People Skills Can Take You Places

Alex Tongakilo has built a career in working with people. The young dad of four went straight into the security sector after finishing secondary school. He spent four years working with the public in the Gold Coast’s top-notch hotels by day, and in nightclubs and pubs during the weekends. “Working in the hotel sector, I had some good mentors and supervisors at a young age. I received some really good coaching and mentoring.”

A move into warehousing saw him progress from picking and packing to an Assistant Manager role, working directly with management for the day to day running of the warehouse. “In that role, trying to balance the many different strong personalities was the hardest part. Some people don’t get along in the warehouse environment. It can be very fun with the right people working together, but not everyone gets along. But it was a great company; flexible, and with good people.”

When he moved his family to Wellington, Alex re-evaluated his career options, digging deep to find his passion and a future pathway. Through full-time study with New Zealand Institute of Sport, he gained a Diploma in Sport, Recreation and Exercise, Level 5. “Sport has always been a big part of my life until I finished school and had a family. I kind of wanted to reconnect with that.” He planned to become a physical education teacher at secondary school level, but needed an extra year of study to transfer his qualification to teaching. “The plan was shifting. I thought, if I can’t do this, what’s next?”

While registered with Work & Income, a case manager suggested the contact centre training course at Capital Training. The four-week course delivered at their central Wellington campus is a free course dedicated to Work & Income clients. “At that time, the idea of working in a contact centre was something quite different. Searching for jobs online, I could see that there were a lot of opportunities in the contact centre sector. That caught my interest.”

“I thought it would help me get something on my resume. A lot of places ask for experience.
Working in security does have a similarity with customer service, but I think without having some type of background in customer service or retail on my resume it was a lot harder to get an interview for the jobs that I was applying for - for call centre work.”

During the course, Alex was able to hear from visiting representatives of the various contact centre organisations that visited the Capital Training campus. “They came in and spoke to us about the positions or roles they had available. It was good to get a real sense of how call centres work. I liked the way that they talked about their organisations.”

“I thought it sounded really awesome. I discovered there were a lot of different career pathways, and it sounded like a very supportive environment.”

When Alex secured a job interview with Ministry of Social Development (MSD), one of the representatives who had come to the talk with his class was involved in the interview. “Having that rapport already made me feel a lot more at ease during the interview.”

From there, Alex secured a role with MSD as a Customer Service Representative in their Senior Service contact centre. An additional 12 weeks of on-the-job training meant that he was well supported as he learned the ropes of the new role. “The course prepares you for the interviews, to help you get that foot in the door. Then once you get a role like I’m doing now, they offer training for the specific systems and resources. The extra training was good.”

Alex says preparing for job interviews is a key component of the course.“The tutor really helped us with the interview preparation. I personally struggle with interviews. This job is the first that I’ve gained though a proper, formal interview.”

“Coming from Capital Training is one of the reasons why I got the job. And, having other learners from Capital Training already employed by MSD from the previous cohort, that are doing well, that helps too. It felt like you had a step up over the other candidates for the job.”

One of the significant things Alex took away from the course, was an increase in confidence on the phone, gained through role-play sessions. “If I didn’t have that type of experience, it would have been a bit more of a shell-shock when I started working. It’s very different when you are on the other side of the phone. With the role plays, having the time to get a bit of experience was good.”

As well, he was able to develop his keyboard and computer skills. “My typing skills were very bad before I started at Capital Training. Having the opportunity to get a bit of typing in every day really helped. At the start of the course, I was learning how to touch-type and I think at that time I was around 13 words per minute. I went from 13 words per minute to close to 40 words per minute after the four weeks. Everyone is different. It comes down to effort. I made it one of my goals. In this role, it’s not 100% necessary to be a fast typer, but it helps.”

Now, Alex is enjoying the change, and looking forward to new challenges ahead. “It’s really different from the line of work that I used to do. I’m really happy with the progress that I have got from being with Capital Training, towards my new role.”

“As long as I can be confident in this role, then I’ll have the confidence to really thrive, and I’ll start looking at other roles like coaching or managing. That’s the best thing, the vast amount of different roles that are available going forward.”

Alex’s advice to potential contact centre trainees is to make the most of everything that is offered at Capital Training. “It is a great course, but you have to have a willingness to learn. It’s not something where if you go there, you automatically get a head start. You have to be willing to put in the work and make a good impression, and take away everything that the tutor offers. It’s there to help you get a job or start a career, but you have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone. Some people aren’t cut out for call centre work, they’re not a “people person,’ but if you are wanting to get a contact centre role, this is a perfect opportunity.”