NVQ for Office Manager Kim
“If someone had told me three years ago that I’d be working in an office now – and enjoying it – I’d have laughed my socks off!”
So says Kim, Office Manager at the Venture portrait studio in Malmesbury. But then no-one could have foreseen that Kim would also have completed an NVQ in Customer Service with learndirect and be ably running the customer side of the high street photography franchise:
“I trained as a vet nurse when I left school and did that for a while before getting married and bringing up my daughter. When I got divorced I went into chefing part-time and ended up as head chef. By the time I met my new husband my daughter was that much older and I wanted my life back – the hours in the restaurant trade are really bad. I didn’t know what to do but a friend badgered me to come for an interview here as Office Manager. And I really enjoy it – it’s a lovely place to work, with a small team who all help each other. We get on really well. It’s ideal.”
Kim’s main role is for customer services, making sure that the business’s thousands of clients are happy and have a pleasant experience with the company:
“I’m certainly kept busy. There are all sorts of things to deal with, from answering queries about disabled access or bringing along a pet, to sorting out a range of customer issues around delivery of their photographs. You have to be extremely diplomatic and tactful!”
That’s where the NVQ in Customer Services comes in. It’s not that Kim wasn’t already good at her job, rather that having her skills recognised with a qualification, coupled with some fresh ideas and procedures, meant that her confidence was boosted no end – and her approach became that much more professional:
“I feel much more confident about dealing with potentially difficult problems quickly and efficiently now. It’s actually made my job so much easier because I don’t put off dealing with something because I’m not sure how to handle it. Now I’m more decisive about which course of action is best.”
Kim’s feeling chuffed about her achievement too:
“Obviously any qualifications you can get are a good idea. They add value to your CV and it’s a great feeling when you achieve that certificate at the end. learndirect is ideal because it’s so flexible. All you need is access to the internet. You study online, whenever and wherever suits you best, for as long or as short a time as you like. I chose to do most of it at home, away from the bustle of the office.”
The process involved working through modules and case studies online and building a portfolio of ‘evidence’ to show how Kim performed various job-related tasks and dealt with situations at work. About once a month the learndirect tutor visited Kim at Venture:
“It was very relaxed – we just fitted it in when it was convenient. She’d go through the work she’d left me to do and observe me doing my job, advising me but encouraging me to think things through for myself. Then she’d leave me an action plan for next time, with tasks such as writing reports and witness statements on various scenarios. With customer care every situation is different, so you have to use your common sense alongside your knowledge. I found it really interesting, for instance, to find out on the course about the legal aspects of customer care – I learned so much that I’d had no idea about before.”
Another bonus for Kim was that she completed the qualification in just a few months, without being tied to the schedule that a college course would have demanded:
“If you put the hours in you certainly reap the rewards. I began in July and I’d finished by early December. I’d just finished my CLAIT computer course with learndirect, so it was an added bonus to get the NVQ too - there’s a lot of personal satisfaction in getting the award at the end. When you’ve got a family and work full-time it’s invaluable to be able to learn when you have the time, just logging onto the internet when you feel like it. And you don’t have stacks of paperwork – I just took a few notes.”
Best of all, her qualification has given Kim proof of her professional ability, which any employer would recognise:
“You can go anywhere and say you’ve worked in an office for two years and it will mean very little. Having that little piece of paper shows what I’ve actually achieved here and what I can do. I’ve got a real thirst for learning now. How fantastic to be able to work full-time and get qualifications as well! I really feel at last that I’ve got a career. And that’s quite an achievement.”