VA Profile -- Robert Christian Belesario
Writing Sample >>> The following is an unedited writing sample. This will help you to better understand Robert's background, while also demonstrating his writing skills...
"During my formative years, English has been an integral part of my life. It is my first language, and the only language I was able to converse in effectively up to the age of five or six. Having spent my childhood glued to the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and HBO, I can confidently say that rather than being fluent in English, I am a natural English speaker. Yet my capabilities with the language extends much farther than it's applicable use in communication, I am also up to date with the current lingo, and expressions used by those in the states, as well as being rather comfortable with the ins and outs of the American culture, past, and present.
In terms of experience, my first gig was tutoring Korean students to refine their English to a point where they would be able to converse naturally with as little effort as possible. This was during my college days and it mostly focused on refining the basics and further adding on more knowledge that can make sentence construction seem more fluid and natural. I honed in hard on subject-verb agreement, tenses, picking up on key words to understand a sentence and so much more. I also provided them with exercises that could help boost their desire to learn English, as well as refine what they already know.
On a more professional note, in my previous line of work, I was a senior manager for Fair Trade Outsourcing. I grew a team of just two people (myself included), to a team consisting of twenty agents over two years time. During this time, I was tasked with not only managing the team, but also training the new members, as the client trusted only me to mold the minds of our new recruits. The agents' responsibilities were to handle email, chat, and phone support. The client, being an international company, was extremely strict when it came to grammar, and formality. Thus constant follow ups were done to ensure that quality was kept, yet the most satisfying moment for me was when the coachings and the one on ones ceased. Over time, the agents were able to effectively communicate, both verbally and in written form, to the point that the client no longer found faults in their conversations with customers.
At the end of the day, should you proceed with me, I can promise two things. The first is that I will not give up on any individual, provided that they do not give up on the program. The second is that I aim for a long term improvement plan. Let's face it, there is no magic pill for English communication. We cannot expect to produce an authentic native speaker who can speak English like they grew up in the states, to reach that level of skill would require an upbringing that is far different than what most have experienced.
Rather, the realistic aim is to correct any grammatical errors, and explain WHY they were incorrect so as to give the agents a feel, a gut instinct, a certain intuition whenever a sentence just doesn't sound "just right". The aim is to be able to converse in English effectively, to eliminate the "say that against" and the "what did you says?" from the conversation with customers. The aim is to make the most of what the agents are capable of and hone it to its fullest potential."
