Paula recently completed a Level 1 Customer Service course, and with a fresh CV with new skills, she applied for a job in retail and was offered a supervisory role.
Discover the support she received from her tutor Dean Moore, what she learnt and how she has been able to able to utilise her skills to make her CV stand out.
“I applied for a retail position, they said I had a well-presented CV, the way everything was laid out from skills to knowledge and a fresh qualification, it stood out to them and they offered me a supervisory role. It was a massive confidence boost which wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t pushed, encouraged or guided.”
It was the Principles in Customer Service course. I thought I knew what customer service really was, but there’s more to it than I thought. I have worked in a retail role before, but not something that I had delved into since my college years, so when I was in retail I assumed customer service was all about serving customers, having those polite mannerisms, but actually there’s a a lot more to it, so many other aspects.
Due to Covid the company I had been working had to let me go last year so I have been trying to seek employment since then.
At school I was in secretarial/ receptionist line of work and was doing my degree in this, when I left college I did a retail job and then I got married, became a stay at home mum for a few years and got back into retail in 2018.
It was sent to me through my work coach. I like anything that is anything customer based, I enjoy customer relations, talking to people – though I am very shy person normally it appealed to me as it was something familiar. I didn’t think it would be that difficult and something I could achieve to update my CV with.
The challenge for me wasn’t the work or the course itself, but it was actually being on video chats, that’s a whole new thing for me. Seeing my face and everyone else – that was daunting and what I found challenging. If it was in person, I would have been sat at the back, not raising my hand – going into the video, I could turn my video off and audio off, but Dean knew who was there and was reassuring, he engaged everyone and I found myself jumping in so it was really nice and I didn’t feel that anything I would say would come off as a silly answer.
The most interesting was the regulations, knowing the business you’re working with when it comes to customer service. It’s not just about greeting your customers, its about the business place, it’s keeping your colleagues in the workplace safe, knowing certain laws when you’re working in certain areas.
I’ve never had what I thought was a great CV, I left college and had little jobs here and there and a lot of it was volunteering so not much on my CV was actual work. For me it was a worry not having anything current, but doing the customer service course and having something recent on my CV helped me stick out as it’s right at the top so employers aren’t looking at work history from 1992.
When Dean had touched base on what we should do with our own skillset, I didn’t understand much about self removable skills and moving skills from one area to mix it in with the job requirements. I didn’t think as a stay at home mum I would have soft skills to be able to take and put it onto a retail resume, it made me realise I already had skills that would helpful to gain employment and having that knowledge and encouragement allowed me to go out of my comfort zone and put more on my CV.
I applied for a retail position, they said I had a well-presented CV, the way everything was laid out from skills to knowledge and a fresh qualification, it stood out to them and they offered me a supervisory role. It was a massive confidence boost which wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t pushed, encouraged or guided.
The way Dean explained certain things, to not be afraid, put it down, you can back it up – just the encouragement that he gave made me come out of my comfort zone and put more ‘meat’ on my CV! When you’re applying for a job on a till and they want to offer you a supervisor position, that becomes a bit of a confidence boost right there in itself and that wouldn’t have happened without such an encouraging tutor.
Dean followed through on everything which was nice, you didn’t feel you were on your own, if you didn’t understand something he gave you that extra time, it wasn’t a problem for him to go over it and help you through and find an answer.
I’m someone that needs a lot of reminders, it wasn’t like you were on this course here’s the link, there was a nice set up in enrollment and following through, it was always fresh reminders!
Encouraging, supportive, and approachable.
Confidence: Before the course my confidence was a five, it’s now up to seven!
Skills: Before the course it was a three, after the course, with new skills and being helped to recognise the skills I already had it’s now an eight.
Employment prospects: I wasn’t very optimistic at first so possibly a three, now it’s gone up to eight!
Maybe a wolf, as it gave me the courage to go forward – the fight for what I want – I want this job and I’m going to go for it. I have this new knowledge now that is fresh and up to date and encouragement and insight about what I can do to make my customer service skills stand out for more!
Something my nan always used to sing is Que Sera Sera, and that’s what comes to my mind now – when things get tough, you have to remember whatever is going to be is going to be!
Disclaimer: This video is from an external source and doesn’t contain subtitles.
“Paula had the determination to complete the course. Although she had a busy personal life, she managed to complete the five-days and that has changed her career path. There is no better compliment than a learner feeding back on their progression!
I do believe that some may look at a five-day course as a negative and say ‘How can five days change my life?’ All I can say is look at Paula and her journey.
Here at Ixion, we are not only here to tutor but to support, encourage – and build skills and confidence in our learners.”
Dean Moore, Tutor
If you live in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough or surrounding areas and are unemployed or jobseeking, join one of fully-funded short courses today.