About the job

Job summary

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.

   

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.

About Our Team  

HMRC Estates is at the forefront of delivering the biggest property programme in the UK. We are at the forefront of Government property transformation. HMRC Estates provides the professional capability to our customers and our tenants ensuring the estate is the right size, shape and quality to meet both the current and future needs of HMRC.   

The Estates Directorate is committed to building the professionalism of our people, providing clear and defined career pathways enabling focused learning and development across several specialist areas in a culture of continual improvement.  

Job description

Joining our team, you will be a part of Estates vision to be the best Estates department in Government, providing first class buildings and excellent services for our customers.  

As the Estates Customer Service Apprentice, you will support colleagues in the onsite Estates Team with responsibility for the smooth running of the Government Hub. Leading on handling customer queries about the building, reporting building faults, reporting Health and Safety issues, or supporting our building users to make the most of the Government Hub Environment.  

With your excellent customer service skills you will build strong relationships with our customers.  You will address building issues and raise reactive works where necessary. As your knowledge of the building grows, you will influence customer experience with your knowledge, skills and behaviours.   

To achieve our Customer Service ambitions the successful candidate for this vacancy will be expected to work full-time, in a flexible way. This would see staff routinely working Mon-Fri but allow flexibility for evening work up to 8pm and occasional Saturday work in line with business need.

In addition to this, you will need to be available for out of hours ‘On Call’ as needed in order to respond to any incidents.

Person specification

Our apprentice will be visible and have an open presence for our customers, carrying out regular building inspections, talking to customers (building users) and effectively communicating and resolving their queries. Role duties will include: -  

• Managing the Estates Team communication platforms, including Mailbox, Viva Engage, and face to face whilst reviewing and updating the building A-Z/Building Directory to ensure it is maintained with up-to-date information.  
• Carrying out building inductions for new starters to the Government Hub and planning and delivering regular building inspections, reporting identified issues to ensure Risk Assessments are in place.  
• Secretariat for the Building House Committee, Health and Safety Committee and Team Meetings. Handling Teams / SharePoint sites and implementing / managing standardised filing system for the team.  
• Support the building policies and processes including lockers, cycle spaces and car parking spaces, being a visitor and delivery co-ordination lead for reception and security.  
• Provide a local interface with hard and soft Facility Management suppliers, raising and collating customer feedback / complaints as necessary.
• Help with the monitoring of suppliers KPI’s whilst handling the procurement of stationery, health and safety stock and other misc. items.  
• Support in supervising Fire Risk Assessment / Building Risk Assessment actions and other Statutory Requirement assurance checks.  
• Assist our Workplace Operations team and carry out other tasks to contribute towards the day to day running of the Estates advised by the Senior Building Manager or Head of Estate.  

Essential Criteria   

• Demonstrate being organised, efficient and able to manage a varied workload.   
• Collaborator, and team player who shows experience of strong written and verbal communication skills.  
• Competent IT Skills (including Microsoft Word / Excel / PowerPoint).   
• Experience of working in customer services with Stakeholder engagement.  
• Hold GCSE pass or equivalent in Maths and English. You may be required to provide proof of this. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,341, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £7,652 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

How to Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A CV including your job history and previous experiences.
• A 500-word personal statement.

Please provide your most recent and relevant CV experience matching the Person Specification part of the advert.

Your CV will be scored. 

Your Personal Statement should be used to describe how your skills and experience would be suitable for the advertised role, making reference to the Essential Criteria in no more than 500 words. Please provide examples , impacts and outcomes of your examples where appropriate. 

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’ To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

SIFT 

The sift will be carried out against the CV and Personal Statement, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

INTERVIEW 

During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed, and you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, and you will be asked strength-based questions to also explore what you enjoy and your motivations relevant to the job role. 

This is an example of a strengths-based question: 

“It is often said that the customer's needs should come first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?” 

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well. 

Interviews will take place face-to-face.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed. 

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and appointments will be made in strict merit order until the set demand is filled in each location. If successful, you will be informed which locations are available when we reach your position on the merit list.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Diversity and Inclusion

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues and creating an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people, from all backgrounds, with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC and want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential.

Click here for more information on how we make this happen

Additional Security Information

Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for SC is 5 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers

Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual homeworkers due to the nature and/or requirements of the role.

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process. 

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.