A vacancy has arisen within Transactional and Customer Services for a permanent Customer Services Assistant working full time, 37 hours per week. Your primary base will be Council Offices, Civic Centre, Crook in the call centre. As a Customer Services Assistant, you will be responsible for answering incoming telephone calls from customers, residents, other service users and stakeholders, as well as interactions through our various digital channels. This role is working in a busy and demanding contact centre environment where you will be first point of contact for general enquires for our multiple service areas including refuse and recycling, garden waste and housing solutions. Full training will be provided however it is important that you possess excellent listening skills and be able to show patience and empathy whilst dealing with any challenging and vulnerable customers. WHAT IS INVOLVED? We are a friendly, and welcoming team, based in the contact centre in Crook Civic Centre. We take pride in delivering a high standard of customer service to our customers and work hard at maintaining a high level of performance and are a team who support each other. It is a busy, fast paced environment and no one day is the same. You will support customers, residents, other service users and stakeholders through all our contact channels with all general enquiries including refuse and recycling, garden waste and housing solutions enquiries. Due to the nature of the role, it is important to have excellent listening skills, patience, and empathy to be able to deal with what sometimes can be difficult and challenging interactions. Full training and support will be provided. You will be working with targets and key performance indicators to achieve. We encourage you to contact Karen jones via email at karen.jones@durham.gov.uk or Kate Collinson at kate.collinson@durham.gov.uk to arrange an informal discussion about the role. WHAT WILL I NEED? You will need 4 GCSE’s (A-C) or equivalent and experience of dealing with the public through a range of contact channels. Please refer to the attached person specification for the full criteria. REWARDS AND BENEFITS We offer generous rewards and benefits that are designed to help you perform at your best: Competitive salaries and 27 days holiday per year rising to 32 days after five years continuous local government service. Option to purchase up to 10 additional days annual leave per year. Excellent work/life balance through schemes including job sharing, compressed hours and flexi-time (allowing up to 13 flexi days per year). Hybrid working (home and office working). Excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Plus, top up options - Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC scheme and standard AVC scheme for members of the LGPS. Wellbeing Portal and access to an Employee Assist Scheme. Wide range of learning and development opportunities including professional qualifications, coaching and mentoring. Employee Benefits Portal and Lifestyle Savings Scheme (discounts across a host of major retailers). Discounted DCC gym membership. Staff networks run by staff for our staff, including Race Equality and Diversity, Disability, LGBT, Armed Forces, Carers, Menopause. Trade Union membership. A range of other salary sacrifice schemes such as car leasing. Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions. Take a closer look: Rewards and Benefits HYBRID WORKING Durham County Council currently operates a hybrid working policy where a model of 2 days in the workplace and 3 days at home/remote will apply. This model is pro-rated for part time roles and arrangements are at managers discretion, alternatively you can work all of your contracted hours within the workplace if you prefer. EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION We are a proud equal opportunities employer and recognise that a diverse, talented workforce brings new ideas and new perspectives, which will facilitate growth and improvements to services. We are committed to ensuring that our employment policies and processes are fair and equitable to all. We welcome job applications from everyone, and successful candidates are considered only on their skills and ability to do the job. As a Disability Confident Leader, we encourage applications from disabled people and provide support throughout the recruitment process. Take a closer look: Equality, Diversion and Inclusion INTERVIEWS Interviews will be held week commencing 23rd June 2025. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked after young person, care leaver or a veteran. HOW TO APPLY In line with the County Council's Recruitment and Selection Policy, please note that we are unable to accept CVs. Applications must be submitted on-line via the Northeast Jobs portal. Please use the ‘Person Specification’ section of your application form to demonstrate that you have the essential and where possible, desirable experience, skills, and knowledge. Candidates who do not evidence that they meet the essential qualifications and experience listed on the person specification will not be short-listed. If you have any support needs or require assistance when applying for this role, please contact the Recruitment Team via email RecruitmentResources@durham.gov.uk. We collect personal information from you when you register with North East Jobs and make an application. Details on how we process your personal data is available in our Privacy Notice. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION REGARDING YOUR APPLICATION FOR THIS POST WILL BE SENT TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS THAT YOU HAVE REGISTERED WITH NORTH EAST JOBS, INCLUDING YOUR INVITE TO INTERVIEW IF YOU ARE SHORTLISTED. PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL AFTER THE CLOSING DATE FOR NOTIFICATION FROM DONOTREPLY@NORTHEASTJOBS.ORG.UK AS YOU WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED BY ANY OTHER MEANS. PLEASE ENSURE YOU CHECK YOUR JUNK MAIL. VPRS/161