The Value of Upskilling

Annie is kind-hearted, caring and calmly spoken. She has a helpful and reassuring nature you would want from someone in a time of need, which is what you want from someone in her new line of work as an emergency call operator.

Annie currently works in a contact centre team in Wellington, where she deals with calls from around New Zealand, aiding people in emergencies to make sure they get through to the correct service and receive the appropriate help they need.

Annie’s journey started when she found herself unemployed after she left her customer service role just before the COVID-19 lockdown last year. Due to the downtime during the lockdown, she decided to upskill by doing an online course from home. Though she gained some skills, she felt like she was not done learning. Rather than continue distance learning, Annie was keen to find a hands-on learning environment, so she enrolled in the Capital Training Business Computing Level 2 course at the Lower Hutt centre. As Annie had never used a PC until last year, she found this course extremely helpful and eye-opening for her work opportunities. Learning core skills such as the Microsoft Office programmes and computing fundamentals are valuable and integral to the office environment. After she graduated from the Computing course, she realised she wanted to use her newly found skills in computing and technology, along with her previous customer service experience. Though she now had the skills and experience, she still needed guidance through the employment process. So she was referred to the Capital Training Contact Centre course to help her find a role that would suit her new skills and extensive experience.

Annie said that looking for work was a lot easier while doing the course, as she previously had not had the best of luck finding work. According to Annie, being guided through the employment process and being recommended roles for her skillset made it a lot less daunting. It also became a great way of making connections, as Annie even met her current bosses through a presentation they did for the course.

Annie has developed many skills in the role. One skill she has learnt is the need to keep a consistent tone throughout an interaction.  It can be tricky to get used to but using the correct wording and staying professional is an integral part of the job. Self-care is crucial in the role, and the importance of every team member’s wellbeing is paramount. According to Annie, she has never worked for a company that has cared so much about its employees before. Some days may be harder than others, there are some calls where Annie can only do so much, which can be difficult, but that is the nature of the job.