Job title: Customer service Assistant (Leeds Market)

Salary: B1 £25,185 - £25,989

Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract: Permanent – The market operates six days a week so the postholder will be required to work on a Saturday and have a set day off during the week.

Location: Office based in the Library and Market community Hub inside Leeds Indoor Market.

As a customer service assistant at Leeds Market you’ll thrive on providing excellent customer service and administrative support to the markets team. The market is the largest in Europe and is one of the most iconic and historic retail centres in the city, supporting over 200 local independent businesses. This is your chance to be a part of that history.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As a Customer Service Assistant (Leeds Market), you will bring to the role:

Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills, including face-to-face, telephone and written communication skills.
Work with, and within, multiple teams and contribute to its development with suggestions for new ways of working.
Work on you own and use your initiative to adhere to timescales and deadlines.
Knowledge of the applications, systems and IT programmes utilised by the service and being able to accurately record and retrieve information.
Good numeracy and literacy skills and the ability to deal with complex tasks with support.
An understanding of the importance of providing excellent customer services and experience of dealing positively with challenging situations.

About the role

As our next Customer service assistant, you’ll have excellent customer service skills. Clearly pass on messages from customers to officers when dealing with customers either face to face, over the phone or via email. Be able to carry out mail merges, place purchase orders for officers via the F&O system. Arrange meetings with market traders and add into the relevant officers diaries.

Chase electricity charges on behalf of the markets facilities team. Support the library service when they are on breaks, dealing with basic enquiries in the hub.

Deal with new trader enquiries, issuing the right application form and relay any message to the relevant market officer. Support traders to make payments over the phone by giving them the correct information to do so. Carry out any administration requirements for market officers.

This is an import role for the market service as it is often the first point of contact for a customer or new business, so it is paramount that the level of customer service provide is both professional and passed on to relevant officers concisely with as much detail as possible.

The role is integral to our market team as this is a very busy service looking after both the indoor and outdoor market, district markets in Otley and Pudsey, street trading and private market licencing. We host events throughout the year working with a variety of operators, universities and schools as well as community groups.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Steven Mason Head of Markets. Call 0113 3789071 or email steven.mason@leeds.gov.uk

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.
This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job Purpose:

The Business Administration Service provides administration support activities to a wide range of teams and services across the council.

We help the council to streamline operations by redesigning processes, reviewing models of delivery to enable better sharing of resources and exploiting existing or introducing new technology to modernise the way we work.

Our staff use a range of computer programmes and systems to support services which include those working with teams based across the council in a number of different administration roles. The role involves hybrid working (home/office dependant on service need), potentially working face-to-face with customers and working within the council boundaries as required. Specific job purposes for all Business Administration Teams are detailed below. Further details regarding the vacancy you have applied for are detailed in the advert.

Responsibilities for Grade:

Working with high levels of accuracy for tasks such as checking documents, recording numerical and alphabetical information.
Identify problems and areas for improvement and offer solutions.
Work unsupervised, using your initiative to adhere to time scales and deadlines and manage your own workload.
Carry out administrative duties.
Ability to collate data and use it to produce reports.
Knowledge and experience of adhering to procedures and legislation relating to confidential information.
Work flexibly and move within service areas – working at different locations depending on service demand.
Willing to abide by the Council’s Equal Opportunities and Health and Safety Policies.
Willing to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills and continuous professional development.

The above list is not exclusive or exhaustive, and the service may require the job holder to undertake duties commensurate with the level of the role. The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and this role will be expected to work within these parameters.

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: It is essential that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities: Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate on the application form that they meet all the essential requirements.

Method of Assessment will be through one or more of the following Application Form, Test, Interview or Certificate.

Well-developed interpersonal and communication skills, including face-to-face, telephone and written communication skills.(A/I)
Work with, and within, multiple teams and contribute to its development with suggestions for new ways of working. (A/I)
Work on you own and use your initiative to adhere to timescales and deadlines. (A/I)
Knowledge of the applications, systems and IT programmes utilised by the service and being able to accurately record and retrieve information. (A/I)
Good numeracy and literacy skills and the ability to deal with complex tasks with support. (A/I)
An understanding of the importance of providing excellent customer services and experience of dealing positively with challenging situations. (A/I)

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS: It is desirable that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities: Candidates are not required to meet all the Desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between acceptable candidates.

Skills Required

Safeguarding (A/I)

Behavioural and other Characteristics required

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
Be aware of and support difference ensuring equality for all, working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity.
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.