Job Introduction
Are you looking to kickstart a dynamic and rewarding career in an exciting customer facing role? Do you enjoy talking to people and solving their problems? Well, you’re in luck!
We have an amazing opportunity to join us as a Customer Experience Advisor Apprentice, you’ll be the voice of Yorkshire Housing, providing excellent service and support to our valued customers. You’ll learn to handle inbound and outbound calls, answer questions, resolve issues, and respond to emails. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn new skills, work with a diverse and friendly team, and grow your career with us.
We have huge plans here at Yorkshire Housing. Investing in future leaders and providing them with a sound understanding of the housing sector is a key part of that. This all-round position will allow you to learn some fundamental skills in customer service as well as a valuable insight in to the day to day of housing, all while working towards a Customer Service Level 2 Qualification. Want to know more? Read on…
What will I be doing?
Working in the heart of our Customer Experience Team, you’ll actually be speaking to our customers and providing first line support. This can involve anything from logging new repairs to advising customers how to apply for a property with Yorkshire Housing. You really can be yourself in this role and you’ll use your customer service skills to resolve any queries that come through.
You’ll work and learn from peers to process rent payments, answer rent enquiries and negotiate affordable and sustainable payment plans with our customers by providing support, advice, and signposting customers to our tenancy and money management advice teams.
As with any role it doesn't come without its challenges, so you'll need to be prepared to tackle some difficult situations. No day is ever the same in this role which will often include difficult cases where your exceptional people skills will come into play to deliver a first call resolution.
You’ll prioritise and book in repairs, helping customers to diagnose faults and where possible fix it on the phone. Also, you’ll discuss neighbourhood queries, record and advise on Anti-social behaviour and offer guidance and advice to help customers maintain their tenancy.
You'll be part of a supportive team but it’s important to mention that a large proportion of this role will be home-based, so you need to be comfortable with this way of working. If you did want to know more before applying, there is a role profile attached for you to have a look through!
What you’ll bring to the role
- A passion for customer service - or as we say at YH “Customer Obsessed”.
- 5 GCSEs at grade C/4 or above including English and Math’s
- Extremely high attention to detail
- Be able to work independently as well as a team member, with the ability to follow instruction.
- Confident communicator at all levels and have the ability to organise, prioritise and manage own workload to meet deadlines.
- Ability to adapt to customers’ needs and communication style(s) through active listening.
- Ability to quickly change from one process to another whilst on the call with a customer to support customers’ needs.
- Be able to answer a variety of queries our customers might have
- A clear, calm, empathetic telephone manner
It would be a bonus if you had
- Experience or knowledge of social housing
- Experience in a customer service and or administrative environment
If you’re sat there thinking, I can’t quite bring everything to the role that they’re asking for, but I’m pretty confident I have a ton of other skills that make me stand out… Don’t let the bullet points put you off, we’re a friendly bunch and want to get the best people in the best roles and if that’s you, we’d love to hear from you!
A bit more about us
At Yorkshire Housing, we own and manage over 20,000 homes across the Yorkshire region. Providing our customers with a place they’re proud to call home is at the core of what we do. But our service doesn’t stop when the keys are in the door.
As we continue to develop new homes and our customer base expands, it’s more important than ever that we look towards our future talent and ensure we have the best people in place to provide excellent support to our customers. As a Customer Experience Advisor Apprentice, you’ll play a key role in making this happen.
What’s in it for you?
In return, we offer a salary of £16,216.20 for 35 hours per week, 25 days annual leave (rising annually to 30 days) plus Bank Holidays.
We also work (truly) flexibly, and believe work is something you do, not somewhere you go.
But that’s not all. We offer a reward package to suit everyone. At YH, you can claim back for prescriptions, eye tests and more with our cash plan, make the most of a variety of retail discounts and take advantage of our pension scheme where we’ll match your contributions up to 9%, just to name a few.
Our people’s health and wellbeing is one of our top priorities, and you can make the most of our readily available wellbeing support package. This includes access to a library of free fitness classes, as well as an instant My GP service and free counselling sessions with a trained professional.
So, now you’re really interested?
At YH, we’re actively building a work environment that’s inclusive as well as diverse, where everyone can contribute their best work and be themselves. We believe difference is what makes us stronger and recognise the importance of our teams reflecting the communities we serve, so we welcome and encourage candidates from all backgrounds for this role.
If you require additional support with your application, or have any further questions, please contact our recruitment team via email at recruitment@yorkshirehousing.co.uk.
The fine print
The closing date for applications will be 17/04/2024, but we might close it early if we get lots of fab candidates, so don’t hang around. As this role is an apprenticeship, it’s a 18 month fixed contract, but once your fully qualified we’d work with you to secure you an opportunity with us at Yorkshire Housing as we know good talent when we see it!
Please remember to complete your application is as much detail as possible, if your CV isn’t the most detailed, your application is your time to shine!
We know not everyone excels at interviews which means we don’t always get the best out of people in a traditional interview. So, as you can probably tell we don’t do things the ‘typical’ way here at Yorkshire Housing so the next step of the process will involve a super exciting assessment centre approach where we get to see you face to face!
