Customer Service Officer
Contracts: Two permanent posts and one fixed term post (to 31 March 2025)
Hours: Full time (37 hours per week), Monday to Thursday 9.00am to 5.00pm and Friday 9.00am to 4.30pm, may include working weekends and out of core hours with notice.
Please indicate on your personal statement whether you are interested in a permanent or fixed term role.
Closing date: Sunday 29 September 2024, 23:59
Interview dates: Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 October 2024
Why come to live and work in Portsmouth?
Portsmouth is a great waterfront city and a vibrant place to live and work. It is an island city with an “inner city” feel, a seaside location packed with attractions and events, and the advantage of fantastic countryside on its doorstep. With fast road and rail links to London, Brighton and major airports, and ferry links to Europe, it is the perfect place to live and work.Portsmouth has a strong history of partnership working and has successfully integrated several local services.
The Service:
The city helpdesk provides first point of contact customer services for multiple council services across channels, including face-to-face, telephone and via digital correspondence (including email, text, and social media, and managing online forms).In recent years, the City Helpdesk team has needed to evolve and there is no intention for this to stop. In a climate of ever improving technologies and diverse customer demands, we have an increasing challenge to adapt and grow to meet the expectations of our customers.
Your New Role:
If you want to make the city a better place for our residents and visitors and enjoy delivering excellent customer service, this is the role for you. You will initially start your career with us on the telephone with elements of written customer correspondence.Based on business need, you may move onto reception and further written correspondence including social media. You will be able to own and resolve issues, in some circumstances your responsibility is to locate the relevant contact for the customer or follow an established procedure and ensure a clean hand over.
Above all you will be part of leading the delivery of customer service excellence and contact throughout the Council, promoting channel shift while still providing a quality service for those who do not want to or are unable to make the move to digital.
Please read the job profile for the full details of this role.
What you'll need to succeed:
You have a passion for quality customer service and delivery that is clear and accurate, and experience of and confidence in dealing with customer enquiries on the telephone, email and face to face. You can engage with difficult and challenging situations and people, and have excellent spoken and written English.You have a flexible approach, a commitment to teamwork and the ability to innovate and think 'outside the box'. You can listen to what is being said, show empathy and not make assumptions or judgements.
Please read the job profile for the full details of this role.
You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.
What you'll get in return:
We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:
- Generous annual leave (27 days per year rising to 31, pro rata for part time hours) with the potential to purchase additional leave.
- A fantastic pension which allows you the opportunity to pay in more for that greater return.
- Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships.
- Extensive wellbeing support through the Employee Assistance Programme
- Discount on travel, travel loans and the bike loan scheme
- Discounts on a wide range of goods and services – access a range of discounts and offers from thousands of restaurants, shops and more.
Staff rewards: https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/working-for-the-council/
Additional Information:
The full job profile is attached here.
Contact Details for an Informal Discussion:
Rachel Flynn, City Helpdesk Deputy Manager, Rachel.flynn@portsmouthcc.gov.uk, 023 92 841 496
A commitment to our values:
We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.
Application process:
How to complete your application: https://careers.portsmouth.gov.uk/how-to-apply/
We are a disability confident employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible and welcome applications from all areas of society.
Please submit both a CV and a cover letter/personal statement. Remember to demonstrate in your cover letter/personal statement why you are suitable against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile, using examples from your experience or transferable skills.This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had.
If you upload a CV without a cover letter/personal statement, it is unlikely that your application will be successful.
Please note: We may shortlist as we receive applications, therefore this advert may close earlier than the given date.
We will email applicants from time to time; please ensure you check e-mail folders as sometimes our e-mails may go into spam/junk folders.
We look forward to speaking with you soon.
Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.