Customer Service Apprentice

Onward Homes Limited; Manchester; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health cash plan

Pension matched up to 10%

Flexible working environment

Learning for life scheme

Annual leave up to 40 days

Job summary

Onward Homes is recruiting a Customer Service Apprentice in Manchester to deliver a high-quality multi-channel customer experience for internal and external customers. You will handle housing enquiries and aim to resolve issues at the first point of contact.

You will undertake an 18-month Customer Service Specialist Level 3 apprenticeship with SR Apprenticeships, building a long-term career in social housing while developing essential customer service skills.

Qualifications

• Interest in working in a customer facing environment.
• Broad understanding of IT packages.
• Able to coordinate a varied workload.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Commitment to being accountable for own knowledge, skills and personal development.
• Experience of working in a multi-channel contact centre.
• Knowledge of Social Housing.

Responsibilities

• Support high-quality customer experience via multiple channels.
• Provide accurate information in line with processes and standards.
• Handle customer interactions via Contact Centre and reception.
• Support Manchester Move applicants with documentation and housing applications.
• Assist in neighbourhood/leasehold management actions.
• Ensure data protection compliance.

Skills

Customer service

IT skills

Workload management

Independent & team work

Personal development

Education

GCSEs

Job description

About The Role

• We offer a Real Living Wage salary of £24,479 per annum.
• 35 hour per week.
• 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays a total of 40 days paid holiday per annum which is equivalent to 8 weeks.
• Stream - access both short and long terms loans, plus provides access to a savings facility.
• Opportunity to further increase annual leave with service or though the holiday purchase scheme.
• Immediate entry to our Pension scheme (matched contributions up to 10%)
• A great flexible working environment, with a range of family friendly policies.
• Health cash plan with financial benefits and the option to extend to your family. Cover includes dental, optical, physiotherapy, 24HR private GP access and much more.
• Paid leave for absence including sickness, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Access of up to £150 annually through the ‘Learning for life’ scheme.
• Access to a wide range of discounts and cash back offers, ranging from retail and automotive to holidays and cycle to work scheme.
• Develop your career with support and access to training and qualifications.
• 2 paid half days volunteering per year.

About the role

We are seeking a Customer Service Apprentice to join our Commercial Services team. As part of our team, you’ll provide a professional high quality multi-channel customer contact experience to all internal/external customers; handling the full range of housing enquiries and wherever possible offering a resolution at the first point of contact. Be an ambassador for customer service at S4B (15 Brunswick Street, Brunswick, Manchester, M13 9SU).

Alongside your day-to-day role, you will be supported to develop your skills and knowledge through a 18-month Customer Service Specialist Level 3 apprenticeship with SR Apprenticeships, giving you a strong foundation for a long-term career in the sector.

Please see below regarding entry requirements:

• Minimum 16 years old by the start date.
• Must not be in full-time education when the program begins.
• Must be a UK citizen or hold a valid visa/proof of right to work and have lived in the UK/EEA for at least the past 3 years.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Service

• Supporting with the delivery of high-quality customer experience to both internal/external customers.
• Support with providing accurate and up to date information in line with company processes, procedures, and agreed standards.

First Point of Contact Resolution

• Support the team with handling all methods of customer interaction via the Contact Centre, office reception and a willingness to support the team with the delivery of first point of contact resolution.
• Support the wider range of Council services provided from the S4B office, including parking permit registrations.

Team Working

• Assist the achievement of the teams KPI’s and PI’s by having a can-do attitude and working proactively with colleagues to achieve team objectives.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues from across the organisation to reduce handoffs, develop knowledge and support a one organisation approach.
• Undertake administrative tasks to support the S4B operational team in delivering excellent service, such as core form data inputting and survey processing.

Income Collection

• Play an active role in supporting income collection and taking payments from customers.

Manchester Move

• Support S4B’s management of Manchester Move applicants, providing rehousing advice and ensuring application documentation is appropriately managed and processed in a timely manner.

Neighbourhood/Leasehold Management

• Understand the issues and opportunities within our neighbourhoods and support the development of Neighbourhood Plans.
• Assist in the delivery of neighbourhood/leasehold management actions.
• Support the maintenance and improvement of the appearance of our neighbourhoods including enforcement actions where appropriate.

Data Protection

• Operate in line with agreed Data Protection legislation and proactively audit customer records.

Skills/Experience

Essential:

• Interest inf working in a customer facing environment.
• Broad understanding of a range of IT packages.
• Able to coordinate a varied workload.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team in order to achieve collective goals.
• Commitment to being accountable for own knowledge, skills and personal development.

Desirable:

• Experience of working in a multi-channel contact centre.
• Knowledge of Social Housing.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Minimum of 3 GCSE’s (A* - E/9-3) or achievement of level 1 in English and Mathematics during initial assessment.

Desirable:

• English and Maths GCSEs level 4 or above.

About Us

About Onward

Onward Homes is one of the largest registered provider of social housing in the Northwest, with 35,000 properties across the region.

We believe that everyone deserves a place to call their own, which is why we’re committed to building 500 new homes each year. We do more than just provide a roof over our customers’ heads, we’re here to make a real difference.

In addition to creating positive spaces for our customers we continuously strive to create a positive and progressive workspace to enable our colleagues to achieve their full potential.

We embrace diversity and strive for diverse teams to create an inclusive culture which enables Onward to thrive and be representative of the communities that we serve. We want to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to be part of our recruitment processes and will therefore make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you with our recruitment process via the email address below.

At Onward Homes, your application will be reviewed by a human who carefully considers your CV, skills, knowledge and experience as part of our recruitment process. We do not use AI to make hiring decisions.

If candidates have any concerns / questions in relation to the role at any stage of the recruitment and selection process theycan contact the HR team on [e-mail] a member of the HR Team will be in touch.