Customer Care Officer

Brighton & Hove City Council; Brighton; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid annual leave

Pension scheme

Rental deposit scheme

Full induction and development

Job summary

Brighton & Hove City Council is looking for a proactive Customer Service Officer to join the team. The role is office-based, full-time with 5.5 hours of contracted overtime weekly, and you will log enquiries and carry out in-depth investigations to provide high-quality written responses to residents, leaseholders, councillors and MPs.

You will liaise with repairs trades teams and stakeholders to monitor resolutions through to completion, work under tight deadlines, and remain composed in a

Qualifications

• Strong communication skills, particularly formal letter writing.
• Highly organised with autonomy to prioritise competing deadlines.
• Comfortable interacting with residents from diverse backgrounds.
• Experience in customer service is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Log incoming enquiries into the team and carry out in-depth investigations.
• Liaise with repairs trades teams and stakeholders to provide high quality written responses to residents, leaseholders, councillors and MPs.
• Monitor resolutions through to completion and ensure timely follow-up.
• Work within tight target deadlines to deliver high quality complaint responses.

Skills

Strong communication

Formal letter writing

Organisational skills

Autonomous working

Tools

IT skills

Job description

Are you passionate about customer Service?

Do you have strong communication skills in particular formal letter writing skills?

Are you highly organised and enjoy working on your own autonomy prioritising competing deadlines?

Do you enjoy meeting new people from diverse backgrounds?

This is a full-time permanent role with 5.5 hours contracted overtime hours weekly. This position is office based.

Interviews week commencing 26th October

About the role

This is a busy role with the customer experience at its heart. You will be responsible for logging incoming enquiries into the team and carrying out in-depth investigations. You will be liaising with repairs trades teams and relevant stakeholders seeking to provide high quality written responses to residents, leasholders, councillors and Members of Pariliament. You will be responsible for monitoring resolutions through to completion.

We are looking for a motivated individual with a can-do attitude to work within the team delivering high quality complaint responses within tight target deadlines.

You will have a good standard of IT skills and the ability to work in a high pressure environment involving tight deadlines. Our residents have a variety of backgrounds so being comfortable interacting with a wide range of people is essential. There will be opportunites to visit our tenants in their homes in relation to their repairs improving their experience and enhancing their interaction with our service.

This is an ideal entry level with training opportunties and the chance to work with a range of high profile stakeholders accross the council.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it’s what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

AI advice for candidates

We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants' responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn’t give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is term-time only. For part time applicants, where your working week is less than the council’s basic 37 hour week, contracted overtime rated pay will not form part of your working hours. This is because overtime rated pay is payable for hours worked more than the council’s basic 37 hour week. Your starting salary will be pro rata based on the basic annual salary elements of pay between £29,071 to £29,542.

In return for your skills and hard work we offer:-

• A standard working week of 37 hours per week plus 5.5 hours of contracted overtime - this is over Monday - Friday 08.00 - 17.00
• A full induction with ongoing development
• Paid annual leave
• Pension scheme
• Rental deposit scheme

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.