Customer Services Assistant Review

I am a Customer Services Assistant working for Essex Libraries (Essex County Council). I work in a library serving customers, dealing with queries and stock within the library. I also help with events and school visits to the library. Once a week we also provide Rhyme time sessions which are aims at young children and families to educate.

Overall, this experience has help to develop my own knowledge and skills that I had already had as someone who has been working in libraries for over 18 years. It made me realised the amount of knowledge I possessed and gave me more confidence in myself and my role within the council.

I enjoyed the assignments and finding out the information needed to gain the relevant Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours. I also liked re-learning how to best layout an assignment and learning how to put together a bibliography and using citations, which was a new skill for me as I had not done that before.

Unfortunately, I never got to meet my tutor, [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], in person. This was partly due to the coronavirus pandemic. But with the use of Microsoft Teams we managed to have a meeting almost every month. The PowerPoints were very useful and the conversational style of teaching was good as you can easily ask questions and clarification as you are going along.

My employers were very encouraging and helped as much as they could to give me the time to complete my assignments. I was also able to reach out to others in different departments/libraries to gain some extra knowledge to include in my assignments, which I was very grateful for.

LMP and [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], my tutor, were always there to answer any questions I had regarding the work I needed to do or to support my issues with anxiety. This made me feel supported which I really appreciated.

This qualification has made me more aware of my knowledge and has given me the confidence to continue in my role. Although there is always something new to learn, I am happy to now feel that confident.

There are many groups and networks that the council provide though currently I have not joined any. But I have the knowledge that they are there if I chose to.

Yes

I have worked for Essex County Council for 18 years and find them to be a fair and supportive company. They make sure you are provided with the right amount of information for the role that I do.

Don't forget to include a personal statement in your application. Grades and previous experience are useful but giving a little bit more about your personality and why you have an interest in the role, really helps the short listing for interview.