The role of a customer service practitioner is to deliver high quality products and services to the customers of their organisation.  Your core responsibility will be to provide a high quality service to  customers which will be delivered from the workplace, digitally, or through going out into the customer’s own locality. 

These may be one-off or routine contacts and include dealing with orders, payments, offering  advice, guidance and support, meet-and-greet, sales, fixing problems, after care, service recovery or gaining insight through measuring customer satisfaction. You may be the first point of contact and work in  any sector or organisation type.

Your actions will influence the customer experience and their satisfaction with your organisation. You will demonstrate excellent  customer service skills and behaviours as well as product and/or service knowledge when delivering to your customers. You provide service in line with the organisation’s customer service standards and strategy and within appropriate regulatory requirements. 

Your customer interactions may cover a wide range of situations and can include; face-to-face, telephone, post, email, text and social media.

Duration: The apprenticeship will take a minimum of 12 months to complete
Entry requirements: Apprentices will be required to have or achieve level 1 English and Maths and to have taken level 2 English and Maths tests prior to completion of their Apprenticeship.
Link to professional registration: Completion of this apprenticeship will lead to eligibility to join the Institute of  Customer Service as an Individual member at Professional level.
Level: This apprenticeship standard is set at Level 2
Review: The apprenticeship should be reviewed after a maximum of 3 years.

A team leader/supervisor is a first line management role, with operational/project responsibilities or responsibility for managing a team to deliver a clearly defined outcome. 

They provide direction, instructions, and guidance to ensure the achievement of set goals.  Working in the private, public or third sector and in all sizes of organisation, specific responsibilities will vary, but the knowledge, skills and behaviors needed will be the same whatever the role.

Key responsibilities are likely to include supporting, managing and  developing team members, managing projects, planning and monitoring workloads and resources, delivering operational plans, resolving problems and building relationships internally and externally.

Roles/Occupations may include: Supervisor, Team Leader, Project Officer, Shift Supervisor, Foreperson, and Shift Manager.

Entry Requirements
The entry requirement for this apprenticeship will be decided  by each employer, but may typically be five GCSEs at Grade C or higher.

The Security industry is a very diverse industry, but its success directly relates to the people within it. 

If you want to improve the performance of your organisation, there is no better place to begin than  with your first line managers, those who work for you now and in the future.

The Security First Line Manager apprenticeship can take up to 18 months and covers a wide range of functions, from the employment of security personnel to those involved in the design and implementation of complex security activities and/or equipment.

Completion of the Apprenticeship in Security First Line Management  would enable candidates to develop the skills and knowledge required to manage people working specifically in a security environment and be competent in:

• Supervising people and activities in line with regulatory requirements

• Undertaking security risk assessments and providing security advice to others

• Recognising the security needs of customers and stakeholders and providing appropriate solutions.

• Identifying security risks methods, operations and activities on a local, national and international security basis.

• Incident management and planning;

• Data security management.

This apprenticeship would also add Security Management to candidates with general management skills and provide a significant advantage for those seeking a career in the Security industry.

Assessment Methods

Candidates are afforded every opportunity to demonstrate competence in the workplace, and knowledge, skills and behaviours in the end point assessment which includes:

• Work based project undertaken throughout the apprenticeship programme

• Presentation of the project outcomes

• A structured interview where candidates can describe the work carried out and development that has taken place.

Role Profile
This apprenticeship prepares an individual for managing a facilities management service, or a group of services, which can be labeled as  ‘hard’ (estate/building management) or soft  (catering/cleaning/administration/security). 

All apprentices will be required to supervise others; to understand the contractual requirements and service delivery targets between their employing organisation and the client/customer in order to achieve service targets. The apprentice will have to provide customer service skills and be proactive in finding solutions to problems.

Entry Requirements
Employers will identify entry requirements through selection.  Employers who recruit candidates without a level 2 English and maths  must ensure the apprentice achieves this standard prior to completion of  the apprenticeship.

Who is this qualification for?

This qualification is aimed at learners working within a business and  administration role who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in a  variety of work environments and sectors. It forms the knowledge and  competency requirements of the Intermediate Apprenticeship Framework in  Business Administration.

How long will it take?

The total qualification time is 450 hours, of which, 229 hours are recommended as guided larning hours. 

Topics covered

These include communication in a business environment, principles of  business document production and information management, managing  personal performance and development, preparing text from notes using  touch typing, maintaining and issuing stationery and supplies,  administering the recruitment and selection process and contributing to  the development and implementation of an information system.

Assessment method

This qualification is assessed by a portfolio of evidence.