Customer services

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Customer service assistant

Customer service assistants deal with customer questions, purchases and complaints.

Annual Salary

£17,000 to £25,000

Working hours

37 to 40 a week

You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; on shifts

4%
Future employment

There will be 4% more Customer service assistant jobs in 2027.
In your local area

What's it all about?

What you'll do

Day-to-day tasks

In this role you could:

  • answer customer questions by phone, email, webchat, social media or in person
  • give quotations and check product availability
  • sell products or services and take payments
  • handle complaints or pass them to a supervisor
  • add customer information onto a computer
  • track orders and arrange deliveries

Working environment

You may need to wear a uniform.

You could work in an office, in a contact centre or at a store.

Entry requirements

You can get into this job through:

  • a college course
  • an apprenticeship
  • applying directly
College

You can take a college course before applying for a job.

Courses are widely available and include a Level 1 Certificate in Customer Service or a Level 2 Certificate in Contact Centre Operations.

Entry requirements

You may need:

  • 2 or fewer GCSEs at grades 3 to 1 (D to G), or equivalent, for a level 1 course
  • 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
For more information
Apprenticeship

You can do a customer service intermediate apprenticeship or a customer service specialist advanced apprenticeship.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
For more information
Direct application

You can apply for jobs if you have customer service experience, for example from working in a shop, hotel or contact centre.

Employers might want you to have:

  • some GCSEs or equal qualifications
  • good communication skills
  • a friendly personality

More information

Professional and industry bodies

You could join The Institute of Customer Service for professional development training.

Employment by region

Career path and progression

Customer service skills transfer across lots of different jobs and industries.

With experience you could:work in other industries like transport, delivery and storage or digital; become a team leader, training officer or customer services manager; move into areas of a business like sales or account handling

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

  • customer service skills
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to work well with others
  • sensitivity and understanding
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • active listening skills
  • administration skills
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
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