4.0 Training

Training and Development

People (Employees) are often said to be a firm's most important asset. Training and development (T&D) is very very important for people working in sales as customers are unlikely to make purchases from sales people with little or no sales knowledge. T&D not only helps to make staff confident and competent in their jobs, but it can also help to motivate the workforce as they feel more valued by the employer.This can help to improve the level of customer service, thereby contributing to be better customer loyalty and higher sales.

Opinion

     In Apple Corporation, they conduct orientation for new employees. They all get a new iMac but they have to learn to set it up by themselves. The catch is to help get new employees to move around and talk to their colleagues. In my opinion, i feel that through this way, it sets up opportunity for new employees to engage in conversations with their seniors and also motivate them to take initiatives. That, i think is a form of on the job training in disguise as it helps new employees to settle down in their new environment.  Besides that, there are off the job training in house training in Apple Corporation as well like the Apple Training and Certification that delivers a training curriculum that includes hand-on lab experiences, lectures, and web-based training through a worldwide network of Apple Authorized Training Centers (AATCs). These forms of off the job training has several advantages as it's training certification gains worldwide recognition, builds credibility in the employees resume, and helps connect employees to their employers and clients.
I feel this kind of workshop helps employees to sharpen their soft skills as it's workshops involves interaction with the instructors and there are also on the job training that requires communication with the client and with the employer as well.

Bibliography

1) Apple Corporation,"Apple Training and Certification" 2011. 25th September 2013. from http://www.apple.com/education/docs/Apple-TrainingCertificationCatalogWeb.pdf