Barking & Dagenham

Customer service volunteer

This page can also be downloaded as a PDF here

What will you do?

• • • • • complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role
        • staff the reception and other service access points
        • answer the telephone, reply to emails and post
        • welcome all clients and others who contact or visit us
        • explain to the client how long they might be waiting and what will happen
        • help clients to fill forms in
        • record information from the client form onto a spreadsheet or database
        • help with the day to day running of the Citizens Advice service

What’s in it for you?

• • • • • gain and build on valuable skills and experience such as communication, IT skills and working in a team
        • increase your employability
        • contribute to the smooth running of the advice service which makes a real difference to peoples’ lives
        • work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
          And we’ll reimburse expenses too.

What do you need to have?

• • • • • You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:
          be friendly and approachable
        • be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
        • have good IT skills
        • be calm under pressure
        • be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection
        • be willing to undertake training in your role

How much time do you need to give?

We ask for 1 or ideally 2 days a week. Please see our Volunteer Application form

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.

If you are interested in becoming a customer service volunteer / reception volunteer then fill in our Volunteer Application form and we take it from there.