Trainee Adviser - Out of Hours

This is a remote role for our Out of Hours advice service. You will be assisting clients over the phone.

Out Of Hours Advice schedule:

Monday - Wednesday: 4:30pm - 9:30pm

Thursday - Friday: 4:30pm - 8:30pm

Saturday: 9:30am - 4:30pm

Purpose of the role: To help provide an effective and efficient advice service to members of the public to move them on with their problem

What will you do?

· Complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role

· Talk to clients over the phone, face to face, or online to explore what problems they’ve come for help with

· Find information about the clients’ problems and help them to understand their options

· Support clients to take action to resolve their problems. This might include drafting or writing letters, making phone calls, or referring the client to another organisation

· Write a summary of the clients’ problems and what action you’ve taken

· Look out for problems that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor

Some examples of what you could do:

· help client with debts work out a reasonable amount to pay back, and make a phone call to an organisation they owe money to

· explore what benefits a client is entitled to and help them to complete a benefit application form

· help a client who has problems with their landlord to understand their housing rights

Personal skills and qualities that an Adviser needs:

· Be friendly and approachable

· Show empathy towards others

· Be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own

· Be willing to undertake training in your role

· Have good listening skills

· Have excellent verbal and written communication skills

· Have good basic maths skills

· Have good IT skills

· Be able to understand information and explain it to others

· Be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection

What’s in it for you?

· Flexible role which can be done at our office or remotely from home

· Make a real difference to people’s lives

· Build on valuable skills such as communication and listening

· Reimbursement of travel/parking expenses

· Boost your CV

· Work with a range of different people, independently and in a team

· Have a positive impact in your community

· Access to our Employee Wellbeing programme and our in-office health and wellbeing events

Valuing inclusion

Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and we particularly welcome applications from disabled people, people with physical or mental health conditions, LGBT+ and non-binary people, and people from Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.