Career Overlap Transition record Edition 1 · ESCO v1.2.1
Table 1Transition record

customer contact centre information clerktoICT 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.

From customer contact centre information clerk
25%
Overlap1
To ICT help desk agent
8 Skills carried over
15 Required, not held
73.6 Difficulty2
Career overlap Distant match

25%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

73.6/ 100

1 Share of the ICT help desk agent role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the customer contact centre information clerk profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A ICT help desk agent role treats 5 of its required skills as things a customer contact centre information clerk already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

  • 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

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 8 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A 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.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • 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

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 24 missing skills fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier
01 working with computers 5 required, 4 supplementary
  • required, not held use ICT hardware required
  • required, not held provide ICT support required
  • required, not held solve ICT system problems required
  • required, not held use ICT ticketing system required
  • required, not held 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
02 communication, collaboration and creativity 3 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held identify customer's needs required
  • required, not held support ICT system users required
  • required, not held create solutions to problems required
  • optional, not held educate on data confidentiality optional
  • optional, not held perform escalation procedure optional
03 information skills 2 required
  • required, not held keep up to date on product knowledge required
  • required, not held keep task records required
04 management skills 2 required
  • required, not held manage schedule of tasks required
  • required, not held prioritise requests required
05 information and communication technologies (icts) 1 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held ICT system user requirements required
  • optional, not held ICT help platforms optional
  • optional, not held information confidentiality optional
06 assisting and caring 1 required
  • required, not held provide customer follow-up services required

2 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a ICT help desk agent role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 8 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • 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
Skill to acquire Tier
07 business, administration and law 1 required
  • required, not held product comprehension required
08 engineering, manufacturing and construction 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held ICT infrastructure optional
9 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to acquire Tier
  • 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
Skill Type
  • 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.

Skill to acquire Tier
  • required, not held ICT system user requirements required
  • required, not held product comprehension required
  • optional, not held ICT help platforms optional
  • optional, not held ICT infrastructure optional
  • optional, not held information confidentiality optional
Index
Note

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.