A New Start in a New Field

When Kiki Kim first arrived in New Zealand from Korea, her plan was simple: spend a year on a working holiday, gain some life experience, then return home. But like so many others, Covid-19 changed everything.

In Korea, Kiki had completed a university degree majoring in social work and counselling. After graduating, she worked part time to save money for travel. In New Zealand, her journey took her through retail, cafés, and travelling around the country. When the economy slowed, she was made redundant, and suddenly found herself struggling to find work.

“I was out of work for almost a year, so I was using all my savings, and stressing out myself.” she says.

That was when her Case Manager suggested the four-week Contact Centre Training course with Capital Training, at the central Wellington campus. The free course, designed specifically for Work & Income clients, covers key skills such as Customer Service, Conflict Management, Health and Safety, Computer Navigation, and other aspects of contact centre work as well as preparation for job interviews.

Practicing interview techniques and role plays were a big part of the course. “At first, it was awkward doing the mock interviews and talking to other people about myself, but it gets better,” Kiki says. “We practiced contact centre role play, and that gave me an idea of how it actually works.”

As someone who uses English as a second language, interviews had always been particularly intimidating for Kiki.

“English is my second language, so I always feel scared when I go for an interview, that I can’t deliver what I want to say in English well enough,” she says. “The mock interviews were really helpful, and everyone was cheering me on.”

The tutors also gave students strategies to prepare structured interview answers. “They gave me a lot of tips for how to do interviews, like the STAR technique. They get you to practice and write your answer, and have multiple answers prepared for a lot of questions,”

After completing the course, Kiki secured a full time job as a Contact Centre Service Consultant with ANZ. While there is a lot to learn, she is confident she has made the right move.

“I like the call centre part. The banking part is quite difficult to wrap my head around,” she admits. “But they give pretty good training and I get a lot of support and feedback, so I get more and more comfortable as each day passes.”

Some of Kiki’s friends suggested that contact centre work would be daunting - dealing with many angry customers – but her experience has been very different.

“Actually, 99% of customers are really sweet and lovely. I really like it, and the work environment is pretty chill. It is my very first office job, so I was kind of scared at how different it would be from working in retail, but actually it’s just working with people - it’s all people, and I love talking to people. I like this job.”

For Kiki, the role represents stability, growth, and a future.

“I had recently obtained my New Zealand residency, so I couldn’t stay working in retail forever – I needed to get a more sustainable job. I think this is a really good start,” she says.

“If I hadn’t done the course, I might still be struggling to find a job, or I might have ended up in another retail job,” she reflects. “It’s hard to get into a new field when you don’t have experience.”

Looking ahead, Kiki would like to one day work for the Ministry of Social Development, where she could apply her university learning in social work and counselling.

She is positive about recommending the Capital Training course to others.

“You don’t need to worry about anything, but you do need that mindset of, ‘I’m going to take this course and get a job’,” she says. “Because if you’re just sitting there and not really trying, then it’s really not going to do much for you.”

She is also deeply grateful for the ongoing support she received from Capital Training.

“I would like to shout out to the tutors, because even after I got a job, they reached out to me and asked if I was doing okay,” she says. “They told me that I can always reach out to them if I need any help or I need someone to talk to, so I’m really grateful.”

Now more financially stable and confident in her new career path, Kiki has an inspirational story to tell.

“If I can, you can,” she says. “I made it – from a totally different country that speaks a different language, with a one-year visa. So if I can, everyone can.”