Customer Services Apprenticeship

Job Description

We are Centrica! We’re so much more than an energy company. We’re a family of brands revolutionising a cleaner, greener future. Working here is #MoreThanACareer - we’re powered by purpose. Together we can make an impact that will truly change tomorrow. Whether you’re developing cutting-edge green tech, helping customers on the front line or simplifying operations behind the scenes.

Your work here isn’t just a job – it’s a mission. We all play a vital role in energising a greener, fairer future.

Customer Service Apprenticeship - British Gas Energy Team – Full Time Permanent

Here at British Gas, we’re on the lookout for Customer Service apprentices to join us. You will work and learn, serving our customers when they need us most, while working to attain your Customer Service Specialist (Level 3) qualification. There has never been a more exciting time to join our Customer Service team, as we move to a new way of working in our customer teams where collaboration and the customer journey is at the heart of everything we do!

Customer Service is critical to our success. You will be our customers’ first point of contact and responsible for ensuring they have a fantastic experience with us.

We’re looking for passionate individuals who want to deliver first class service for our customers, with a drive to making a real difference as we move towards a net zero future!

You will need to gain a broad understanding of the customer businesses and their operations quickly and will be making an impact from the day you start your journey with us, but don’t worry, we will be supporting you every step of the way! We have partnered with an established training provider to ensure that all your training needs throughout the programme are met, you will also be assigned a mentor or buddy to further assist your development as well as the day-to-day support offered by your manager and colleagues. 20% of your development will be a combination of theory, technical and practical training whilst the remaining 80% will be on the job learning supported by a robust development plan to really help you succeed and reach your potential. We believe those who join the programme will be the future innovators and revolutionaries of our business!

Your apprenticeship will be dual purposed. We need you trained and ready to talk to our customers from week 4, while developing your skills through the apprenticeship modules and learning over an 18-month period. You will be supported and encouraged to be the best version of yourself, either in dealing with our customers’ needs or with the modules and learning.

• Salary - £17,595 then moving to £22,100 after 52 weeks
• Start Date – Tuesday 27th August 2024
• Location - Stockport

Shift patterns

• During training, your hours will be 0900-1700 Monday to Friday
• After training, your shift will fall between 0800-1800 Monday to Friday, you’ll be advised of your 37 hours weekly shift during your training period
• We have a ‘FlexFirst’ policy for hybrid working. FlexFirst is about working flexibly between home and offices, not home working exclusively. There will be an expectation set out by your manager about when you’ll need to come into the office. Please be aware, that your contract is office based.
• To get the most out of your training and grad bay experience you’ll be asked to attend the office in person for the majority of the first 8 weeks. After your training and grad bay period we take a flexible approach to working with some time throughout the month spent connecting with your team onsite.

What you’ll be doing

• You’ll be working as a Customer Resolution Agent within our British Gas Residential Energy Division.
• This is a customer- facing role, dealing with gas and electricity enquiries and complaints, taking calls throughout the day. In the future, there may be a requirement for you to flex across other contact channels such as webchats, emails & messaging services to best suit customer requirements.
• You will be a tech adopter and have end to end accountability for the management and resolution of customer contact received. Delivering a one stop resolution and removing the need for repeat customer effort.
• This isn’t your bog standard customer service role, you will have overall case management responsibility for your customers, escalating issues where necessary, managing your customers expectations until you reach a resolution.
• You will be allocated a set amount of time each week to manage your customer case load, you will be given the autonomy to manage your cases to ensure timely resolution for your customers.
• This is your chance to really make a difference to our customers’ energy journey. You’ll be empowered to make smart and effective decisions by placing your customer at the heart of everything you do.
• We’re constantly improving our processes and systems to best support our customers, so you’ll receive regular upskill training activity to support you through this along with access to knowledge articles to support your enduring ability to access guidance and know how.
• We’re committed to embed a culture of Continuous Improvement by identifying and implementing small changes in our day-to-day roles which will improve customer and colleague experience

The skills we need from you

• Your absolute passion and flair for delivering amazing customer service should be one of your motivational drivers
• You should have fantastic communication skills both written and verbal,To respond positively and support yourself through change in an ever-evolving energy market
• Proactively manage and monitor cases to key milestones and deadlines identifying opportunities to make the delivery more efficient and effective.
• We need resilient people with lots of energy and enthusiasm to deal with the different types of enquiries we receive every day
• Highly organised enabling you to manage high volume and competing priorities , naturally working proactively and with autonomy.
• Ability to see the bigger picture in terms of balancing customer outcomes, and business needs, adapting your approach accordingly.
• This department is super-fast paced and, at times, can be high pressure so your resilience, agility and ownership skills are key to this role
• The ability to balance empathy and professionalism, dealing with colleagues and key stakeholders with sensitivity, professionalism and competence. You care about people and the way we achieve success
• You’ll need to be digitally savvy as you will be working across multiple complex systems
• Providing the right solution first time is a key focus of in all roles to ensure we deliver against our promises
• We ask you to be courageous and creative with your ideas to improve the customer journey and our processes that support this.

To apply you will need:

• To have the right to work in the UK.
• To have lived in the UK continuously for the past 3 years
• To be a resident in England (due to the course being funded by the English Apprenticeship levy and the programme only being offered in England)
• Apprentices will be required to have or achieve Level 1 English and Maths and to have taken Level 2 English and Maths tests prior to completion of their Apprenticeship (This can be completed through this apprenticeship course).
• To have not previously studied the course content.
• To not undertake any other qualification during your apprenticeship
• As this is a Level 3 Apprenticeship, you must not hold an undergraduate degree in any subject.
• To be able to apply your learning to your role.

Let’s also dispel a myth, that apprenticeships are only for young people. Absolutely not! Apprenticeships are open to all age groups. Promoting diversity and inclusion is a big part of who we are, we are not looking for people to fit into our culture but to add to it!

It’s important that we do the right thing for our customers, therefore we also carry out financial, criminal record and reference checks before you start working with us, which your contract of employment is subject to

At Centrica we embrace diversity and actively seek to attract individuals with unique backgrounds and perspectives. To build a more sustainable future, we need the best team – a team with a diverse mix of people and skills, where everyone feels welcome and able to succeed. We are dedicated in helping to close the diversity gap and would love to see more females, people of colour and LGBTQ+ employees, as well as those from a variety of cultures and ethnicity to veterans and the differently abled. Supporting diversity and inclusion is a big part of who we are, we are not looking for people to fit into our culture but to add to it!

PLEASE APPLY ONLINE by hitting the 'Apply' button.

Applications will ONLY be accepted via the ‘Apply’ button.

This role is being handled by the Centrica recruitment team and NO agency contact is required.