Build 8 Week Bootcamp for Tech Job-Placement

[shervine]

@grumo The idea is to continue building our inventory in a direction that can illustrate what's possible for enterprise clients based on our new pivot #1696

We can think of these Bootcamps as an early brainstorming session to let the enterprise clients know what's possible with the Mench platform other than coding, which I assume would have many players already competing.

The bootcamp structure is being built -> HERE

To figure this out, we'd need:

• [x] Research ideas for bootcamps based on what companies are looking for on junior hires
• [x] Research existing competition to understand what are others doing in this space #1699
• [ ] Brainstorm top use cases in "EQ"-related Bootcamps that can make us stand out (Assuming this is what they want)
• [ ] Build 8x Bootcamps (1st one for tech support reps)
• [ ] Goal: create implementation bootcamp for WBW Career Post "How To Pick A Career (That Actually Fits You)"
  • [x] Read the post
  • [x] Download worksheets by Alicia (WBW_Career-Path_Worksheet.pdf)
  • [x] Create placeholder bootcamp for WBW Career Post (here)
  • [x] Approach Tim Urban with concept to get his approval
  • [x] Post on Quora (here)
  • [x] on Medium (here)
  • [x] On Grumo's blog (here)
  • [x] Post on LinkedIn (here)
  • [ ] Post bootcamp on WBW blog comments and FB page
  • [x] Post on Hacker News (here)
  • [x] Post on Reddit ((thread) - here, here, here, here, here)
  • [x] Post on Cragislist (all ads got "ghosted")
  • [x] Post on comments of related videos on YouTube
  • [ ] Post on ProductHunt
  • [ ] Measure traction to validate (aim for 100 students in one week)
  • [ ] If validated then build out all the content

This is related to #1576

[shervine]

@grumo To get this started, here are outcomes I think are worth having as a 7-Day Bootcamp for the assumed role of [Tech Support], which we could be later swapped with another role if we deem necessary:

• Build your SWOT Profile: The focus of this Bootcamp would be to understand each applicant's strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to help the applicant understand what they would be good at and position the applicant based on their WOW factors to give them the highest chance of success. This would be a unique Mench SWOT profile and would likely become the prerequisite for building their resume and finding ideal employees.
• Build a Rockstar [Tech Support] Resume: After the applicant has understood their SWOT, they can now start building their resume by focusing on their Strengths and previous experience
• Find 33 Ideal Local Companies: In this Bootcamp the applicant would focus on searching and finding the ideal local [Tech Support] companies that they can use as their top funnel.
• Apply to 11 Companies (3 Weeks): Applying to companies is no easy task, as the applicant is required to research each company and connect with the hiring manager at each company to maximize their chances of getting hired. For this reason, the applicant is asked to apply for 11 companies per week, which would take them about 3 weeks to go through the 33 companies they indexed.
  • They would also shoot custom/short videos for each position to standout (WOW Factor)
• Do 2 Interview Practices with [Tech Support] Experts: In this Bootcamp the applicants who purchases the Premium Support + 50 Minute of Mentorship Package would dp 2x 25 min sessions with an industry expert for personal feedback. Other students must arrange their own interviewee or use their Classmates as their interviewee. This is an example Bootcamp that would be much more effective with the Tutoring package.

We can brainstorm more Bootcamps by Googling top things to do for getting hired.

[shervine]

@grumo Here are 2 more ideas:

• Understand Zendesk Fundamentals with 23 Practices: A Bootcamp that gives them an overview of Zendesk as the most popular support software, and gets them to take various actions on Zendesk to get the hang of the platform
• Understand Customer Support Fundamentals with 15 First-Principles: Will communicate the first principles of Customer support as aggregated from dozens of sources and enhanced with Drip messages so we can help students retain the key ideas that make-up for a great customer support representative.

[grumo]

@shervine before we come up with our own ideas for an optimum job placement curriculum we should research existing curriculums. Sprott Shaw college (formerly owned by Dean Duperron) has hundreds of programs we can extract data from. Interestingly, they offer job placement help for life and free retraining for any skills an employer may find lacking on an employee as part of their Sprott Shaw Advantage as shown below.

DEDICATED EMPLOYMENT SERVICES SPECIALISTS Our dedicated Employment Services Specialists assists our graduates with job placement assistance throughout their lifetime. Sprott Shaw graduates may return for this employment assistance at anytime if required after graduation. We understand the importance of meaningful careers and our team makes this our priority to find permanent employment for our graduates.

