Description
Contract: Permanent, full time
Salary: £21,899 - £23,682 per annum
Location: Hybrid working, 2 days at Burford, OX18 4PF
Closing date: Tuesday 18 February 2025
Interview date: w/c 24 February 2025
Join Blue Cross as a Customer Care Officer and play a pivotal role in providing essential support and information to our supporters, clients, and the public.
As the compassionate first point of contact, you'll offer a listening ear, expert advice, and signposting services, ensuring that every interaction leaves a positive impact on those seeking assistance.
More about the role
As a Customer Care Officer at Blue Cross, with your compassionate support and guidance you will provide advice, reassurance, and assistance to those in need of our services, with a particular emphasis on complaint management. Whether they contact us by phone, email, or other channels, you'll offer a warm, empathetic ear and connect them with the appropriate teams within Blue Cross, ensuring they receive the assistance they require.
* Effectively handle complaints from our service users, addressing their concerns with empathy and professionalism.
* You'll meticulously document complaints, investigate root causes, and work towards resolutions in a timely manner, ensuring our service users feel heard and valued throughout the process.
* Create written responses to enquiries and feedback via various channels like letters, emails, and social media, ensuring timely delivery and personalisation, especially in response to complaints.
* Promptly resolve enquiries, requests, and complaints, escalating complex issues as needed and leveraging existing resources to provide satisfactory solutions.
* Keep up to date about Blue Cross's initiatives, projects, and campaigns to provide accurate responses to enquiries, including those related to complaints.
* As a brand ambassador, promote our mission and values in every interaction, especially when managing complaints, to uphold our reputation for exceptional customer care.
* Engage supporters through targeted campaigns, fostering loyalty and enhancing retention rates, even in the face of complaints, by demonstrating our commitment to resolving issues effectively.
* Process telephone donations accurately, adhering to policies and regulations to maintain compliance, while also addressing any concerns or queries donors may have.
Sometimes, you will be supporting clients who may be distressed or need additional support through telephone and face-to-face queries in a calm, professional, and friendly manner. The ability to assess the appropriate solutions for their pets and adapt to a variety of our client’s needs and communication styles is an integral responsibility of the role.
This role is pivotal in ensuring that every interaction with Blue Cross leaves a positive impression, even when addressing complaints, and contributes to our mission of providing compassionate care to animals and their owners.
About you
You will have great communication skills, used to having conversations with a wide variety of people and used to working in a busy office or call centre environment.
You will have a genuine desire to improve the lives of pets and their clients and be proactive in the promotion and delivery of Blue Cross aims.
Due to the nature of some of the calls you will be handling, you will be able to work in an emotionally charged environment and have excellent 'bounce-back ability' and resilience, with the ability to keep calm under pressure and reprioritize tasks where needed. With your empathetic approach, you will know how to support clients and colleagues.
Knowledge, skills, and experience
* Customer service experience within a busy office or call centre environment
* The ability to multi-task and demonstrable experience of responding to a high volume of telephone and email enquiries
* A calm, confident telephone manner
* Demonstrable resilience and experience of dealing with distressed and angry enquirers
* Excellent keyboard skills, knowledge of Windows and MS Office and the ability to learn and navigate multiple IT systems
* Experience of handling complaints
* Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
* The ability to self-manage while working collaboratively as part of a team
* The ability to demonstrate understanding and apply our Blue Cross values
Desirable knowledge, skills, and experience
* An understanding of basic animal welfare
* An understanding of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act
* Experience working with CRM or ticketing systems
* Previous experience of working in the charity/voluntary sector
How to apply
Click the apply button below and complete the online application process before the closing date on Tuesday 18 February 2025.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.
Blue Cross benefits
Our people are the most important part of delivering our purpose. If it were not for their amazing efforts and commitment, we would not be able to make the difference that we do today.
In return, Blue Cross wants to ensure we provide you with the best working environment we can. We want you to be happy working for us and will do everything we can to make sure you are.
Our generous benefits package includes:
· Full time equivalent of 38 days holiday rising to 43 with service (including Bank Holidays)
· Programmes for physical and mental wellbeing support
· Free access to GP via MetLife- 24/7 GP services, private prescriptions and more for you and your family
· Free physiotherapy advice and face to face intervention
· Health cash plan
· Unlimited access to an employee assistance programme
· Pension scheme with enhanced employer contribution
· Professional fees paid with Continuing Professional Development and personal development support.
· Life assurance
· 20% discount on Pet Plan pet insurance
· Enhanced family friendly policies
· Recognition scheme
· Annual volunteer days
· Charity worker discounts across a variety of retailers
To read more about the benefits Blue Cross has to offer, please visit the 'why work for us' page on our website.
Blue Cross is a national charity that has been helping sick, injured and homeless pets since 1897.
Every month we help thousands of pets and their people by providing veterinary care, expert behaviour advice and find homeless pets loving families. We also offer education for future generations plus pet bereavement support for those who have lost their beloved pet companion.
We love the ways that pets can make such an amazing difference to the people they live with and we offer lifelong support and advice to help that unique relationship thrive. With your support we can give back to more pets and their families who need our help.
Pets change lives. We change theirs.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
We believe that every pet should enjoy a healthy life in a happy home, and we always seek to recruit the best people who share our values and commitment so we can continue to help and support pet owners across the UK to achieve this.
At Blue Cross, we want you to feel that you belong, without the need to hide any part of who you are.
Diversity and inclusion at Blue Cross means creating a workplace where all people, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, nation or country of origin, disability, age, and socioeconomic backgrounds are welcome, respected, supported, and have access to equal opportunities.
We are working hard to reflect the world we live in and the communities we serve at every level of our organisation. As much as we have made positive advances, we consider diversity and inclusion to be a work in progress – a continual commitment that remains a priority for all of us.
If you would like to talk to us about any reasonable adjustments or changes to our recruitment process to support you to be your best, then please get in touch either via email at jobs@bluecross.org.uk, via telephone on 01993 825515 or if you would prefer a video call then we can arrange this using Microsoft Teams.
Our values
Our values define the way we do things. We use them every day to guide us, and to make sure we put people and pets at the heart of everything we do.
Compassionate: We listen, we are non-judgmental, we are kind and caring to the pets and people we encounter, and we offer support in difficult times
Courageous: We make brave decisions, embrace change, and encourage innovation, ensuring we always act with integrity – doing the right thing even when no one is looking
Inclusive: We value all our relationships and work in an open and positive culture where we celebrate our diverse talents and empower you to be you