Everyone enjoys shopping at a store with excellent customer service, and now more Squamish teens have been trained in this valuable skill.
Thirty students from Don Ross Middle School, Howe Sound Secondary and Coast Mountain Academy spent four hours with Big Brothers Big Sisters learning more about customer service on Friday.
The idea came about after local teens suggested this was an area of interest for the organization’s Youth Leadership workshops.
“It was very clear more training is needed for youth in customer service, and many local employers of youth agreed,” said Ann Marie McKenzie, manager of Big Brothers Big Sisters for the Sea to Sky Corridor.
A local mom and leadership specialist, Christine McLeod, asked a group of moms on Facebook for a list of Squamish businesses that are great at customer service.
While many were mentioned, a panel was made up of Geoff Park, founder of Camp Summit and CMA; Rosanne Scarth, manager at Norman Rudy’s; Nate Kelly, founder of Nate Solutions; and Sean Daly, manager of Nesters Market.
The panelists talked about the customer service paths they started out on as teenagers and gave advice on what they look for when hiring.
Around half of the participants were looking for employment, while the other half already had a job and wanted to add to their customer service experience.
The teenagers learned how to choose a job based on their personality and an understanding how each time someone enters a store or restaurant their experience reflects on the community as a whole.
“Although most of the participants were originally signed up by their parents, by the end of the session the energy was palpable and the light bulbs had definitely turned on,” said McKenzie.
“Each participant received a certificate of completion, something that employers will surely recognize and appreciate when looking at dozens of resumes.”
