
Full Circle Moment For Customer Service Representative
- Date December 12, 2024
The journey to a stable, full-time career started for Epi Higgs with a path to Capital Training many years ago. Having left secondary school early, Capital Training offered her a second chance with a programme designed to complete NCEA Level 2 and Level 3 credits. Securing the credits she needed was an accomplishment that opened doors, and she began to explore a career in broadcasting; “At the time, I had my sights on being someone in the journalism sphere - either a writer, a reporter, or an on-air broadcaster,” she recalls. Attending the New Zealand Broadcasting School, she studied copywriting, sales, marketing, and commercial production, gaining a taste of storytelling and communication - skills that would define her future roles.
Her career took shape in the public and non-profit sectors as an administrator, with a range of temporary roles, gaining skills in finance, customer interaction, and operational oversight. She gained invaluable experience working across multiple government agencies, and a pivotal role with a non-profit organisation focused on workforce development for people working in the field of addiction recovery. This role drew on her skills in facilitation and community engagement, exposing her to the importance of holistic, person-centered support.
Moving into the private sector, she worked for several years as a receptionist and facilities coordinator for an indoor recreation centre. With this role, she found herself at the intersection of retail, hospitality, and customer service, overseeing bookings and handling customer enquiries for unique offerings such as indoor go-karting and laser tag. Here, she discovered a passion for direct customer engagement. “It placed me back into what I was most passionate about—interacting with people.”
Yet life brought unexpected changes when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and family responsibilities increased when she became the primary caregiver for several loved ones. “Everything kind of unfolded one after the other. In hindsight, I look at that experience as being another introduction to a different side of me.”
Epi’s strength in adapting to uncertainty became essential. Despite the challenges, she never lost sight of her own aspirations. Once her family was on a stable path, she began seeking opportunities to focus on her career again. This led her back to Capital Training, this time through the Jobseeker team at Work & Income.
“My expectation of the Contact Centre course at Capital Training was that it would guide me. It would offer employment preparation - things that I needed, such as refining my CV, helping connect me with employers, helping to guide me in my own job seeking endeavours. That was my understanding of what the course offered, based on information on the Capital Training website, including the learner experiences that are published there. So, sharing my story now is a ‘full circle' moment for me - I was once one of the prospective students reading the previous learner stories and resonating with each of them. That gave me the extra reassurance and motivation to apply.”
Enrolling on the contact centre course, Epi initially expected to just enhance her job-search skills and gain updated knowledge on employment processes. Yet the programme offered far more. “It exceeded all my expectations,” she says, emphasising the empowerment and self-awareness the programme encouraged. “I always stress when I am recommending the course to others: you get out of it what you put in. Don’t go in there expecting to be spoon-fed and led by the hand into employment. It is not a placement course. I call it an activation course - self-activation, empowerment, and discovery about your own skills and how to best market yourself. We were training with employment preparedness in mind, but it was equipping us with life skills that have so many applications.”
“A big part of the experience is the classroom environment. Rather than taking a course online, or one that is self-led, being able to engage and collaborate and bounce off each other with ideas and learning was valuable.”
Epi says the support from the Capital Training team was pivotal to their success,“The course tutor was a strong driver for growth, and championed our learning. And the course administrator offered lots of moral support while coordinating and liaising on our behalf.” As well, the support included assistance with balancing Work & Income obligations, “Whilst we were keeping our classroom commitments, we of course had our commitments to Work & Income which required us to continue applying for roles. The Employment Manager at Capital Training was crucial in helping us keep to that commitment. She was really pivotal in helping us stay on that job-seeking journey whilst we were also on that journey of self-discovery. Being able to push two waka at once is what she helped us do.”
Throughout the training, Epi was struck by her own growth. “Every day, each step, I would review what we learned and look back and find that I was a different person,” she recalls. This transformation reawakened her goals of helping others recognise their potential. It’s a perspective she carries forward, seeking opportunities to build community and foster positive experiences. “Through Capital Training, I’ve realised that I do have a lot of potential for leadership. It’s offered a lot of confidence, and it’s offered a renewed sense of direction."
Following the four-week contact centre training course, Epi secured a role with Contact Energy and is now working full time as a Customer Service Representative. With a continued desire to grow, uplift others, and occupy a meaningful place in her community, Epi looks forward to offering others the same encouragement and support she found through Capital Training, guiding them to embark on their own transformative journeys.
“The fact that I was approached to share my story is quite rewarding for me because It’s able to bring this journey full circle. Hopefully I can offer someone that reassurance, that encouragement to come and engage in this course and help them change their lives, the way that I’ve been able to change mine.”