanding of the job that little or no direction is required in fulfilling these tasks.

Field Supervisor

The responsibilities of a Field Supervisor are virtually identical to those of a Field Director. The primary distinction is in the degree of oversight that is required. We presume that someone at the level of Field Director will require little or no oversight. While a Field Supervisor may require oversight, the degree of their oversight will largely be a function of seniority. Obviously a Field Supervisor will be someone who has significant interviewing experience and a high level of skill. They should have a complete conceptual understanding of the process, the ability to coach, train, monitor and correct interviewing errors. It is generally assumed that training would be more the responsibility at someone at the Field Director or Project Director/Analyst level, although a Supervisor may undertake more routine training.

Interviewing Positions

Senior Interviewer: This position requires a mastery of interviewing skills, a conceptual understanding of the process such that little or no training on individual projects is necessary, strong open-ended interviewing skills, high productivity, a minimum of mistakes, the ability to assist in the training of others and the capability and sensitivity required to conduct executive interviews. [See Senior Interviewer Profiles]

Interviewer: Interviewing at our firm is a common entry position. Indeed, most of our current staff consists of former interviewers who were promoted to other positions. To be an interviewer, one should be highly articulate, literate and verbal. While the position involves absolutely no sales, it does involve calling people and convincing them to do an interview. While we provide training for how to accomplish this, one should have a personality such that they will not be shattered the first time a respondent refuses an interview. Interviewers may be either part-time or full-time depending on skills and interests, although a full-time position will usually require working six days, since most interviewing shifts do not exceed five to six hours. Interviewers should have flexible evening and weekend availability.

In sum, appointment as an interviewer is an ideal starting position for someone who has a serious interest in a career in survey research or who wishes to learn more about the field. It also provides an entry point for someone who does not have specific academic training in survey research, or a set of computer skills that would facilitate appointment as a Computer Research Assistant.

Interviewer Job Qualifications and Attributes Summary:

  • Highly articulate, literate, verbal
  • Absolutely NO SALES
  • Professional Environment
  • Part-time / Full-time (depending on skills and interests)
  • Flexible Evening / Weekend Hours
  • Strong advancement potential - especially for computer-literate persons willing to make a long-term commitment

To Apply


Experienced Field Supervisors should e-mail careers@oneilresearch.com expressing their interest along with a completed Skill Sheet. Note that the entire back side of the Skill Sheet contains computer mastery questions. While such computers skills are highly desirable, they are not essential at the onset. Therefore, no experienced field supervisor should be inhibited from applying due to inexperience in this area. You should, however, fill out the form completely since, from a diagnostic perspective, it provides us with highly useful information.

Interviewer applicants should call our field supervisor (480) 967-4441 x 241. Since interviewing positions involve talking to people on the phone, a telephone call with a field supervisor will be the most efficient way to expedite an application.
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