LIFETIME COURSE REFRESHERS AND SKILLS UPGRADING Over time, our graduate skills may need sharpening. Technology improves, new techniques are created, and new terminology is used. It is important to be relevant and therefore students may return to Sprott Shaw for refresher courses should they require skills upgrading in the area they trained in. Conditions apply. See campus for details.

EMPLOYER WARRANTY If our student's first employer after graduation finds any deficiencies in skills that are noted in one or more areas for which training has been given, we will retrain the student at no expense to the employer. Speak to an Admissions Advisor for details.

MONTHLY STARTS Our monthly intake system means no "wait lists” and regular monthly start dates, allowing students the chance to graduate and be job ready sooner. Students have a daily schedule of 4 to 5 hours, allowing them more time to complete assignments or work part-time where necessary. Start times and program schedules vary by program; see a Admissions Advisor for details.

[grumo]

Articles explaining how to become a Tech Support Specialists:

• How to Become a Computer Support Specialist: Career Guide (Study.com)
• How to Become a Technical Support Specialist | Chron.com
• How Can I Become an IT Support Specialist? - Learn.org
• No Degree, No Problem! 6 Steps to Your First Tech Support Job
• How to Become Help Desk Support Specialist - IT Careers & Jobs
• CompTIA A+ Certification Training Curriculum (StraighterLine.com)

[grumo]

@shervine I've been researching what it takes to get a job as a computer support specialist. Although not required, most employers are looking for candidates with either an associate degree and/or a Microsoft and CompTIA certification. Only accredited schools train for these certifications exams.

Study.com lists many accredited institutions both offline and online that provide this type of training. An online example is StraighterLine.com which list the entire CompTIA certification curriculum here. StraighterLine online programs behave very similar to our class model as in they have clear start/end dates, deadlines, assignments, access to instructors, peer support, and flexible working schedules.

Study.com not only has an incredibly powerful school recommendation engine based on specific career paths, it also has a huge library of online training (70,000 lessons) that they charge schools and companies to access.

Study.com has a similar approach to modularity in which both teachers and companies can create custom course curriculums from their thousands of lessons (On Interview prep they have over 100 lessons)

Takeaways

• There is a tremendous amount of supply of vocational training both online and offline.
• There is a tremendous supply of job placement training and services (Ramstad, Adecco)
• It seems that the main reason why there are no bootcamps for vocational training (non-coding jobs) is because there is already a myriad of private schools offering vocational training
• Coding bootcamps must have been successful because the demand for coders surpassed the ability of universities and traditional schools/colleges to supply them.
• Many of these vocational jobs require certifications which can only be trained for and issued by accredited institutions (Comptia, Cisco Certification, CCENT, CCNA, CCNP, First Aid, Fork Lift, etc.)
• Currently we cannot compete in choice, reputation, accreditation.
• Accreditation and certifications are huge both for students and employers. So even if we could produce similar results, students would choose an accredited institution over us simply because employers already trust existing certification issuers

Solutions

• We maybe able to compete in price if we figure out a way to create accelerated programs that produce the same results at a lower cost
• Our programs would have to be approved/accredited by the relevant government authorities which may explain why a lot of private schools don't have an online presence as they cannot accept students from states/provinces/countries where the school has no local accreditation.
• We could partner with schools (like Dean Duperron's) that are already accredited to help them run their programs online. However, we would probably need a filtering process to accept students only from the provinces/countries where these accreditations are valid.

[shervine]

@grumo As we discussed there was a misunderstanding on "IT Support", which we really meant "External Facing Customer Service in Tech Company".

Technical Support Salaries Average salary $17.33 per hour (Canada)

[grumo]

All new-7 day bootcamps are listed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yD9JdNuMr3YYdHlNpqymn4tlyf1p7H1cBpEdgdb7B5Y/edit?pli=1#gid=0

[grumo]

Articles on how to get a job as tech support representative

• https://jobflare.com/how-to-get-a-job-as-a-customer-service-representative/
• https://www.sokanu.com/careers/customer-service-representative/

Tech Support Representative Jobs:

• https://ca.indeed.com/Technical-Support-Representative-jobs

[grumo]

Sample work-at-home tech rep job posting:

Job Summary

Do you think you could be a great Work At Home Representative?

Answer the questions below:

• Are you a self-motivated/self-disciplined person who enjoys problem-solving?
• Are you ready to enjoy the benefits of working from home?
• Are you looking for a new career opportunity?
• Are you committed to providing exceptional customer service?
• Do you have a noise and distraction free work environment?
• Do you have DSL or cable modem?
• Looking to save money on: transportation costs, lunches, work clothes?

