New to the industry
Submitted by perry on Tue, 18/08/2009 - 1:59pm
Hi,
I’ve just been recommended this site by a colleague and it looks like a great place to talk to people in the W2W industry and get some much needed advice regarding the culture of the business.
I’ve just been appointed as a centre manager for a company offering a couple of programmes in the south of England.
Does anyone have any tips or advice for me?
And most importantly can anyone help me with the best way of making good contacts at local JCP's?
Thanks
I've promoted this one to the front page, since I suspect it's a fairly common issue for people just starting off in the industry. Tips welcome!
And just as pertinently, feel free to ask for advice on specific areas/issues. The combined W2w experience of this site must run into several millennia.......
A good way to build good contact with JCP is attend comms meetings, make regular contact, share sucess stories about clients, ask for feedback and most importantly send them biscuits.
especially chocolate ones...give them feed back and good news stories re their clients is a good one but a sacrosanct one is ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO!!!!!
Some tips of my own to start things off:
It's your job to keep yourself, your team and your customers positive and focused. It won't be easy, but the rewards, in terms of job satisfaction, staff turnover, customer experience, and performance, are immense.
Quick note on TODAYS THE DAY's post - this is good advice for dealing with everyone, really. Your customers need to build trust in you, and doing what you say you will do is absolutely vital for that. Maybe you could give them biscuits too?!
Although the giving of biscuits to win favour, would be legal for you to do, it would be more than likely be against the civil service code for them to accept them.
You must not:
• accept gifts or hospitality or receive other benefits from anyone which might reasonably be seen to compromise your personal judgement or integrity;
Look after your subcontractors. Some may be hotdesking in your office.
They help you achieve your tagets by working with customers with particular barriers you may not have the expertise to deal with. Often staff can feel that they steal customers and targets from you without understanding the big picture.
And they like biscuits as well :o)
I was a civil servant some years ago, and one of my colleague's received a gift of a bottle of Scotch from a satisfied client. BUT this was after he gave her advice about a problem, not before. So he was perfectly entitled to keep the gift.
Could be argued that accepting a gift after giving advice would lead to the future expectation that advice would be available in return for a gift in the future, if a civil servant had 2 people asking for advice, but time to offer only one person advice, it could be argued that it would be more likely they would use the time to offer advice to the one they *know* is likely from past experience to offer a gift in return.
Ubix: In the department I worked in, which dealt with tenancies and rents, any member of the public would be able to get an interview to ask for advice. Some people walked in off the street on spec to aks for advice, and If no one was available immediately to talk to them, then they would be given the option to make an appointment.
How did you get made a centre manager without having any ideas of your own for building relationships with JCP?
Asking for other people's ideas is not an admission of weakness or ignorance, Anonymous. It would be handy if Perry were to give some more information or feedback though, as the request is still a bit vague at the moment.
Ukbix - They're biscuits. BISCUITS. The busfare to the Jobcentre is substantially more expensive than the 'gifts or hospitality' in question. If advisers' integrity could be bought with biscuits, then there'd be far fewer claimants having a tough time of it.
Top tip of the week: be wary of appearing on a TV documentary. Especially one by the team who made The Armstrongs.
sorry all, still smarting from last night's telly & the implication that we're all as clueless as hayley.
Being slightly more constructive I would suggest that anyone hoping to build strong links with JCP concentrates on their front line staff, those who actually determine the flow onto most "choice led" programmes. Don't patronise them by banging your drum so loudly that you diminish what they do (as one of my managers once did, with almost catastopic results). W2W providers are not reineventing the wheel; at their best they're putting into practice the ideas that JCP staff have had for years without the red tape financial contraints they're subject to.
Shall we step over to the relevant page? My "clueless as hayley" remark was part of an apology on another topic. Daniel, any way these comments could be moved across?
I've moved some comments to the appropriate topic here. Make sure to post your comments in the right topic, and for goodness' sake put a nickname in the box. I'm fed up of reading a stream of 'Anonymous' postings!
Thankyou everyone for your feedback!
The reason ive recently become a Center Manger with no prior knowledge of the sector is that ive been a successful Buisness Manager within other industrys and the company believe that i have transferable skills that i can bring to this sector.
My primary focus is to bring in new business, and that could be in the form of more clients or building relationships with new potential employers.
Ah - now you are in my domain mwaaah ah ah... Best start with subcontracting - get face to face with the providers Daniel has listed on his prime providers link, ask them to explain their delivery models, find a way of pluggin gaps and delivering to their ends.
Most of all, stick to what you are good at - if you think you can be Jack of all trades you will be seen as master of non.
There are Ghosts in the house, ask someone sensible (bot me) how to learn from the mistakes of Carter and Cater or Instant Muscle.
The only advice I can give you (with 10 years experience of managing JC+ contracts) is to treat the customers like real people, with respect and individuality. It is all too easy with the pressures of meeting demanding targets to loose sight of what the job is about. I always try to ensure I know all my customers names and make the effort to talk to them on breaks etc - if they see you as a real person and not a suit in an office it goes a long way to create a two way relationship that breaks down barriers. This is somthing that should be promoted with your staff and will ensure relationships with JC+ get off on the right foot.
Getting the balance right between managing a viable business and maintaining quality is also a difficult aspect to the job. I'm a great believer in investing in quality and the rest sorts itself out.
And lastly yes the jobcentre do like choccy biccys - seriously though I have a great relationship with JC+ and I feel this is down to good daily communication and trying to sort out any issues at a local level before they escalate to the ranks of contract management. Monthly meetings with local advisors is a great way to promote this!
Good luck (its hard work but really rewarding!)
Oh and by the way I work for THAT training provider everybody is talking about, just a shame we've all been tarred with the same brush.
Ferrero Roche works for me everytime.
Well, ambassadors are civil servants...
I agree with the comment above' treating people with respect' equals rewards, common sense really.
Invest in time to save time!
Re Anon: Treating people with respect equals reward: Very true in the Wonderful World of W2W. I work for one of the Companies highlighted in the Ben' Busters C4 Series and truth be told I happen to have the absolute privilege to work with some of the most committed, thoughtful, been there done that and humble individuals I have ever met. We do what we do, get results and have that unbeatable intrinsic value that makes it all worth while.......... Ferrero Roche may be bought in bulk just after the Christmas period from Co-op and kept till needed......
I work for a brilliant W2W provider, I'm so proud to work there as our customers are so happy to come into our offices for 13 weeks [for government sponsored kettling sessions], they just love to build paper castles. I'm so humble and please to work for the best W2W provider in the UK.