Overview
This is a busy and highly rewarding role handling high volume customer enquiries relating to a wide range of Council services.
You will begin by supporting enquiries about one of our services, which include Council Tax, Waste, Highways, Registrations, Business Rates, Planning and Housing. At a later date, the role could include Children, Families and Education and Adult Social Care.
Salary: £25,989 - £28,142 per annum. This is a full-time position (37 hours per week) on a fixed-term contract until 31 March 2026. The role offers hybrid working: 2 days per week in the office (after training) with the remaining days flexible between home and office. Office locations include Shepton Mallet, Yeovil or Bridgwater.
Responsibilities
As a Customer Service Officer, you will provide front door support for customers contacting the Council. You will be the first point of contact for customers needing advice and assistance about any service provided by Somerset Council, offering quality support and guidance and, in many cases, directing or transferring the customer to the appropriate service teams as needed. Customers include members of the public, professionals and councillors.
You will spend most of your time talking with customers in Customer Access points or over the telephone. Customer Service Officers handle multi-channel interactions, which can include face-to-face interactions and digital solutions.
The range of enquiries handled is diverse. Some examples include:
* are concerned about the wellbeing of themselves, a family member, friend or neighbour and need help with personal care, mobility or day to day activities?
* are raising safeguarding concerns and reporting those at immediate risk?
* are needing advice about starting or moving schools, school meals, school transport or special educational needs
* are needing help with their council tax bill, paying an invoice, rent or business rates
* are wanting to report a missed waste collection, problem on the road or fallen tree
Your day-to-day work will involve:
* Talking to customers, predominantly face to face and by telephone
* Providing excellent ‘person centred’ customer advice and guidance
* Having strength-based conversations to determine the best way forward
* Supporting customers to self-serve using our online digital solutions
* Signposting to services and organisations best suited to the customers’ needs
Qualifications
What kind of experience or qualifications do I need? Customer demand for our help continues to grow, so you’ll need the skills and behaviours to thrive in a busy environment.
* Excellent customer service skills including listening, empathy, understanding and kindness
* Excellent all-round communication skills including a strong telephone manner
* Confidence and resilience to handle high-volume, sensitive and emotive interactions
* Good computer skills, confidence to learn new systems and use multiple technologies
* Enthusiasm to learn about our services, a positive and calm way of working and a problem-solving mindset
* Professionalism to adhere to process and understand the confidential and sometimes difficult nature of interactions we handle
* Experience is not essential; however, if you do have experience of any of our services on a personal or professional basis, please make this clear in your application
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.
We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.
What’s in it for me?
We offer a supportive and rewarding environment as part of a team that works to improve the lives of people in Somerset. We provide strong training and development opportunities with supportive management and a range of employee benefits:
* Healthy work-life balance with flexible working arrangements where possible, including working from home
* Generous annual leave allowance with the option to purchase additional leave
* Staff discounts in gyms
* Employee Assistance for wellbeing and access to wellbeing services
* Auto-enrolment into our Pension Scheme with optional AVC
* Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle to work and health screenings
* My Staff Shop discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more
Anything else I should know?
This post is covered by Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) and therefore the ability to speak fluent English is an essential requirement for the role.
This post may require a criminal background check via the Disclosure procedure.
If you would like to find out more about this opportunity before applying, please email Hannah Gilbertson, Service Delivery Manager at hannah.gilbertson@somerset.gov.uk or Harry.Parsons@somerset.gov.uk for an informal chat.
The salary for these roles is £25,989 - £28,142 per annum.
When completing your application/CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.
If you have all the information you need, just hit the apply button - we can’t wait to hear from you.
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