Customer service assistant
Customer service adviser

Customer service assistants deal with customers’ queries, purchases and complaints.
Salary range: £12,500 to £30,000
How to become a customer service assistant
You can get into this job through:
- a college course
- an apprenticeship
- applying directly
College
You can take a college course before applying for a job. Courses are widely available and include:
- Level 1 Certificate in Customer Service
- Level 2 Certificate in Contact Centre Operations
Entry requirements
You may need:
- 2 or fewer GCSEs at grades 3 to 1 (D to G), or equivalent, for a level 1 course
- 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
More information
Apprenticeship
You can do an intermediate or advanced apprenticeship in customer service.
Entry requirements
You’ll usually need:
- some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
- 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
More information
Direct application
You can apply for jobs if you have customer service experience, for example from working in a shop, hotel or contact centre.
Employers may expect you to have some GCSEs, or equivalent qualifications, but also good communication skills and a friendly personality.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You’ll need:
- customer service skills
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to work well with others
- sensitivity and understanding
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- excellent verbal communication skills
- active listening skills
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
What you’ll do
Day-to-day tasks
Your day-to-day activities may include:
- answering customers’ questions by phone, email, webchat or face-to-face
- giving quotations and checking product availability
- selling and taking payment
- handling complaints or passing them to a manager
- entering customer information onto a computer database
- tracking orders and giving refunds
Working environment
You could work at a store, in a contact centre or in an office.
You may need to wear a uniform.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could progress to team leader or customer services manager.
You could also move into sales or account handling.
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