Apprentice Customer Service Advisor
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
West Midlands (B15 2TT)
Closes in 17 days (Sunday 10 August 2025)
Posted on 23 July 2025
Contents
Summary
This Apprentice Customer Service Advisor role, situated within the Business Development Team at the Student Living Hub in University Centre, requires the post holder to provide direct customer and administrative support. Key responsibilities include assisting with accommodation allocations.
- Wage
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£20,494 a year
Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)
Rising to £25,618 after 12 months service.
- Training course
- Customer service practitioner (level 2)
- Hours
-
Hours of work will be flexible and as required to meet the demands of a business that can have a changeable pattern across the year, including evening and weekend work as required.
35 hours a week
- Start date
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Monday 22 September 2025
- Duration
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1 year 4 months
- Positions available
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1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
Main duties the apprentice will learn:
- Deliver a high-quality service to all visitors at the Student Living Hub
- Respond promptly and effectively to customer enquiries across all channels (in-person, email, telephone, and social media) concerning a full range of accommodation issues
- Advise students on appropriate housing options, including University, Partner, and private sector accommodation
- Provide updates to the wider team on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and trends related to customer enquiries
- Manage the accommodation transfer process and requests for early release from accommodation
- Handle complaints confidently and efficiently, escalating issues to the relevant manager when necessary
- Update the student record database, StarRez, ensuring records are current and all correspondence is logged accurately and professionally
- Monitor knowledge bases and University websites to ensure their relevance, accuracy, and support a quality user journey
- Ensure clear communication and effective information sharing with other Student Living departments and across the University
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of private accommodation options across Birmingham (training will be provided)
- Generate references for students moving into the private sector
- Adhere to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), IT, Health and Safety, and financial policies, and other relevant legislation at all times, handling sensitive and confidential information professionally
- Undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post as required
- You will be expected to engage fully with the University of Birmingham apprenticeship scheme, attending mandatory group days and contributing to the successful promotion of the scheme by representing your department in a positive manner
Where you'll work
Edgbaston
Birmingham
West Midlands
B15 2TT
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
HIT TRAINING LTD
Training course
Customer service practitioner (level 2)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Use a range of questioning skills, including listening and responding in a way that builds rapport, determines customer needs and expectations and achieves positive engagement and delivery.
- Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills, along with summarising language during face-to-face communications; and/or
- Depending on your job role and work environment: Use appropriate communication skills, along with reinforcement techniques (to confirm understanding) during non-facing customer interactions.
- Depending on your job role and work environment: Use an appropriate ‘tone of voice’ in all communications, including written and digital, that reflect the organisation’s brand.
- Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.
- Be able to organise yourself, prioritise your own workload/activity and work to meet deadlines.
- Demonstrate patience and calmness.
- Show you understand the customer’s point of view.
- Use appropriate sign-posting or resolution to meet your customers needs and manage expectations.
- Maintain informative communication during service recovery.
Training schedule
Customer Service Practitioner Level 2 Apprenticeship Standard
Requirements
Desirable qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
About this employer
A world top 100 university and part of the prestigious Russell Group, the University of Birmingham makes important things happen. Delivering groundbreaking research and excellent research led teaching. People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum, and botanical gardens.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/ (opens in new tab)
Disability Confident
A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.
You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.
After this apprenticeship
On completion of this apprenticeship, you may be able to progress into one of the following roles:
- Customer Service Advisor
- Administrator
- Team Leader
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
HIT TRAINING LTD
apprenticeships@contacts.bham.ac.uk
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000333320.
Apply now
Closes in 17 days (Sunday 10 August 2025)
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