Civil Service in the news
Case Study: Sasha
Sasha: an apprenticeship in customer service
Sasha is 23 and works full time in the Pension Service in the North East. After leaving school she worked for a company called FDS that undertook surveys on behalf of BT before coming to the Pension Service six years ago. ‘I am part of a clerical team and my main responsibilities are dealing with all winter fuel related enquiries. This includes making payments, handling complaints, dealing with phone calls from customers as well as the clerical post received. I also deputise for the team leader and have covered most aspects of the job in a higher grade.’
Hard work but worth it
Sasha undertook the Modern Apprenticeship in Customer Service whilst working in a telephony team. The apprenticeship did involve extra work. ‘There was a lot of work at home. We had to do our own research. In the meeting room assignment, for example, I had to measure a room then go out and find the right size carpets and furniture.’
Sasha was happy that she did the apprenticeship:
‘I found it really useful, especially the application of number. To be honest I’d forgotten the basics from school. The stuff we looked at you can use on a day-to-day basis like long mulitplication. The presentation I delivered has helped me in my job as I have since had to prepare and deliver training which is very daunting but I had more confidence after the apprenticeship. My job also includes using statistics and now I can make more sense of them, whereas before I didn’t like using them.
‘I also feel a lot more confident having group discussions. We did this on a reguar basis and sometimes I would feel uncomfortable joining in but now it doesn’t bother me and I join in without thinking about it.’
The apprenticeship can help you consolidate your existing skills and fill in the gaps that are missing. ‘Because it’s part of your job,’ Sasha explains, ‘you may not know that there are some new things you can learn. It’s general skills that you learn on an apprenticeship, but a lot of people have the same fears about these things as I did.’
‘I would recommend an Apprenticeship because it refreshes skills you may have forgotten and it is also a recognised qualifaction. It is hard work but enjoyable and very worthwhile at the end.’
Apprenticeship in Customer Service Sasha’s apprenticeship was made up of
- two NVQs for Customer Service and Contact Centre Operations; and
- Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number.
Assessment for Communication was based on discussions, a presentation, an assignment and a test. On her presentation, Sasha says, ‘The presentation detailed the different types of Winter Fuel queries NPC received and how much work they cleared.’
The Application of Number module was made up of three assignments and a test. In the first assignment, Sasha was given a theoretical grant to completely prepare a meeting room – the layout, carpet and furniture. She had to go out and do her research, draw up scale plans and do VAT returns, showing all of her workings. Her second assignment was again on winter fuel – a central part of her job. ‘I had to write a report using several types of calculations that showed my findings like mean, median and mode and working out the percentage of calls made in one week when compared to another.’
