Call Center Management Featured Article
Toledo Call Center Training Program Gives Students Real-Life Experience
One of the key success factors in call center management is proper training and motivation of agents. Studies have shown that high turnover rates in many call centers may be attributed to lack of training and incentives, leading to frustration and poor performance. Now students in Toledo, OH have the opportunity to participate in a call center training program and practice those valuable skills in a real-life call center.
The Cherry Street Mission Ministries offers a Call Center Customer Training program in partnership with Northwest State Community College. Students participate in the program for five days a week throughout nine weeks and earn a certificate upon course completion. The program includes a curriculum centered on communication skills, life skills and preparation for call center employment.
“We covered resume building, mock interviews, budgeting, finances, you name it,” Michelle Blue, a community recruiter for Cherry Street and group leader for the class, told The Blade newspaper. “They’re able to be relational and learn from each other. That’s what this is about is building relationships because it’s a cohort. So they learn together, they grow together, and hopefully become employed together.”
Those same students are now getting on-the-job training at the Engage Toledo call center, which handles public utility calls as well as logging of citizen complaints for the city. The unpaid internship is part of the call center coursework, and is meant to improve students’ chances of finding full-time employment in a call center.
Student Charity Dunson is a prime example of success, and participated in the program to improve her career prospects and beef up her customer service skills. The result was a new job working for a loan collection firm that will utilize her strong customer service skills and enable Dunson to leave her previous job at McDonald’s.
“We learned a lot of life skills, we learned how to set goals, we learned time management, stuff like that,” said Dunson. “It was definitely beyond the call center.”
Student Delynde Shephard actually moved to Toledo from Detroit to participate in the program. "It's very impactful," Shephard told WTOL 11 news. "Like you wouldn't think call center representatives do so much to help people, but from behind the scenes they actually do so much."
The program covers resume building, mock interviews, budgeting, financial planning and a host of other valuable skills designed to prepare students for call center employment and life in general.
Edited by Maurice Nagle