BUSINESS SKILLS COULD BE A BOOST FOR YOUR FIRM

Your office staff play a crucial role in your business, so consider making an investment in their skills through training. That's what Stephanie Schellingerhout, Office Administrator at Mr Walker Electrical in Auckland's North Shore is doing - as the very first person to sink her teeth into ETITO's new Business Administration qualification.

Mr Walker Electrical gets its name from comic book hero The Phantom’s alter ego.  Shawn Cain, managing director of the company is an avid fan, with a life-sized model of the masked do-gooder standing vigil in the front of the office.  The company does both plumbing and electrical work, and employs 10 staff. 

For Stephanie, the benefits of doing the qualification were obvious

“I’ve been working here for almost a year,” stays Stephanie.  “In my current role as Office Manager I run the job system, handle client queries, and everything in-between.”  It was in March that Shawn offered Stephanie the opportunity to undertake the qualification, and she jumped at the chance.

Like any other ETITO qualification, the National Certificate in Business Administration [Level 3] is made up of unit standards and credits that are achieved while you work.  It takes one year to complete and assessment is carried out by an independent workplace assessor.  The qualification contains 16 unit standards with a total of 60 credits.

The qualification covers a number of different areas, primarily around accounting, communication skills and computing.

Stephanie has had some experience with qualifications in the past.  “I’ve done a couple of introductory accounting papers with Massey University.  But working full-time, and with a daughter at home, I didn’t really have the time to get stuck into it properly.”

As the qualification is flexible and requires no off-job training, it can easily fit around Stephanie’s busy schedule.  This is key, as anyone with a full-time job and responsibilities at home can attest to.  For Stephanie, all it takes is a little bit of time each day to stay current.  “So far it’s been going great.  I block-off half an hour or an hour every day after work to get a little bit done.”

To find out what skills the National Certificate in Business Administration can bring to your business, contact Prasad Joshi, ETITO Training Manager, on 09 583 1338 or email .