Strategies For Getting the Assignments You Really Want

If we’re being honest, we can admit that very few (if any) mystery shoppers truly enjoy doing price audits at the office supply store. Sure, it’s fairly easy money and you can set your own hours more or less. You can work as much or as little as you want, and don’t really have a grumpy boss hovering over your shoulder criticizing your hard work.

But that being taken into account, when mystery shoppers signed up to do this job, very few had the glamorous notion that they would be checking prices on reams of copy paper. Perhaps you envisioned yourself in a big, floppy hat walking through the local shopping mall like you owned the place or maybe you wanted to sip on martinis at a high-end restaurant while you casually observed the waitstaff. Some people even got into the business thinking they’d get a free night’s stay at a ritzy hotel or maybe even a free cruise out of the deal.

Few and Far Between. The fact is that these types of assignments are available, but they are few and far between. And as hard as they are to find, they are even harder to win over from the incredible competition for them. That is, if they are offered up on the job boards at all. In many cases, the top jobs for hotels, theme parks, cruise ships, and fancy restaurants are doled out to only the best mystery shoppers and aren’t even offered on the job boards at all. So if you want a better shot at getting these types of jobs, you really need to have a superior relationship with your providers and an excellent shopper rating.

Know Who Offers Them. Not every provider will offer these types of mystery shopping assignments. So you don’t have a shot of getting them if you aren’t signed up to work for the select few providers who offer them. You can certainly post a question on the mystery shopping forums, but chances are that those mystery shoppers who know who offers these assignments will be tight-lipped about sharing that information. As much as most mystery shoppers are willing to help you out on the forums, very few will spill the beans in such a public way as a forum. This would only give them more competition for these top assignments when they become available. Instead, you may have to contact top mystery shoppers who you have developed a relationship with privately or take advantage of some other industry connections you have.

Now, if the assignment you are looking for is simple a job at your favorite department store rather than a free hotel room gig, you may have better luck getting that information out of a forum. Keep in mind, however, that mystery shoppers aren’t allowed to disclose which provider works with which retailers. But many of them are happy to provide you with riddles or clues to help you find the information  you are looking for.

Keep in mind that when you finally land that coveted job, most providers will only let you repeat that assignment once every few months. So you may want to try to find a few “favorite” assignments that you like so you can hopefully be completing a few of the assignments you really want on a regular basis.