The key skills that young professionals in the BPO domain acquire

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The key skills that young professionals in the
BPO domain acquire

• Data collected by
• Dileep Kumar, BE, PGDM
• Secretary, Association of Knowledge Workers,
  Lucknow,
• dkbhatnagar_at_gawab.com,
• www.knowledgeworkerslko.org
• Source www.infotech.indiatimes.com
• BPOs take care of your career too MONDAY,
  MARCH 20, 2006 120017 PM

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Communication Skills

• The ability to communicate effectively with
  global customers is critical. Accent
  neutralisation, cultural awareness, empathy and
  judgement also play a vital role in ensuring
  smooth and seamless communication with global
  customers.
• After rigorous training in neutralising accent,
  voice modulation, moderating the rate of speech,
  intonation and so on, call centre associates step
  into their new personas. Thats where an Alok
  transforms into an Alex.
• BPOs focus on the following competencies.

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Communication Skills, contd..

• Language Employees are trained on speech
  orientation, which includes basic training on
  grammar, vocabulary, speech and pronunciation
• Comprehension Employees are trained on
  understanding the customers query and being able
  to provide an appropriate solution/ information.
  They are also trained on understanding different
  accents which exist within the US. Their ability
  to comprehend the customer is paramount in
  enhancing the quality of the customer experience
• Soft skills The most important attribute in the
  course of a conversation between a customer and
  an agent is the ability to build rapport by using
  appropriate tone, claiming ownership of the issue
  and listening attentively. This allows the
  employees to build positive relationships with
  the customer and provide a human touch to the
  discussion.

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Other Skills Development

• Project-Specific Skills This training is
  customised to the project that an employee is
  going to be associated with. It could range from
  learning about several financial products to
  technical skills. This enables the employees to
  build domain-specific skill sets which could be
  leveraged across sectors in the long run.
  Employees also learn sales and customer service
  skills during this phase that could come in handy
  for jobs in the service industry at a later stage
  
• Educational Support Companies sponsor executive
  education for employees e.g. MBA/ MCA/ CCNA etc
• Multi Dimensional/Cross-Training Employees are
  cross trained on multiple domains and are
  provided opportunities to work in various
  departments. Individual action plans are put in
  place based on the employees aspirations and
  strengths. OD interventions are also arranged for
  on a need basis.

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Other Skills Development

• Feedback/Coaching Mechanisms BPO have developed
  a unique one-on-one feedback and coaching
  framework which most companies subscribe to. This
  helps employees to reflect on themselves and
  strive for improvement.
• Promotional/Lateral Opportunities The industry
  offers a wide variety of jobs to young
  professionals in areas like IT, customer support,
  human resources, training and logistics. The
  industry actively encourages employees to move up
  the ladder or gain cross-functional skill sets.
  Most companies fill their front-end leadership
  roles from the talent pool available within the
  organisation.
• The industry hopes to change its perception of
  being considered a transitional stop-gap
  arrangement to that of a long-term career option.