Customer contact centre information clerk to ICT help desk agent
A customer contact centre information clerk already meets 25% of what the ICT help desk agent role asks for. The move turns on 15 required skills not yet in the profile.
73.6/ 100
1 How much of what an ICT help desk agent is expected to do is already part of a customer contact centre information clerk’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the ICT help desk agent role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
An ICT help desk agent role treats 5 of its required skills as things a customer contact centre information clerk already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- assist customers
- characteristics of products
- characteristics of services
- communicate with customers
- guarantee customer satisfaction
What stands in the way is 15 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 8 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An ICT help desk agent role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a customer contact centre information clerk background worth leading with.
- already held handle helpdesk problems communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held answer incoming calls assisting and caring
- already held knowledge base information and communication technologies (icts)
- already held assist customers assisting and caring
- already held characteristics of services business, administration and law
- already held characteristics of products engineering, manufacturing and construction
All 8 carried skills, including the 5 the ICT help desk agent role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 24 missing skills fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn use ICT hardware required
- still to learn provide ICT support required
- still to learn solve ICT system problems required
- still to learn use ICT ticketing system required
- still to learn use customer relationship management software required
- optional, not held implement a virtual private network optional
- optional, not held implement anti-virus software optional
- optional, not held perform data analysis optional
- optional, not held use e-services optional
- still to learn identify customer's needs required
- still to learn support ICT system users required
- still to learn create solutions to problems required
- optional, not held educate on data confidentiality optional
- optional, not held perform escalation procedure optional
- still to learn keep up to date on product knowledge required
- still to learn keep task records required
- still to learn manage schedule of tasks required
- still to learn prioritise requests required
- still to learn ICT system user requirements required
- optional, not held ICT help platforms optional
- optional, not held information confidentiality optional
- still to learn provide customer follow-up services required
2 further areas in the appendix
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries an ICT help desk agent role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 ICT system user requirements study this
- 02 identify customer's needs practise this
- 03 keep up to date on product knowledge practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 8 skills that carry over
- already held assist customers skill
- already held characteristics of products knowledge
- already held characteristics of services knowledge
- already held communicate with customers skill
- already held guarantee customer satisfaction skill
- already held answer incoming calls skill
- already held handle helpdesk problems skill
- already held knowledge base knowledge
The 2 learning areas not shown above
- still to learn product comprehension required
- optional, not held ICT infrastructure optional
9 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held ICT help platforms optional
- optional, not held ICT infrastructure optional
- optional, not held implement a virtual private network optional
- optional, not held implement anti-virus software optional
- optional, not held information confidentiality optional
- optional, not held educate on data confidentiality optional
- optional, not held perform data analysis optional
- optional, not held perform escalation procedure optional
- optional, not held use e-services optional
24 held skills the ICT help desk agent role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role analyse call performance trends skill
- not needed by the target role call-centre technologies knowledge
- not needed by the target role carry out active selling skill
- not needed by the target role collect customer data skill
- not needed by the target role communicate by telephone skill
- not needed by the target role contact customers skill
- not needed by the target role customer insight knowledge
- not needed by the target role customer relationship management knowledge
- not needed by the target role customer service knowledge
- not needed by the target role discern written communication skill
- not needed by the target role draft corporate emails skill
- not needed by the target role establish customer rapport skill
- not needed by the target role follow up orders for customers skill
- not needed by the target role improve customer interaction skill
- not needed by the target role keep records of customer interaction skill
- not needed by the target role measure customer feedback skill
- not needed by the target role notify customers on special offers skill
- not needed by the target role perform customer management skill
- not needed by the target role prepare correspondence for customers skill
- not needed by the target role process payments skill
- not needed by the target role provide customer follow-up skill
- not needed by the target role provide customers with order information skill
- not needed by the target role provide customers with price information skill
- not needed by the target role use databases skill
5 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice
Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.
- still to learn ICT system user requirements required
- still to learn product comprehension required
- optional, not held ICT help platforms optional
- optional, not held ICT infrastructure optional
- optional, not held information confidentiality optional
Other moves recorded from customer contact centre information clerk
- post office counter clerk 38% covered · substantial
- after-sales service technician 36% covered · substantial
- live chat operator 25% covered · substantial
- contact centre manager 23% covered · substantial
Full index of moves from customer contact centre information clerk
Common questions about this move
Can a customer contact centre information clerk become an ICT help desk agent?
Yes, and it is a substantial move. A customer contact centre information clerk already covers 25% of what an ICT help desk agent is expected to do: 8 skills carry over, 5 of which the ICT help desk agent role treats as required.
What skills does a customer contact centre information clerk need to become an ICT help desk agent?
15 required skills are missing, plus 9 optional ones. They fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by working with computers. The single most important is ICT system user requirements.
How hard is the move from customer contact centre information clerk to ICT help desk agent?
Its learning distance is 73.6 out of 100, which is the substantial band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.