Bone Up on Your Business Skills at Learn.com

Picture 6In this economic climate, it’s pretty likely that you’re busy trying to either build up your resume, or improve your value to give yourself more job security at your current job. You could go back to school, or dump money into online classes at a silly bird-named University that might have questionable accreditation. But in the end, it’s the Job skills you need and not necessarily a new piece of paper. If math, or soft skills, or even management techniques are something you could use a refresher course on, check out Learn.com.

I logged on to Learn.com today and was presented with a brief screen that asked if I was a corporate or personal user. Since I don’t own a corporation and didn’t have any authorization to make a purchase for my workplace, I chose personal. Then, I saw a register link up in the lefthand corner and I used it to create an account.

Picture 7After I created an account and signed in, I saw there were various job profiles I could pick from to get a selection of courses. Since I’m a Help Desk analyst by day and aspire to management one day, I chose “Customer Service Management.” The course topics I saw listed were exceptionally relevant to what I do now. The profile was $49 for an entry-level selection of courses, and after comparing, I went ahead and made the purchase.

Some of the courses included basic math & grammar, stress management, employee management, and a very important course that I chose to take today: Phone Etiquette. It’s important to my job because a lot of working at a help desk is answering the phone, transferring calls, or making calls to other people for follow-up.

A lot of these tips were very useful, such as researching the person you’re going to call before you call them, scripting out your words if you make the same kind of call frequently, and making notes of all your calls so that you remember the important points of the conversation. It’s important to note that confidence, pacing, and emphasis can control the entire tone your message takes on. If you’re stammering and “um” and “ah”-ing a lot, people are going to lose their confidence in your ability to help them.

Having these phone skills is going to help me sound more competent and confident when I call to speak to someone in higher management, and the more pleasant interactions we have with them, the more likely it is that I will be considered the next time there’s an opening in management. In this economy, that’s going to be a *big* help. Taking the quiz for Telephone Etiquette, I scored a 100%! Some of the questions were “iffy” because of the wording, but I used what I learned in the videos to make the best choice. Even as a seasoned phone Help Desk veteran, I ended up learning a few things about how I can be better on the phone.

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I recommend if you work in any sort of customer service industry to create an account on Learn.com and start learning the job skills you need to succeed in your industry. The Customer Service Management job profile is an excellent place to begin, and the entry level profile is cheap and includes lots of courses you can take. Some have videos, some are other kinds of lessons, but it’s all easy to follow and understand.

Just a note: You’ll need Internet Explorer to have the expected experience in using this service.

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