Customer Services Assistant – Brentwood Library

About the role

Customer Services Assistant – Brentwood Library

Fixed Term, Full Time

£23,344 per annum

Location: Brentwood

Please note this is a fixed term / secondment opportunity for a period of 1 year.

Come and join us in Libraries where we’re starting to reimagine what our libraries are going to be and help our present and future customers have the best experience possible.

We are currently recruiting two full time Customer Services Assistants based at our Brentwood Library. Please note, this role includes Saturday working.

This role will be based at Brentwood Library and will require travel throughout the local area, you could work at different locations throughout the area including the following Libraries:

Shenfield
Chipping Ongar

Due to the different areas where you may work, the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area.

The Role

You’ll join a service that is undergoing change. Libraries around the UK are evolving to meet the differing demands of our customers. The demands are often different dependent on the location of our Libraries, and this is where your knowledge will be invaluable. You’ll support with book circulation and issuing, signpost customers to different services and be our ears and eyes for what makes the difference to our customers. We want you to feel proud to play your role.

The Opportunity

Our Customer Service team are at the heart of what we do- they are the face of our libraries and our driving force. To join them you’ll need to be confident helping a diverse range of customers, with demands that change daily. We have an inclusive environment – your experience, your age and your perspectives are welcome in our team.

Key Responsibilities

First and foremost – you like helping people. If you’ve got some IT skills – self-taught or not, that’s ideal. We use self-service equipment, and our customers need your empathy and patience at all times.
Arranging and conducting Rhymetime, an inclusive session for all families with babies and toddlers.
Health & Safety is key to what we do. We’d like you to be the kind of person who sees things that need sorting and help sort them out.
You’ll help with promotional activities – we generate income in all our libraries and value your ideas. Especially ones that can be rolled out across all Libraries.
Assisting customers to use the library catalogue and learn to use the full library offer.
Ensure seamless stock circulation and management, involving sorting, shelving, tidying, and handling reservations, fines, and membership activities.
Data drives us – you’ll help us look at it in different ways, ensuring that we focus on the customer and staff to improve what we offer.
Our smaller libraries have less staff, so we’ll ask you to help out with unlocking / locking up and ask you to be a trusted keyholder.

Experience and Qualifications:

We welcome candidates with a diverse range of experiences and qualifications. Here’s a sample – what we’re interested in is if you are brilliant at the basics which include:

Possession of a Driving Licence - desired
Demonstration that you know how to use IT systems or have the ability to learn.
Customer service experience in any area
Confidence in speaking to our customers and signposting them to Library services, other parts of the Council services and our partner organisations.
Enthusiasm and ideas
Enjoy working within a team to make us as brilliant as possible.

We are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diverse community we serve. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

Together, let's create a welcoming and inclusive library experience for everyone. Apply now to be part of our vibrant and diverse team!

To read more about us please visit: Climate, Environment and Customer Services

Interviews

As a Customer Services Assistant, you will be required to work with children to develop and grow our audience in this key area of our business. Part of your responsibilities will be to deliver story and rhyme sessions to groups of parents and toddlers in a library setting.

Therefore, as part of the interview process you will be required to deliver a short 5-minute activity that enables you to demonstrate your ability to engage with children.

This could include reading a short children’s story or sharing a children’s nursery rhyme.

Why Essex?

Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community.

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email Resourcing.Team@essex.gov.uk

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