MEDIA RELEASE - Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) today announced plans to enable Contact Centre students to get much needed hands-on work experience.

The tertiary provider is teaming up with Vodafone, to provide young Kiwis studying its Level 3 Contact Centre qualification, valuable on the job experience, to better prepare them for the New Zealand workforce.

MIT’s Industry and Community Engagement Manager Edwina Mistry said, “Our course teaches students the essential sales, customer service and digital technology skills required by the contact centre industry, but job advertisements often ask for people with experience.

“Together with Vodafone we are providing a pathway for students to gain real life work experience, complementing and aiding the completion of their qualification.

“I am looking forward to seeing the incoming cohort of students grow as a result of the unique industry experience now available to them,” Edwina said.

Vodafone’s Acting Customer Operations Director, Steve Rieger, said he is excited about working with MIT to help young New Zealanders put their best foot forward.

“Starting out as a young salesman, customer service was the best asset I had. By getting these students into our contact centre and trained to answer real customer enquiries, they’ll walk away with tangible experiences that they can draw from in job interviews, which is invaluable,” said Steve.

As part of the thirteen week Contact Centre course, a selection of MIT students will gain first-hand experience in Vodafone’s contact centre, answering and resolving customer enquiries. They will be supported by a contact centre buddy, and receive job-readiness advice from a business mentor.

Rocky Ralifo, an MIT alumni and current Vodafone employee arrived from Fiji in 2007. He joined Vodafone as a customer service representative while simultaneously studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Networks at MIT.

Since then Rocky has taken on various roles within Vodafone and puts his career progression down to the technical know-how he learnt while studying, combined with the hands-on work experience he gained in the contact centre.

“Even though I don’t work in the Engineering department, I understand how the cell phone connects to the cell site and then connects to our network. MIT gave me the fundamental understanding of how telecommunications work, and being on the phones allowed me to put that theory into practice to help resolve customer enquiries,” Rocky said.

Applications for the January 2017 Level 3 Contact Centre intake are currently open. To apply, visit https://www.manukau.ac.nz/apply

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