If you answered Yes to all these questions, take a look at this great opportunity.

The Work At Home Advisor (as an employee of Teleperformance Canada NOT an independent contractor) is the first line of contact for our clients customers.

As a member of the Work At Home Team, you will be responsible for contributing to the team’s overall success by providing prompt, accurate and professional responses and resolutions to our Clients customers’ enquiries. You will work in a virtual call centre environment while creating an outstanding customer experience, at the same time maximizing opportunities to promote Teleperformance’s Clients services and products. To do so, the incumbent needs to provide a high standard of professional and personalized customer service that is consistent with our Corporate goal.We are hiring Work At Home Agents to support Internet customers.

Responsibilities: (include but are not limited too)

• Responsible for all customer inquiries and questions
• Provide excellent customer service at all times
• Maintaining and exceeding client and LOB KPI’s.
• Follow up to customer inquiries by taking specific action in a timely manner
• Exercise retention efforts when appropriate
• Identify customers who are comparison-shopping and inquiring about contract terms - assisting the customer with the correct price plan
• Work with confidential customer information
• Problem solve to help customers resolve issues on first call
• Enters data from customers into various software programs
• Appropriately communicate with upset customers to resolve their inquiries
• Abide by and support management directives and adhere to all Teleperformance policies.
• Thrives as a team player in a fast-paced, high-energy, change-oriented environment
• Performs other related duties and assignments as required and as assigned by supervisor or manager

Education and Experience

• High school diploma or equivalentOne year customer service experience
• 6 months call centre experience (work at home experience an asset)
• Home Office Requirements
• Noise and distraction free work space

Internet PC & Equipment Requirements

• Personal Computer – Minimum Specifications
  • Desktop, Laptop, and Tablet PCs are permitted
  • Windows operating system must be Windows 7 or later
  • Dual Core processor of any model
  • 4GB RAM Minimum accepted - 6GB RAM recommended
  • 5GB Free hard drive space2 unused USB ports
• Minimum 15” Monitor with 1280x1024 minimum resolution
• Statement of work may require other specifications
• Wired Ethernet LAN connections required. WiFi / Wireless connections are not permitted
• All peripherals must be wired.
• Wireless Keyboard, Mouse, and Headsets are not permitted
• Laptops and Tablets must use a docking station if the required physical connections are not availableInternet Connection – Minimum SpecificationsMinimum subscribed download rate equal or exceeds 12.0Mbps
• Minimum subscribed upload rate equal or exceeds 1.0Mbps
• ISP must be highly stable with no packet loss and ping under 150msSatellite, wireless, and dial up ISP’s are not permitted
• Vonage and Magic Jack are examples of non-approved services
• Subscribed internet provisioning can be tested/confirmed at speedtest.net
• Modem/Router with wired link to personal computer
• Teleperformance requires Internet not be used for non-work related purpose during working hours. This includes media streaming, gaming, or web usage by other members of household.

Other Technical Requirements

• Teleperformance approved headsetAll phone features must be removed from designated phone line for work
• No Call Waiting, No Voicemail, No Anonymous Call Block, No Call Forwarding, etc.

Job Requirements

• Must have availability to work various shifts influenced by current business needs.
• Technical Support experience
• Ability to toggle between multiple windows while multitasking
• 100% English language skills- both verbal, written and comprehension in advanced English.
• ID to complete Criminal Background Check
• Must be 18 years old
• Must be self-motivated/self-disciplined
• Continuously demonstrate a high sense of urgency
• Enthusiastic and energetic
• Familiar with internet and wifi
• Possess a high level of Professionalism
• Must have a keen sense of attention to detail, taking the initiative.

What We Offer

• Hours of operation are: we are looking for team members that can work evenings and weekends
• $12 to $13 with bonus

Benefits

• Medical and vision benefits available after 90 days and Dental available after 6 months
• Convenient location
• Great HoursPaid training
• Paid days off
• Excellent earning potential
• Advancement opportunity
• Employee Referral Program

We are looking for candidates who can work evening and weekends. Teleperformance welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Should you be invited to participate in the selection process we are committed to accommodating you to best meet your needs

Job Type: Full-time Salary: $12.00 to $13.00 /hour Required experience: customer service: 1 year

[grumo]

Sample Job that requires a Bachelors degree or Diploma in Business/Technology, or 2+ years of relevant work experience

Technical Support Rep– Intranet Connections

SQBox Solutions (Intranet Connections) is a leading intranet software company based in North Vancouver, looking for a Technical Support Representative. With over 18 years of experience in the intranet market, we have an established platform and a diverse customer base, with well over 1,600 customers from 60 different countries and 20 different industries, including many recognizable brands.

