On listening

Hamilton, NY · 2018 – 2019

Toured prospective students to enrich the school community, refining customer service and public speaking skills.

Working as a tour guide has left me comfortable working with new people, lending me the patience, empathy, and respect at the foundation of communication skills. Colgate's uniquely personal tours, often assigning guides to a single family, allow me to inject light conversation into my route. While a superficial look at the relevance of such conversation to the content of my tour might portray the small talk as beneficial only in filling time, a focused look at the subsequent psychological transformation in visitors reveals otherwise. Establishing a rapport of respectful conversation and indicating genuine interest in their responses indicates to visitors that I will treat their questions comparably. Customer service aims to mitigate the dread commonly associated with asking for help, so small additions like a bright smile, consistent eye contact, and engaged body language have a similar effect in defining a visitor's tour experience.