5 Responses

1. NVQ’s
   Hello, there are NVQ’s available in Customer Service which concentrate on key aspects of CSR job roles. The beauty of these is they can be offered free to those under 25 and plus easily managed and consist of on the job learning.

2. NVQ’s for Contact Centres
   Simon,

   I totally agree with Ben. NVQ’s work very well with large contact centres as they (a) will demonstrate that the advisor is competent at their role (b) can be tailor made to the company/role and finally (c) have minimal impact on service levels as the majority of the work can be completed whilst the advisor is on the telephone.

   Personally, I am an NVQ assessor (with City and Guilds) and work totally within the contact centre industry. Should you require any further advisor or support Simon, feel free to drop me an email at [email protected].

3. OCR NVQs
   OCR offer NVQs for Contact Centre Professionals at levels 3,4 and 5. Have a look at their website at http://www.ocr.org.uk. Use the link to qualifications and then NVQs.

4. A Cautionary Tale
   The only thing about the NVQ is that when we implemented them in two different contact centres – people found them too generic to be of value, a drain on their time and effort for a qualification they didn’t percieve to be of value (check the adverts for call centre staff many of them offer NVQ training as a “benefit” – none of them ask candidates for them), and in the end many candidates withdrew because of this.

   I have no doubt that the NVQ program is well intentioned but have strong doubts over it’s business benefits.

5. National recognition for Call Handlers
   Simon, I would agree that NVQs do not suit everyone or every organisation however, there are other government funded, nationally recognised qualifications available from NVQ Awarding Bodies including my own organisation Edexcel.We offer a career path for contact centre personnel with qualifications from entry through to management. Please contact me if you would like further information. [email protected]