Customer Service

Apprenticeships in customer service are perfect for people who work in roles that involve direct interaction with customers. These customers can be internal or external to the organisation and may involve face-to-face or telephone contact. Jobs that customer service apprentices either do or are working towards include:

• Receptionist
• Reservation consultant
• Telesales or call centre operative
• Food and beverage team member
• Retail team member
• Hotel concierge

Customer service apprentices at Damar work in a wide range of sectors including: law, accountancy, healthcare, financial services, hospitality, retail, property, media, manufacturing and distribution.

More specialist apprenticeships such as team leading or management can often follow on from customer service.

The intermediate apprenticeship is suitable for people who interact with a range of customers with different needs, expectations or problems, to provide the product or service they require.

The advanced apprenticeship is suitable for staff who have some supervisory responsibility, or have more autonomy and authority to make decisions when dealing with customers.

What you learn will depend on your job. In all cases you will complete:

A technical certificate which will develop your knowledge and understanding of your area of work. The technical certificate involves training both in the workplace and (in many cases) at our training centre in Stockport, as well as assessment via online tests.

Key skills in communication and application of number. Unlike school exams, these are designed to ensure that you have the skills in maths and English that you need at work. We support you with 1:1 and small group training where necessary. Key skills are assessed by way of a portfolio (which will be related to your job) and online tests.

A National Vocational Qualification (NVQ). The NVQ is designed to develop and assess your competence in your job role. It is mostly completed at work with the support of your Damar assessor. As well as mandatory components assessing the key competencies that any customer facing role requires, such as effective communication, impression and image and consumer protection legislation, each apprenticeship can be tailored to meet the needs of their sector.

Here are what two of our apprentices might learn: