Survey Enquiry Line Call Agent
Office for National Statistics
Apply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 26th September 2024
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Location
ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations in Newport or Titchfield (Fareham).
As part of the hybrid working arrangement there is a 40% minimum office attendance requirement. Attendance is typically at your contractual office, with occasional travel to alternative locations.
About the job
Job summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.
Social Surveys Collection (SSC) is the largest business area in ONS with over 1000 colleagues across our HQ sites and the nationwide field community. It is responsible for many of the largest household and social surveys run in the United Kingdom. We have over 70 years of history in managing the design and collection of complex multi-mode social surveys.
Working collaboratively with other business areas both within the Surveys Directorate and elsewhere in ONS, all roles are aligned to the objective of producing high quality, social survey outputs that meet user needs, whilst remaining aligned with corporate priorities that include the recently established Surveys Strategy.
The Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the largest profession in the Civil Service. ODP’s 200,000+ members work in a wide range of operational delivery roles across government, providing essential services that support and protect UK citizens at home and overseas. They help to make ONS a great place to work.
As a member, ODP supports you by providing learning and development opportunities, career pathways, tools and resources to help develop your skills and progress your career. This is an exciting opportunity to join a modern, innovative and inclusive Civil Service profession that sits at the heart of public service delivery.
Job description
The Survey Enquiry Line (SEL) Team sits within the Social Survey Operations, under the Directorate of Social Survey operations. The Survey Enquiry Line Call Agents answer a high volume of calls from members of the public who have been invited to take part in government surveys in our inbound Customer Contact Centre.
Call Agents work collaboratively within the team to maintain delivery at peak times. They are the first point of contact for members of the public and ONS field interviewers. Call agents deal with a variety of calls, including appointment booking, technical support and general queries relating to ONS surveys.
Call agents work on a shift basis covering the call centre opening times which are Monday – Friday 09:00-18:00 and 09:00-1300 on Saturdays.
Training will be required and will take place in Titchfield. Travel and overnight costs for staff outside of Titchfield will be covered by the business area.
Key Responsibilities:
The successful candidate will work in SEL and their duties will include:
- Effectively dealing with high call volumes from respondents who have been selected to take part in ONS surveys.
- Handling queries from ONS Field Interviewers, providing resolution at first point of contact, and passing on to the appropriate team.
- Accurately completing Service Desk requests and other documentation.
- Actively contribute to continuous improvement within the team.
- Ability to be able to work flexibly to support the SEL opening hours and business priorities.
Person specification
Essential criteria:
- Previous contact centre or inbound telephone experience.
- Excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing.
- Good IT skills. Operators will have the ability to learn and work with multiple systems and databases.
- Ability to manage difficult calls and complaints from the public in a calm manner.
- Ability to work under pressure.
Desirable criteria:
- Confident in use of Microsoft Office Suite including Outlook, Excel and Share Point.
- Experience of 8x8 Contact Centre software.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our 5400 valued colleagues across the business.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that the benefits pack attached (bottom of page) will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a member of the Business Disability Forum and a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Applicants may utilise AI resources in their submissions; ensuring all information provided is factually accurate, truthful, and original, avoiding any form of plagiarism to maintain the authenticity and credibility of the application process.
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Assessment at application stage will be based on our job history and personal statement.
Your personal statement should be no longer than 1250 words. You should use this space fully to provide evidence for each essential criterion within the person specification. As the criteria are scored, we would recommend that you give clear examples for each including the impact of your actions and set them out using the STAR acronym (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage.
In cases where there is a high number of applications the sift pass mark may be adjusted and candidates will be invited to interview in merit order, i.e., those scoring the highest.
Should you be invited to interview you will be assessed against all the behaviours (and technical skills if applicable) as outlined in the advert.
Interviews will be held via video conferencing.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
The Sift will be conducted from 30/09/2024
Interviews will be conducted from 08/10/2024
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Christine Morris
- Email : Christine.Morris@ons.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk
Further information
