Please and thank you - still the magical words: training student employees to provide world class customer service

Abstract

In 2002, I was asked to create a Student Employee Development Program in Information and Technology Services. This program was aimed at retaining students within our organization and assisting in the University's goal of improving overall retention rates. As I established this new office, I met with each IT student supervisor and specifically asked what I could do to improve the job performance of our students. The feedback I repeatedly heard was that our students needed to clearly understand how to deliver customer service and that the delivery had to be consistent throughout the organization. While our 300 student employees go through job-specific training at the time of hire and throughout their career with us, no one was providing any in-depth training on how to interact with our customers. I developed a series of four mandatory training modules that lead to Customer Service Training Certification. Each module is comprised of one and one-half hours of group training. The four modules include an orientation to our organization and work ethics, delivering excellence in customer service, dealing with difficult situations in the workplace, and effective communication skills on the job. The program is now becoming well-recognized throughout the University. The Rochester Leadership Institute allows students to substitute two of my classes for two of theirs in order to meet their Leadership Certificate requirements. The Finance and Administration Division is setting up an identical program for their 1000+ student employees in partnership with us. We are convinced that our students are dispensing their outstanding customer service skills throughout the University community and this paper will address the methods used to achieve this magic.