Brandon
What type of businesses offer programs to teach customer service, project management, or team-work?
I am planning to go into system administrations and wonder what types of programs I will have to attend to obtain the job and/or put on my resume. #project-management #resume-writing #customer-service #team-leadership #system-administration #team-work
9 answers
Carl Manson Jr., PMP
Carl’s Answer
Hi Brandon. Great question! So you want to know about organizations that teach enhance customer service, project management skills, and team work. I'll see if I can touch on all of these because in a way relate. Customer service used to be solely related to how well a customer facing employee treats customers during their interaction. While that's still important, it is equally important that those customer facing employees have the tools they need to accomodate a customer. Think about some of your experiences in a retail store, educational facility, or government office. Are the lines too long? Are the employees you interact with equipped to answer your questions? All of this plays a role in customer service. While each individual organization will have it's own philosophy about customer service, degrees that can help you with the overall experience include business administration, psychology, and industrial engineering. These degrees will provide some component that will help with the overall process of servicing customers and identify employee roles that will facilitate teamwork. Check out your local colleges and universities for these majors.
Project management involves bringing a new element to a business that isn't a part of the normal day to day function while managing for time, costs, and quality. Since we are talking about customer service, an example of a project may be installing an inventory management system to a retail store that allows the store to have just enough of a product to service the customer but not too much where there is a waste of inventory. If a bakery is in the business of making cakes, it's normal operations wouldn't be installing an inventory management system but this sytem will make sure there are enough ingredients to make cakes that will service the customer. A project manager will seek a consensus with all key stakeholders and set an agreed upon budget, scope, and timeline for this project to get done. The project manager is essentially the point guard of the team.
Thanks for your question Brandon. i hope this gives you some insight into the relationship between project management, customer service, and teamwork.
I thank you for your answer, and to reply: This did give me a little insight on the relationships between the three.
Brandon
Kim Igleheart
Kim’s Answer
Hi Brandon!
I don't know about Project Management, but I will tell you that Customer Service and Teamwork are taught in every job, and this starts with fast-food, retail, and restaurant jobs that you get while in high school. The key to customer service is to treat everyone the way you would want your Grandmother to be treated. Simple really, but not everyone can master it. For teamwork, I'd encourage you to look to sports or ROTC programs. By the time you get your first professional job, you should already have these two skills.
Hope this helps!
Kim
I thank you for your answer.
Brandon
Julie Hiegert
Julie’s Answer
For Project Management, I would recommend you visit the PMI.org website. There is tons of information related to Project Management and how to obtain a PMP certification. The site will also lists where you can sign up for PM courses in your area to work towards a PMP certification.
Sara Fox
Sara’s Answer
I have had great experience learning all of these things in the printing industry. I started my career as an entry level customer service representative and moved up the ranks. If you find yourself a great mentor, you will go far. It is a great industry that a lot of college grads don't always consider. Best of luck with wherever you choose to go.
Raelyn Thomas
Raelyn’s Answer
Jayesh Dave
Jayesh’s Answer
Hi Brandon,
I don't know which businesses offer all of these programs. If the businesses don't offer these programs, I believe they may send someone out for training, if found worth doing it.
I will recommend that you start with Project management. Aim for a PMI - PMP cert. It will set the foundation for you to excel in all these areas. Project management forces one to think from a 360 degree perspective. So you can develop yourself in other areas too.
In my career, I have learnt that training is nice to have but it is experience that helps you go a long way. Also in your career path, identify some folks who you follow and consider them as your mentors or guides.
Hope this helps. Thanks for posting this question. Wish you good luck!
Brian Weissman
Brian’s Answer
Atlassian (blatant plug) offers free tutorials (https://training.atlassian.com/free-training-catalog) as well as paid courses on our whole suite of products. Jira, Trello, and Confluence (even more blatant plug) are industry standards for project and team management. Knowing these would help you in almost any company you applied to.
So, really, it is about deciding where you want to be. Figure out the tools that work there. Odds are good that there are free and paid courses out there to teach you what you need to know.
Project management, customer service, and teamwork are all very different skillsets from system administration. They are no less important, but you won't learn them in the same places. :)
Brian recommends the following next steps:
Prashant Singh Negi
Prashant Singh’s Answer
Thank you for your question. With regard to customer service, its an intrinsic part of every organization today. Customer service is focused on understanding the customer expectations, requirements and having processes to resolve customer issues. The customer experience is key to maintaining long term relationships. customer service representatives need to display good problem solving abilities and own customer issues till resolution. Project management is more internal focused around driving specific initiatives resulting in process improvements and is time bound. Almost every organization has specific teams driving customer experience and project management in today's environment.
Patrick Dwane
Patrick’s Answer
Hi Brandon
In my experience much of my project mgmt. experience has come from learning from my peers. As you think about the next step in your career you may wish to seek out opportunities in companies that have a strong PM focus.
Also, as a longer term goal, the project management institute offers very specific PM certifications that are internationally recognized. You can read a little bit about the process in the link below.
https://www.pmi.org/certifications
Some employers seek out folks with this qualification OR may help you to earn it in the first place