Customer Service Adviser – Career Advice

Customer Service advisers are the face or voice of a company and a personification of its customer service policy. Whether you’re working at airport check-in or on the end of a customer service line, if you’re patient, helpful and great with people, your work will massively improve the image of the company you work for.

Much of the work will involve dealing with complaints or requests for advice – people rarely contact a company to praise them. Complainants might be confused, angry, apologetic and, now and again, just plain stupid, but you have to deal with them all in the same way – with patience and good manners.

You’re there to help and also to promote your company and keep customers informed of other services or products they might be interested in.

A good telephone manner is important, as is the ability to remain calm, whatever the circumstances.

GCSEs (especially in English and maths) and an NVQ in customer service will stand you in good stead for the role, but more specialist posts in sectors such as banking and IT will require A Levels and GNVQs. Many firms also run in-house training courses or apprenticeships so you can learn as you earn.

Browse our current vacancies in:

Customer Support and Client Care

Other recommended resources:

Institute of Customer Service
The portal for customer service in the UK, the ICS performs research, offers continuing professional development and allows you to become accredited to ensure your career stays exactly on the track you want. They also keep you updated on the latest news and events within the industry and offer case studies for those wishing to learn more about customer service.

Customer Contact Association
Offering research, training and awards to keep yourself at the top of the customer services game, the CCA aim to continually develop and improve the industry through sharing best practice, researching customer experience and thinking up new ways to work.

National Skills Academy for Retail
A training resource for those interested in retail. If you are planning on going into the shopping side of customer service, this website could be handy for finding courses that put you in touch with the retail industry and how it operates to improve the service you can offer.

Hospitality Guild
Similarly, if your desire falls closer to the hospitality services, the National Skills Academy has developed the Hospitality Guild which offers training and qualifications for all aspects of hospitality.

Careers that Move
If you much prefer the world of travel, there are plenty of customer service positions available. The National Skills Academy’s resource can help you get into the game.