DO I NEED EXPERIENCE TO BE A MYSTERY SHOPPER?

You don't need any specific kind of experience to be a Mystery Shopper. However, before you take the plunge to become one, you should carefully introspect and evaluate your skills.

Certain personal qualities are instrumental in becoming a good mystery shopper:

• Good communication skills both verbal and written. You need written skills to report your experiences in a comprehensible manner and verbal skills to carry on basic conversation with the employees of the businesses you visit.

• You should have the ability to meet deadlines and commitments .Remember, Mystery Shopping Companies want reliable and responsible shoppers.

• You should be good with e-mail and attachments, and have basic word processing and data entry skills.

• When on an assignment, you need to be like a fly on the wall. You have to be observant yet unnoticed. Make sure you are good at it.

• You can earn some brownie points if you have any prior work experience in market research, finance or retail. But if you don't have it, don't panic. Its not a mandatory condition. So relax! You can still be a Mystery Shopper.

Besides this, Mystery Shopping Companies expect you fulfill certain basic requirements, like an all time access to the web so that the company can correspond with you on a regular basis and an extremely flexible schedule so that you are easily contactable in case of any urgent assignment. Also, you need to have a good amount of cash in hand. In most of your assignments, you will have to pay out of your own pocket and wait till you are reimbursed which can usually take upto 45 days. Make sure you have that kind of cash to spare for a month or two.

If you have these basic requirements with you and possess all the mentioned qualities, then don't get iffy. Go ahead!