Posted by Jam Mayer @ 25 May 2011
It’s been close to 3 years since I last stepped into a call center as an employee, but I still hear the same stories from past colleagues. Recruitment personnel are pressured to get quality staff while trainers are usually pushed to their limits to make sure newly recruits are ready for operations. The challenge, as always, is getting staff that are good in the English language.
The team who worked more hours was the foundation skills training staff. They were in charge of cultural training, which included the basics of the English language. Because of the demand for my team’s time, it was difficult to find time to sit down and evaluate their success. I had to look into the recruitment model and found that applicants were failing just a few points. At that moment, I knew we needed to re-train, even before they stepped into cultural class.
This scenario flashed through my mind, when I heard about AHEADPro’s services. It being a division of AHEAD, a tutorial and review center, their thrust is to “help professionals acquire the tools that they need to be more competent in their work, realize their goals, and go up the ladder of success.”
They offer their own Call Center Training program, that includes creative telephone sales, stress management, customer service and a module on call center English. I was impressed with their methodology. A Training Needs Analysis (TNA) process is in place to identify the gap of the students and they can customize the modules to the student’s needs. Delivery is not limited to your boring lectures (or ‘Death by PowerPoint’ as I’ve always called it). They have one-on-one reviews with students, training simulcasts, and recorded call simulations. As Jane Santos-Guinto, managing director of AHEAD Professional Network (AHEADPro) confirmed, their classes lean towards experiential learning.
They have other programs that prepare professionals for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), which utilizes the same methodology. As Erika Santos-Dela Cruz, business unit manager, explains, “Even an individual can walk into on of our centers to get the online TNA version and customize the training and review to their needs.” This is fantastic, not only for reviews, but for corporate personnel who need help in public speaking, and business writing.
It doesn’t stop there. There are programs that cater to foreigners wanting to learn English. The Global Opportunities through English (GOEnglish) program is designed for expats in the country, designed for them to use English for communicative interactions while learning about the Filipino culture. It is divided into classroom lectures and field trips to apply what they’ve learned.
More programs are catered to the academic community. School administrators, principals, and teachers are given seminars to improve their instructional skills, and develop skills on school management for better student performance.
AHEADPro boasts of high quality instructors and utilization of internet based tools. Meeting their management team, it clearly shows that each person is passionate about elevating our professionals’ skills. AHEAD Learning Systems President Rossana Llenado’s passion, most especially, was contagious. She is aware of the need to educate more professionals and she has a strong team to make it happen.