The shortage of technical profiles in Italy is a growing phenomenon: increasingly more companies are having difficulty finding specialized figures. As of July 2022, the difficulty in finding specialized profiles affected more than 40 percent of planned hires, about 10 points higher than in July 2021.
Samsung's "Customer Service School," a project created to support self-entrepreneurship and provide the technical and relational skills to be able to independently manage Samsung specialized service centers, fits into this scenario. The course involved thirteen young people, from all over Italy, aged between 18 and 22, who were able to study in-depth such topics as thermodynamics of refrigeration and air conditioning, electrical engineering, electronics, and electrical measurements, basics of air conditioning and refrigeration systems, communication protocols, basic Internet of Things principles, fault diagnostics (air conditioning and refrigeration), data analysis and report writing, elements of Customer Service, service marketing, behavioral techniques, and entrepreneurship.
"The first edition of the Customer Service School has come to an end. I appreciated the lively curiosity of the students and the healthy spirit of competition to achieve the result," said Vito Fortunato, Head of Customer Service at Samsung Electronics Italy. "I believe I can say that we have set up the school with rigor, leaving nothing to chance."
Ettore Jovane, Head of Air Conditioning Business at Samsung Electronics Italia, declared, "The development of our products, designed by leveraging the most innovative technologies, must necessarily go hand in hand with the training and enhancement of human capital. Thanks to this joint project with Randstad and Salesians for the Social we can offer advanced skills and train complete and up-to-date professional figures on new trends thanks to a unique path on the market."
Osteljano Doka and Luigi D'Angelo are the other two award winners, both final-year students at the Luxembourg Institute in Milan. The students will be awarded a scholarship worth about 2,000 euros each, which includes free enrollment in a course to obtain the F-GAS license, which is essential to work as Service Technicians on air conditioning systems, a tool kit for refrigeration/air conditioning technical interventions, and additional in-depth training focused on management and entrepreneurship topics delivered by Randstad experts.
The training - 100 hours in digital and in-person mode at the Samsung Academy - was delivered by Samsung experts and two lecturers: Nadia Olivero, Associate Professor of the Department of Economic-Business Sciences and Law for Economics at the University of Milan Bicocca, and Stefania Porcu, Researcher in Physics at the University of Cagliari. All thirteen trained students will have the opportunity to access interview and coaching sessions held by HR Business, Samsung's partner, and thus be able to enter the job market.
"I am very pleased to have contributed to the first edition of Samsung's Customer Service School. The transfer of technical, entrepreneurial and relational skills useful for an effective entry into the labor market is the most concrete answer that can be given to today's young people," said Nadia Olivero.
Stefania Porcu then concluded, "I find the CS School organization a very interesting and educational initiative. The students showed interest, attention, and curiosity, which are also stimulating factors for the teacher. It was an honor to be able to be part of it and I hope it will be the first of a series of editions."
The project promoted by Samsung involves the company's Customer Service, a division committed to customer service throughout the product life cycle, which, for the third year in a row, received the "Champions of Service - Best in Italy" award from the German Institute of Quality and Finance.
The Air Conditioning division was also the protagonist, which deals with climate solutions for the residential and business markets, and which expands its availability in providing refresher and training courses also to operators and professionals in the sector through its Samsung AirCon Academy. An authentic value network that thus involves not only consumers, but also partners and suppliers.