High performance students qualifying through the Call Centre Academy, part of the MB Worksoft group, are being given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience at participating companies` call centres. Candy Kotze-Hayes, MD, says the Learnership Programme involves the mentoring of a student by the business for a two-week to one-month period. "This will also give companies the opportunity to evaluate the student, with an option to employ them at the cost of an introductory fee. If a contract basis is preferred we will arrange for an external party to manage the contract worker."
The Learnership Programme is part of the Agent Certificate of Competence (ACOC) and the Supervisor Certificate of Competence (SCOC) courses. Students who achieve 80%+ marks are offered the opportunity to take part, depending on the number of openings available from participating companies. The company will supervise the student with monitoring and feedback and pay the student a basic wage.
The student starts at the Call Centre Academy with the ACOC or SCOC programme. Weekly marking and assessment is done and prior to writing exams, top students are selected and interviewed by the companies for the Learnership Programme. The standard timeframe is two weeks but can be extended to four weeks if students first need to be trained at their participating company on specific product or service knowledge. On completion of the programme, the student writes the certificate of competency exams.
"Companies that have looked into supporting internships and who operate a call centre find this an attractive alternative. It gives bright students a greater opportunity of finding employment with this experience, fulfilling a broader corporate citizenship commitment", says Kotze-Hayes. "The benefits to companies that get involved are the closer view of the student in the work situation, confirming their suitability for a more permanent post. They are not obliged to offer a position but they can do this at a low cost of 1.5% of the yearly salary with a minimum of R1,500.00."
"This is potentially a win-win situation for business and student", comments Kotze-Hayes. "The student gains in confidence and the practical experience reinforces their lessons and training in our Incubation Room. This is a tremendous motivator for our participants and companies know that they are getting only the highest calibre staff available."
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