Customer Service Advisor

Are you looking for a varied role where you can support customers, coordinate activities and contribute to the delivery of important statistics? If so, this may be the role for you!

The post holder will join the Population Statistics Engagement and Support team. This exciting role will provide an opportunity to work in a team providing high quality data and supporting users of population and migration statistics, including census data. Population and migration statistics are amongst the highest profile areas of work in the office and the Population Statistics Engagement and Support team work to support both topic experts and users of our statistics.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

This is an exciting, varied role working directly with customers to maximise the use of data on population and migration and with topic experts. The team (Population Statistics Engagement and Support) aims to help our users to understand and navigate our statistics, whilst also supporting topic experts and analysts to effectively disseminate information.

As part of this role, you will develop an understanding of population and migration statistics, helping users navigate a range of statistical products and datasets. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across the Population Statistics Directorate and wider organisation, building strong relationships to ensure users receive accurate, timely and effective support. This is a rewarding opportunity to contribute to one of the highest-profile areas of work within the organisation and help improve the accessibility and impact of official statistics.

Key Responsibilities:

• Respond to customer enquiries on population, migration and census statistics via email, telephone and occasional written correspondence.
• Provide accurate and timely information, escalating complex queries to specialist teams where required.
• Maintain records and management information systems to support customer engagement and reporting.
• Support the planning and delivery of stakeholder engagement activities, including coordinating events and meetings.
• Assist with meeting administration, including scheduling, coordination and note-taking.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of census outputs, population estimates and migration statistics.
• Track and monitor engagement activity, helping to build an understanding of key stakeholders.
• Support the delivery of team engagement and communication activities.
• Undertake a range of administrative tasks to support the effective operation of the team.
• Contribute to the delivery of business-as-usual services by responding to enquiries relating to published population and migration statistics.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Visa Sponsorship

ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, it must have at least 18 months remaining at the point of application.

Right to Work and Nationality Requirements

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 3-stage process

Stage 1: Civil Service Verbal Test

Stage 2: Application

Stage 3: Interview

Stage 1 - Civil Service Verbal Test

Please note the deadline for the test is the same as the application deadline: Thursday 10th September at 23:55pm.

Upon submission of Part 1 your application form you will be sent an invitation to complete the Civil Service Verbal online tests.

There will be full instructions on how to complete each test including an opportunity to practice before undertaking the actual test. These tests are not time limited.

If you pass a test, you will then receive a further invite to complete each subsequent test if there is more than one for this vacancy. If you fail a test your application will not proceed to the next stage.

If you pass all tests for this vacancy, you will be invited to complete the final stage of your application, this is where you will provide information such as your work history. Skills and experience and Personal Statement.

Stage 2 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1000, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised.

Stage 3 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

Interviews will be held online via Microsoft Teams.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates

The Sift will be conducted from Monday 21st September

Interviews will be conducted from Wednesday 7th October

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.