Multi-Connect is offering entry-level training courses for call centre agents on Saturday mornings following the success of its full-time training programme.
According to Catherine Dalton, Multi-Connect call centre co-ordinator, who heads up the course, the response so far from both students and employers to the extended training options has been overwhelmingly positive.
"We are obviously filling a very real need in the market," says Dalton. "Employers are starting to realise the value of hiring professionally trained agents who may not have much experience but who know what they`re doing, rather than experienced agents who don`t know how to provide the level of customer service expected from a call centre.
"The level of training we are providing is geared towards helping new agents gain that competitive-edge, and to ensuring their employers get the best possible returns on their strategic call centre investments."
The Saturday morning courses, which run over 12 consecutive weekends and cost R2 280 per person, cover the same content as Multi-Connects` full-time programme. Students with little or no experience in call centres get hands-on exposure to call centre technologies through interactive role-playing and real-life call handling in a live call centre environment.
There is also a strong focus on individual life skills training, including time and stress management, goal setting, confidence building and assertiveness training.
"Students are also taught how to use their voices effectively," notes Dalton. "We`re not aiming to make TV presenters out of them, but we do teach them how to use their voice to improve communication over the telephone.
"From there we move on to customer service delivery. We place a huge emphasis on the quality of delivery and students learn to critically appraise levels of service they receive when phoning in to local banks, medical aids and insurance companies, as a guideline for shaping their own performance.
"Then we start on actual telephone skills and this is where we differ the most from other training companies.
"We do live training in our own call centre, where the students get to use PC knowledge, listening skills, interpretative skills and the voice communication skills they have been taught.
"They therefore get complete in-training exposure to an operational call centre and its technology base, and how to add real value to it."
Dalton says this ties in with the most common feedback she gets from qualifying students and their employers: "Students say they go into interviews confident that they have something of value to offer, while employers now seem to recognise this fact. Their response is fantastic.
"Many of our students also claim that the course actually changes their lives in that they learn important life skills that enhance their working competency and career prospects as well as their social interactions."
Although employment is not guaranteed by Multi-Connect, the company has partnered with several organisations that have agreed to offer part-time work to successful students.
"This is actually a massive growth industry worldwide that should offer South Africans tremendous job opportunities," comments Dalton. "In the UK for instance, call centres are currently the biggest growth industry, especially in Scotland and Ireland.
"The advantage is that they can be set up wherever the necessary people skills exist. SA has those skills, and we firmly believe government should be providing incentives for local and international companies to establish their call centre operations here."
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