Everyone has the right to live, learn and work in safety, free from abuse, harm and neglect
Access Help & Support
Pathwaylogocolorfull

Customer Service Specialist Apprenticeship Level 3

specialising in assisting customers with their inquiries, resolving their issues, and providing an excellent customer experience. They typically work in various industries such as retail, e-commerce, telecommunications, hospitality, and more.

“Dealing with customer queries, purchases and complaints.”

1

What is it about?
The main purpose of a customer service specialist is to be a ‘professional’ for direct customer support within all sectors and organisation types. You are an advocate of Customer Service who acts as a referral point for dealing with more complex or technical customer requests, complaints, and queries. You are often an escalation point for complicated or ongoing customer problems. As an expert in your organisation’s products and/or services, you share knowledge with your wider team and colleagues.

Responsibilities
You gather and analyse data and customer information that influences change and improvements in service. Utilising both organisational and generic IT systems to carry out your role with an awareness of other digital technologies. This could be in many types of environment including contact centres, retail, webchat, service industry or any customer service point

Funding
This apprenticeship standard has been allocated a maximum funding cap of £4,000 which is the anticipated full cost for delivering this standard and the end point assessment.

Knowledge, Skills & Behaviours (KSBs)

KSBs are the core attributes that you must have as an apprentice in order to be competent in the occupation that you’re working in. They sit alongside your technical studies and exams and are the main assessment methods used in an end point assessment (EPA). Think of it like the soft skills you see in the workplace.

  • Knowledge – the information, technical detail, and ‘know-how’ that someone needs to have and understand to successfully carry out the duties. Some knowledge will be occupation-specific, whereas some may be more generic.
  • Skills – the practical application of knowledge needed to successfully undertake the duties. They are learnt through on- and/or off-the-job training or experience.
  • Behaviours – mindsets, attitudes or approaches needed for competence. Whilst these can be innate or instinctive, they can also be learnt. Behaviours tend to be very transferable. They may be more similar across occupations than knowledge and skills. For example, team worker, adaptable and professional.

Knowledge

  • Business Knowledge and Understanding
  • Customer Journey knowledge
  • Knowing your customers and their needs/ Customer Insight
  • Customer service culture and environment awareness

Skills

  • Business-focused service delivery
  • Providing a positive customer experience
  • Providing a positive customer experience (cont.)
  • Working with your customers / customer insights
  • Customer service performance

  • Service improvement

Behaviours

  • Develop self
  • Ownership/ Responsibility
  • Team working
  • Equality
  • Presentation
  • Business focused service delivery: Demonstrate a continuous improvement and future focussed approach to customer service delivery including decision making and providing recommendations or advice
  • Business focused service delivery: Resolve complex issues by being able to choose from and successfully apply a wide range of approaches
  • Business focused service delivery: Find solutions that meet your organisations needs as well as the customer requirements
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Through advanced questioning, listening and summarising negotiate mutually beneficial outcomes
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Manage challenging and complicated situations within your level of authority and make recommendations to enable and deliver change to service or strategy
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Use clear explanations, provide options and solutions to influence and help customers make choices and agree next steps
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Explore and interpret the customer experience to inform and influence achieving a positive result for customer satisfaction
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Demonstrate a cost conscious mind-set when meeting customer and the business needs
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Identifying where highs and lows of the customer journey produce a range of emotions in the customer
  • Providing a positive customer experience: Use written and verbal communication to simplify and provide complex information in a way that supports positive customer outcome in the relevant format
  • Working with customers/customer insights: Proactively gather customer feedback, through a variety of methods. Critically analyse, and evaluate the meaning, implication and facts and act upon it
  • Working with customers/customer insights: Analyse your customer types, to identify or anticipate their potential needs and expectations when providing your service
  • Customer Service performance: Maintain a positive relationship even when you are unable to deliver the customer’s expected outcome
  • Customer Service performance: When managing referrals or escalations take into account historical interactions and challenges to determine next steps
  • Service Improvement: Analyse the end to end service experience, seeking input from others where required, supporting development of solutions
  • Service Improvement: Make recommendations based on your findings to enable improvement
  • Service Improvement: Make recommendations and implement where possible, changes in line with new and relevant legislation, regulations and industry best practice

End-point assessment (EPA) is the final stage of your apprenticeship. It is an impartial assessment of the skills, knowledge and behaviours developed, outlined in the apprenticeship standard.

The end-point assessment (EPA) for Customer Service Specialist contains 3 methods of assessment

Practical observation with Q&A

  • The Independent End-Point Assessor (IEPA) will oversee the Practical Observation, as the apprentice undertakes a range of duties in the workplace. The Observation will last 60 minutes (+/- 10%) and include a 10-minute Q&A. Grade weighting – graded as a Pass or Distinction.
  • Work-based Project – Work-based Project (supported by an Interview) The apprentice submits the Work-based Project proposal at Gateway. Once approved, they’ll have 2 months to complete the Project and submit a 2500-word report (+/- 10%). This report must be submitted 2 weeks before the Interview takes place. During the Interview, apprentices will be asked 10 questions based on their Project and the supporting evidence. Grade weighting – graded as a Pass or Distinction
  • Professional Discussion supported by a portfolio of evidence – Portfolio of Evidence) The Professional Discussion provides an opportunity for the apprentice to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and behaviours. They’ll support this with a Portfolio of Evidence that they’ve built up during the on-programme period. This informal discussion will last 60 minutes (+/- 10%). Grade weighting – graded as a Pass or Distinction.

Work based project with Interview

  • Project must be 2500 words
  • Project should be about a high-level challenge that the apprentice has dealt with, along with what it was, what were the actions to resolve it and any recommendations made to change policies or processes
  • 60 minute interview
  • Interview will focus on the written project
  • Can be conducted on site, or remotely

Portfolio Based Interview

  • 60 Minute interview
  • Can be conducted on site, or remotely
  • Portfolio must contain at most 15 pieces of evidence
  • Interview will focus on the apprentices understanding of the portfolio, self-reflection of performance, demonstration of knowledge, and application of skills and behaviours