Customer Service Specialist – Apprenticeship Standard

The main purpose of a customer service specialist is to be a ‘professional’ for direct customer support within all sectors and organisation types.  They will be an advocate of customer service, acting as a referral point for dealing with complex or technical customer requests, complaints and queries. 

They will also:

• act as an escalation point for complicated or ongoing customer problems
• be an expert in their organisation’s products and/or services and will share their knowledge with a wider team of colleagues
• gather and analyse data and customer information that influences change and improvements in the service
• utilise organisational and generic IT systems to carry out their role with an awareness of other digital technologies

These duties could be carried out in many different types of environment including contact centres, retail, webchat, service industry or any other customer service point.

Entry requirements will be decided by the employer but a good understanding of both written and spoken English is important. 

This apprenticeship is made up of 14 vocational modules.  By completing these modules, the apprentice will learn about:

• the organisation they work for, including understanding business strategy, continuous improvement and leadership styles
• the customer journey, challenges and end-to-end experience
• business processes, commercial factors and authority limits
• the behaviours demonstrated by internal and external customers and how to vary delivery
• loyalty, retention and satisfaction and how these impact on an organisation
• regulatory requirements
• industry best practice
• gathering and analysing customer feedback, continuous improvement, decision making and applying successful approaches to complex issues
• dealing with challenging customer situations ensuring customer satisfaction
• using written and verbal communication in a range of situations
• identifying, planning and implementing change

Of the 14 vocational modules, four of the modules are based around an apprentice’s knowledge and ten are performance-based modules.

The apprenticeship will be delivered in the workplace and on-site. 

A laptop is required.

A variety of assessment models is used, including workplace and remote assessments.

You could consider further study in areas such as Business Administration, Team Leading and Management.

For more information contact Derby College on 0800 0280289 or enquiries@derby-college.ac.uk