Customer Service Specialist

Here at Northumbria Police, we think our region is amazing! It takes a great deal of people from different backgrounds, with diverse skills and experience to serve our force area effectively, think you have what it takes to help us make a difference? This could be the perfect time for you to join us in our Communications Department as a Customer Service Specialist.

Working a part time role will enable you to achieve a real home/work life balance and as the first point of contact for many of our customers by telephone or one of our many digital channels, and your engagement will define the service they receive from Northumbria Police. Using effective communication, the team deliver an outstanding customer service experience in response to all public interactions, acting where possible to resolve queries at first contact and providing professional advice and effective signposting. With customer service at the heart of everything we do, and using a problem-solving approach, we aim to resolve many queries during that first contact.

What you'll do

The team receives customer contact via 101 as well as through numerous digital platforms such as web chat and online reporting forms and in the future, this will include social media reporting. Every contact is different, some of which will be an emergency and will require the customer service specialist to identify, assess and mitigate risk to ensure the correct response is allocated. You will handle contact from members of the public experiencing a wealth of emotions and need to be able to adapt your style to meet their needs. You will also deal with police officers, professionals, and partner agencies.

As a Customer Service Specialist, we will support you in developing an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the organisation. You will need a have a desire to resolve the customer's query at first point of contact, ensuring excellent customer service and demand reduction to other departments.

Working within a busy department, you must be able to work well under pressure and resilient to change. We are looking to recruit candidates on a Key-time 18.5 Hours per week this will include weekend/bank holiday work. You can learn more about the proposed shift pattern here.

Our training course is full time Monday - Friday 0800 - 1600 for 8 weeks, there is a requirement that you can attend this course for the full duration and to be able to be mentored full time for a further five weeks, without any periods of leave being taken. It is likely the train course will commence in January 2024 therefore candidates will need to be available to start then.

Excellent communication and listening skills with the ability to build rapport quickly.
A passion for problem-solving.
The ability to assess and understand key information.
Confidence to multitask, recording information accurately with attention to detail.
IT competence across a range of applications.
Committed to getting things right for our customer and delivering outstanding customer service., Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.