Training... A Key to Better Help Desk Consultants

The quality of student consultants and their development through training and education are major factors in determining long-term effectiveness of university Help Desk. To hire and retain good student consultants, it is good policy to invest in the development of their skills, so they can increase their productivity and obtain real-world work experience as IT Professionals. We would like to share with our colleagues the evolution of our consultant training procedures, from “train yourselves” to a formal, systematic training program: • First day of work orientation – introducing each new consultant to the department as a whole, each department and an overview of how the Help Desk and its consultants fit. • One-on-one training on specific applications. • Self-Paced learning (Handbooks at each station with flow charts and step by step instructions on how to handle specific situations, Web resources (on-line documentation on supported software packages, University Policies an...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2000
• Where: SIGUCCS
• Authors: Anna Maria Perez, Andrea J. Moore
• Keywords: Help Desk, Information Management, SIGUCCS 2000, Student Consultants, Training