Community Investment Officer

Salary: Up to £30,169
Job Type: Full Time, Fixed Term
Location: Head Office - West Didsbury
Benefits: Competitive pension, 26 days holiday plus bank holidays, increasing with service, cycle to work scheme, season ticket loans for public transport plus much more.

Reporting to the Community Investment Manager, the Community Investment Officer will work as part of the Community Investment team to provide exceptional ‘first point of contact’ experience for customer demands relating to reducing poverty by accessing food, furniture and fuel at competitive rates.

What you’ll be doing:

• To respond to customer queries through a range of media including phone, text, email, social media and webchat, promoting use of digital communication where possible.
• To carry out initial assessments to understand the barriers, challenges and ambitions of our customers, and provide advice and guidance about appropriate provision and referral routes, signposting to trusted partner agencies and service providers.
• Coach customers to enable them to devise their own solutions and identify the actions they need to take, and where possible encouraging them to carry out follow up tasks by themselves.
• To make referrals onto trusted partner agencies and other service providers where appropriate, holding them to account to ensure they meet the requirements of Service Level Agreements in place.
• To escalate more complex demands and where specialist advice or guidance is required, to the Employment and Skills Coaches and the Community and Partnership Managers.
• To capture outcomes and monitor sustainability of opportunities of those customers referred through the service, using digital communication methods where possible.
• To maintain and update a knowledge base of trusted providers and agencies across key geographical areas, enabling the Community Investment Team and other front line staff to have access to information about local service provision.
• To be responsible for general administrative tasks for the role and wider team, including setting up team meetings, arranging training sessions and taking minutes of meetings.

What you’ll need:

• Relevant professional qualifications / memberships desirable (Institute of Customer Service Qualification, IAG level 2 or 3 qualification)
• Ability to complete tasks in an accurate and timely manner when working under pressure
• Attention to detail
• Good written and verbal communication
• Effective liaison with staff/other stakeholders to give information/find information/resolve problems
• Organisation and ability to time-manage work load
• Able to deliver a high standard of customer service
• Experience of working in a customer focussed environment, with a proven ability of delivering a high standard of customer service and a positive attitude towards resolving customer requirements and complaints.
• Understanding of the barriers and challenges for customers in sustaining or securing employment, training or education and ways these can be overcome.
• An understanding of the issues faced by people and families out of work or on low incomes.
• Experience of working using a negotiation/coaching style approach to achieve outcomes
• Experience and understanding of safeguarding
• Great Places Housing Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expects all our colleagues to share this commitment; this role is subject to a basic DBS check

What we need from you:

• An ability to work in uncertainty and maintain a positive approach
• Ability to work as part of a team as well as on own initiative
• Professional and value led with integrity, inclusivity and respect for diversity
• Able to make decisions supported by knowledge and experience
• Able to negotiate with customers through adult to adult conversations and encourage the taking responsibility to resolve issues
• To effectively use coaching techniques to help customers identify actions and solutions for themselves
• Professional and value led with integrity, inclusivity and respect for diversity
• Willingness to keep up to date with housing and related legislation
• Be inquisitive and confident in acting on own personal curiosity
• An ability to maintain a positive approach throughout periods of change and embrace a continuous improvement culture
• Highly organised with an ability to plan, prioritise and manage deadlines

What we give you in return for your hard work and commitment

• Pension |DC Scheme (up to 10% contribution from both colleague and Great Places)
• WPA |Healthcare auto enrolled at no contribution level with £1250 of savings available- option to increase & add on family members
• The Market Place |high street, restaurant & supermarket discounts, gym memberships, cycle to work, smart tech loans and much more
• Annual Leave |Start at 26 days annual leave, increasing up to 30 days + Bank Holidays
• Lottery | Monthly draw with 1st @ £250, 2nd @ £75 and 3rd @ £50
• Savings Club | You can put aside money each month for 11 months to help you save for that special something (pays out in Novembers salary)
• Sharing Greatness | Our colleague incentive scheme where colleagues can earn £300 by helping the business achieve business targets.
• Help with transport | We offer season ticket loans, an affordable way to purchase season tickets for public transport at discounted rates .

At Great Places we believe the wellbeing of our colleagues is vital to enable them to deliver to great services, all your benefits can be used inside and outside of work.

REF-212 347