Building society customer service advisers, also known as cashiers, are the first point of contact for a building society’s customers. They can work in retail branches where they serve customers face to face, or in contact centres, where they deal with customers over the telephone or by e-mail.

Their duties may include:

• processing payments and withdrawals
• handling cash and cheques
• dealing with enquiries
• using a computerised system to update account details
• administrative tasks such as opening post and sending out letters to customers
• selling the building society's financial products and services to customers

Senior customer service advisers may also supervise branch assistants, and deal with more complex enquiries like helping customers with loan and mortgage applications.

Hours and Environment

You working hours will vary depending on whether you work in a retail branch or a contact centre. In retail branches, normal working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and you may also need to work Saturdays on a rota. Contact centres usually operate six or seven days a week until late in the evening, so shift work is common. Part-time work is available.

In a retail branch, you will usually spend some of your time working behind a glass screen in the front office. In a contact centre you will usually work at a desk with a telephone headset and computer.

You will usually be given a uniform to wear when dealing with the public face-to-face.

Skills and Interests

To be a building society customer service adviser, you need:

• excellent communication and 'people' skills
• the ability to work as part of a team
• honesty and reliability
• good mathematical skills
• accuracy and attention to detail
• the confidence to sell financial products to customers
• good computer skills
• tact and discretion, to deal with customers' confidential details.

Entry

Entry requirements can vary. Some building societies may ask for four GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3), including English and maths, others may not ask for specific qualifications but may ask you to pass their own entry tests when you apply.

You will usually need experience of customer service or cash handling, so previous experience in sales or retail work can be an advantage. You also need basic computer skills, so previous office experience will also be useful.

You may be able to get into this job through an apprenticeship scheme. Funding for apprenticeships is available for 16-24 year olds and some over-25s. To find out more, visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk. For information about apprenticeships in other parts of the UK, see Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

You may not be able to apply for some jobs if you have a bad credit history.

Training

You will usually be trained on the job through an in-depth training scheme when you start. Your training may include the chance to work towards a nationally-recognised qualification such as:

• NVQ/SVQ Levels 2 and 3 in Retail Financial Services
• NVQ/SVQ in Contact Centre Operations (if working in a call centre)
• NVQ/SVQ Levels 2 and 3 in Customer Service
• Institute of Financial Services (IFS) Customer Service Professional (CSP) award.

In Scotland, you could work towards qualifications offered by Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland (CIOBS), which include:

• Certificate and Diploma in Financial Services
• Certificate in Sales and Service.

With experience, you can take qualifications to develop your career into other areas, particularly mortgage advice or financial advice.

If you are aiming for supervisory management jobs, you may help your career by taking further IFS qualifications such as:

• Professional Diploma in Financial Services Management (Professional DFSM)
• Applied Diploma in Corporate Banking
• Applied Diploma in Retailing Financial Services.

See the IFS website for more details about their qualifications.

Opportunities

As a building society customer service adviser you could work in retail branches all over the UK. Recent advances in IT and communications technology means that many customer service jobs are available in regional and overseas processing and call centres.

Jobs are advertised in the local press, through employment agencies and building society company websites.

With the right experience and training, you could progress to senior cashier, specialist customer service adviser, trainee manager, and then branch manager. You may need to move to another branch to achieve promotion.

You could also move into jobs at head office, for example in training, information technology or human resources. You could also study for mortgage advice or financial advice qualifications and become a mortgage adviser or financial adviser.

Annual Income

Further information

Drumsheugh House
38b Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh
EH3 7SW
Tel: 0131 473 7777 51 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7HQ
Tel: 0845 257 3772 IFS House
4-9 Burgate Lane
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2XJ
Tel: 01227 818609 3 Savile Row
London
W1S 3PB
Tel: 020 7437 0655