The learning centre FCTG The next step is to welcome you aboard to four weeks training. This is in Brisbane for most Cruiseabout. If you are in Sydney it means you will learn how to book a flight and not a cruise. I really enjoyed the first week about the Customer Service Experience. This was followed by a week in store. Through out the four weeks you are given a log on to an online learning module called compass which has interactive videos and manuals which is logical and fun. This CSE continues with a week in store. Try to just hold back and get you moduals on compass done. Remember that your not actually employed yet. I found this a turning point in my experience. In the marketing material on compás make sure you read between the lines and do not ask too many questions about how marketing law works and what happens to calls when customers click no to marketing. The same goes for fare mark ups. My mentor said everything was confidential but then told my Team leader who she also mentors a question I had asked her in confidence. Next is the CSE assesment. This was pretty easy to pass and enjoyable. By the end of week three the first day of the computer systems starts. Take videos of the trainers demonstrations of each system. I build, Quick Dox, Sabre Red and client. 7 days to put it all together. You must master each system in a day. The day after a mock assessment test then a practice day and then D day ... the test. Sabre is the most complex system. You learn flight city codes, fair rules and the different ways of combining them with the most complex being an Open jaw fare. Day two of Systems training I was privately that they thought I would fail. I was asked what I thought of my Boss. I was told that my trainer and boss were having talks about me. The trainers like to say they are making a pizza or two part pizza. The thing is YOU will be responsible for writing out the recipe. The process felt a bit like guess which parts go where and working with a broken oven. While in the class room do not show any signs of frustration at your self as this gives your trainers the excuse to single you out and accuse you of having a bad attitude. Usually people cry this week. Being from Cruiseabout my logins to the Systems were different and some of the IT was never working which meant I couldn’t practice parts of invoicing. In my first exam the system droped out completely and I had to type everything in manually for the first time. I missed the chance to practice what we had learned because the computer said no. I was still scored and judged as if nothing had happened. This effectively gave me the lowest score in the class. Over the weekend I messaged my mentor and Team leader asking if they would answer some questions to improve. They both just said to have good notes as it’s open book. Good notes works to revise but in the test you have very little time to look through notes. Take screen shots of typed up step by step notes on each system. Set a place for all the commissions on that cue sheet. And note the bed type and check out date from the accommodation. I managed to improve substantially in my first mock review to 70 %. You must pass every test with 80% or over. The final mark is a mix of the CES experience marked by your colleague, a mark the trainers give for what they have heard while listening and the Systems test. The day before the test you will have a one on one meeting. I was surprised that my trainer mentioned that my boss had told her that sending a text to ask for help was seen as a negative. Leaders should give direct communication to solve problems between people. On the test day I invoiced my customer with out knowing that I could not revise any of the information once I’d taken any money. I told the customer to come back to go through all the paperwork the next day. With the role play put signing the invoice into your role play actions while you show them the conditions. My trainer stood beside me looking down and said. “You know you can’t entre any more information once you have taken the money. Even though it’s a role play.. you can only change Sabre and client now. “ If you do not have your trainers on side they will take you to a back office, tell you you’ve not passed and that you can try again in six months. They will also encourage you not to bother if you have small children or a medical illness. The most bizarre thing they asked for was that I leave my notes behind!! They didn’t even give me my final score so I will never know how I was marked! My trainer said that the other trainer had not added everything up yet. There is plenty of room for personal bais. There is also a lot of contradictory info eg: told to keep the language clean but the trainer is swearing. #dwysywd