The role of a customer service practitioner is to deliver high quality products and services to the customers of their organisation. They are often the first point of contact and work within any sector or organisation type. Core responsibility is to provide a high quality service to customers which will be delivered from the workplace, digitally, or through going out into the customer’s own locality. These may be one-off or routine contacts and include dealing with orders, payments, offering advice, guidance and support, meet-and-greet, sales, fixing problems, after care, service recovery or gaining insight through measuring customer satisfaction.
Customer Service Practitioners are expected to demonstrate excellent customer service skills and behaviours as well as product and/or service knowledge when delivering to your customers. They provide service in line with the organisation’s customer service standards and strategy and within appropriate regulatory requirements. Your customer interactions may cover a wide range of situations and can include; face-to-face, telephone, post, email, text and social media.
Example Job Roles
Customer Service Apprenticeships can be found in all sectors such as Receptionist, Retail Assistant, Office Worker, Contact Centre Representative, Customer Service Trainee or Agent.
Programme Requirements
Must have 5 GCSEs including Maths, English and ICT at grade 9 - 4 (A*- C) or be willing to undertake Functional Skills Level 1 and enrol on Level 2. We have to make sure that the Apprentice has the potential to achieve the different elements that make up the Apprenticeship qualification, and that they are working at the right level in their job. It may be a requirement to complete an initial assessment in English and Maths, and this may lead to taking some additional diagnostic assessments and skills exams.
Typical Duration
12-18 months to complete, depending on the employer and apprentice needs.
Apprenticeship Content
This apprenticeship standard has been developed with the help of employers including: Boots UK, Institute of Customer Service, Accelerator Solutions Ltd, Berkeley Homes Ltd, British Polythene Ltd (t/a bpi.recycled products), British Council, British Gas Services Ltd, BT plc, E.ON UK Ltd, Northern Powergrid, Osborne Property Services Ltd, Superdrug Stores plc.
There are a number of elements to each Apprenticeship and this is called a Standard. This Standard includes:
A knowledge based qualification
- Customer Service Level 2 Diploma (Optional)
On Programme Assessment
- Portfolio of evidence
- Assessment of behaviours and skills
- Knowledge and understanding
Functional Skills
- Maths and English at Level 1 and 2
End-point assessment
- Some soft skills embedded in to your qualification and consist of Reflective Learning, Self-Management, Team Working, Creative Thinking, Independent Enquiry and Effective Participation.
What can an apprentice do next?
Progression can be made to an Advanced Apprenticeship Customer Service at Level 3 or a Team Leading or Management Apprenticeship.
If you have any questions or queries relating to apprenticeships, please contact the apprenticeship team Apprenticeships@newcollege.ac.uk
Useful Link
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/#