About the job

Job summary

• Are you a great listener, who can quickly understand and resolve queries over the phone and Email?
• Do you have experience in and passion for providing great customer service?
• Can you confidently explain challenging concepts without using jargon?

As a Customer Services Advisor you will be the first point of contact for charity trustees, professional advisors and other stakeholders including members of the public. You will provide advice and guidance to support charities by telephone, email and letter. You will help customers who raise concerns about charities, guiding them through our processes and managing their expectations.

Our Contact Centre operates 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, and you will work in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment where high standards of verbal and written communication are essential. You will work to agreed service levels and operational standards, be confident working in a digital environment and be comfortable working independently within a wider team.

You will need to develop a solid understanding of work across the Commission, as well as sound technical knowledge, to be able to address a wide variety of customer queries, troubleshoot customer problems and take ownership to resolve queries. You will take pride in providing high quality advice and be able to adjust your approach to suit the audience you are interacting with. You will also demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence with a focus on seeking a resolution on first contact wherever possible to prevent further escalation. 

Job description

• Respond to customers, providing advice and answering queries about the Commission’s online services, guidance, and website in the most efficient manner, by telephone or in writing. You will work within target time frames and adhere to established business processes or guidance.
• Engage with charity trustees, advisors, stakeholders and members of the public, advising charities on how to comply with charity law and taking action to resolve queries at first point of contact.
• Offer support across both the contact centre and the correspondence teams to answer enquiries and provide clarification about guidance and trustee responsibilities, in line with demand.
• Ensure that charities comply with their legal responsibilities to file annual returns and accounts, providing advice on what is required and assisting with accessing and navigating our online services.
• You will take decisions to resolve customer issues, using persuasion and negotiation to select a course of action. You will use your initiative, analytical skills and judgement to solve problems whenever possible and escalate to senior colleagues in complex or contentious cases after considering potential options.
• Explain complex information in a way that all customers can understand, adapting your style and tone to suit different audiences. You will demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence to deliver excellent customer service, de-escalating challenging situations and providing effective solutions.
• Support the development of other colleagues and new starters by providing advice and coaching.
• Participate in outbound calling initiatives to ensure information held of the Register of Charities is up to date.
• Champion customer service within the Commission. You will be expected to work with a continuous improvement mindset, proactively identifying opportunity for process improvements and efficiencies to help us better serve our customers.

Person specification

Ability

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Friendly, patient, empathetic and resilient with a can-do attitude
• The ability to persuade and negotiate with customers and stakeholders

Experience

• Handle high volumes of tasks or calls in an environment where there are competing priorities and demands
• Resolve complex customer queries and/or complaints with empathy and emotional intelligence
• Using multiple computer systems to create/update and maintain customer records accurately

Technical

• Research and interpret guidance or legislation to respond to customers queries
• Handle data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and/or law
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,624, Charity Commission contributes £7,728 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 and Experience.

To apply for this post, you must complete an online application with the following: 

• A blind CV setting out your Job History/Full Qualifications/Previous skill and experiences.
• A Personal Statement (maximum 750 words) demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria for the role outlined on the Job Description.

Sift: As part of the application process as a minimum you are asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement.

Interview: At interview you will be asked to complete a verbal and written communication task and assessed on your technical knowledge and experience and the following behaviours 

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Interview Arrangements

Interviews will be taking place Face to Face in our Liverpool Office. 

We will assess you on the behaviours listed in the job description, and experience.

The sift is due to take place on 12/01/2024. 

Interviews will be held 24/01/2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. 

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Behaviours:

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result. This post is full time however those applicants who do or wish to work an alternative working pattern are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available. You should discuss this with the vacancy holder.

Reasonable Adjustment: 

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.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 an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Reserve Lists:

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard. 

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Applying: 

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly. 

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk 

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions. 

Please note that late applications will not be accepted. 

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

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Concerns/Complaints: 

The Charity Commission’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition. 

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance hrselfservice@charitycommission.gov.uk.

If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web page here.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.