We’re looking for a friendly and energetic product specialist to join our talented team. We want to hire someone who gets a kick out of helping people, possesses excellent communication skills, and loves digging into the technical back end to resolve issues.

Key Responsibilities

• Answer both phone and email support-related enquiries in a timely fashion
• Perform technical troubleshooting of software issues
• Share best practice knowledge on how to use the product
• Conduct screen-sharing web conference meetings to demonstrate features and investigate issues
• Channel product feature requests to product management

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Bachelors degree or Diploma in Business/Technology, or 2+ years of relevant work experience
• Experience working with issue/bug tracking systems
• Quick learner with a good memory
• Effective communicator with strong problem solving, customer service, and conflict resolution skills
• Excellent written English and engaging/friendly verbal communication
• Ability to multitask, set priorities, and work independently
• Knowledge of web software, technologies and browser troubleshooting
• Experience with web servers (IIS), Active Directory and databases (Microsoft SQL Server) is an asset

Your insights, creativity and commitment to delivering unmatched support will truly make a difference and help the growth of our team, customers and company. This role is foundational and gives you all the skills, business knowledge, market understanding and product expertise to launch you into other areas in the future.

Our office provides a fun collaborative environment where you’ll be part of a team that lives the values of Simplicity, Positivity, Integrity, Creativity and Empathy. Have you got the added SPICE that would make you one of us?

We offer a comprehensive package to our employees, including generous paid vacation and sick time, extended medical/dental, bonus days off, health and wellness support, professional development, team activities, and much more.

[grumo]

Example of technical support online program (see here)

[grumo]

Tech Support Job Example

Are you someone who is a quick learner and has a technical attitude to resolve customer requests? Do you thrive in a fast paced and performance driven environment? 

We are looking for a Technical Support Representative (English/French) like you to join a support team in the software development industry. 

As a Technical Support Representative (English/French) you will be responsible for:

• Responding to customer requests via email and phone
• Building and managing positive business relationships with B2B and B2C customers
• Creating passcodes for customers
• Assisting with website inquiries 
• Maintaining accurate records; data entry 

Hours: Monday to Friday, 10:30am to 7pm OR 8:30am to 5pm

Salary: $17-19/hr

Advantages
What can you look forward to? 

• Permanent position
• Opportunities for growth and development
• Health and dental benefits after 90 days
• 2 weeks vacation to start
• Located in Brampton near Bramalea GO station

Qualifications
Do you have the right qualifications?

• Bilingual (English/French) required
• Technical support experience
• Call centre experience 

Here's how you can apply:

1. Apply online.
2. Email your resume to krisha.kapadia@randstad.ca 
3. Call 905-896-8178

Sara,
Sarah,
Krisha,
Carrie

Phone Number:
905.814.6554
Fax Number:
905.814.4921

[shervine]

@grumo Just updated mench.com copy with new heading focused on our recent pivot.

I really believe adding these mix of Job-Placement placeholder Bootcamps would help our initial image being more appealing to our target segment.

Curious to know how this issue is coming along and how easy it is to create these placeholder bootcamps versus the previous Bootcamps created via #1576

[shervine]

@grumo Also reviewed the technical job postings above for the customer service role and I think this is a great start in this direction by understanding what's out there. I really think we can be smart in combining our findings with a job-placement expert via #1724 and build a multi-week program that would eventually become effective in getting students into the workforce.

Super excited for this new path and our target to hit $10k of Net revenue with this direction 🤑​

[shervine]

@grumo Based on our Pivot to make Companies our main customers #1696 we want to create about 10 Job placement Bootcamps (we have 3 already) similar to muse where we help students with:

• Building a baseline resume to be customized per Job they apply
• Understanding their SWOT so they can better position themselves
• Create a short intro video based on SWOT profile
• etc...

@grumo You can generate more ideas from:

• https://www.themuse.com/advice
• https://www.themuse.com/coaching

[shervine]

@grumo I tweaked the title of this issue as it becomes our primary focus. I also removed all bootcamps from our Home page and informed users that the first version of this 8 Week bootcamp would be ready by May 14th, givins us over 2 weeks to build the MVP. It would be nice if we can also launch the MVP by May 7th...