Margaret Jovanovski offers an insight into her role as Vokèra by Riello’s Training Co-ordinator, and explains how the company’s technical training for Gas Safe registered engineers can benefit installers.
We understand that installers often find it difficult to take a day out of their busy schedules for training, that’s why we ensure that all our courses and workshops deliver real value and business benefits for those who attend. Our focus is about making an installer’s life easier and giving them the knowledge and skills they need to enable best practice, simple and hassle-free repairs and installs.
Another area where training becomes essential is learning about new regulations. As we all know, legislation is an evolving issue so remains an important factor in an installer’s training and knowledge bank. And with the new Boiler Plus initiative, which came into force in England in April 2018, even greater responsibility has been placed on the engineer’s shoulders, so education is key to ensure compliance.
Understanding both sides
I have spent most of my professional life in training and find it both interesting and rewarding. Before joining Vokèra as Training Co-ordinator about five years ago, I worked in a similar role for a health and safety organisation. During my career I have also been a trainer, so you could say that I understand the job from both sides of the desk.
In my current position I am the first point of contact for enquiries about Vokèra’s comprehensive range of courses, handling calls from individual Gas Safe registered engineers and organisations such as colleges, councils and contractors, looking for high quality training for their students and staff. We have more than a dozen partnerships with colleges, providing them with equipment and other resources for their own training facilities. This support has recently been extended to allow other colleges to send their students for courses at our training centres.
Finding the right course
My role is also advisory and finding a course that will best meet an installer’s needs. By asking questions such as how long have you been in business; are you looking for something practical; or are you interested in learning about a specific sector, I can recommend the right training. The options we offer are wide ranging and include courses aimed at new entrants, high efficiency products, fault finding and BeSMART and controls. With so much industry emphasis on energy efficiency, it’s not surprising that courses focusing on solutions to maximise energy savings for their customers are particularly popular with installers.
Our technical training is conducted by experienced tutors and is structured to ensure it covers the appliance range (domestic and commercial), installation, operation, wiring, flueing, Benchmark, fault finding and commissioning. We can also arrange tailored workshops to cover specific topics.
Having established the right course with the caller and made a booking on their behalf, I send a confirmation by email. This is then followed by a letter giving full details of the course agenda and venue. A few days before the course is due to start, I will call the installer to confirm attendance. Vokèra offers training across the UK and Ireland and has four dedicated training centres at London Colney, Bradford, Glasgow, and Callan in Ireland. We also operate 12 satellite centres, ranging from Plymouth and Birmingham to Aberdeen and Belfast.
In addition to managing general training enquiries, I take calls relating to our Vokèra Accredited Installers and can advise people where to find their nearest accredited installer. Affinity members may also know my name and voice as I also manage the Affinity Call Centre.
Interacting with installers on social media is also now part of the daily routine for me and my colleague, David Iszchak, who is an experienced Technical Trainer. Industry forums on social media provide an ideal platform for us to communicate with installers and answer their queries.
