Part Time Customer Service Assistant

We're The Helpful Book Company and we're based on Devonshire Road Industrial Estate in Millom. (No connection to CGP, by the way - they're another publishers in Millom!)

We write, publish and sell books about technology, for beginners - seniors mostly. We aim to help people who didn't necessarily grow up with technology so it doesn't come easily to them. We have books covering PCs, tablets, smartphones and the like.

We're a small, employee-owned business (there's 13 of us before you join) and we started business back in 2005. We do everything "in-house" including product design, marketing, editing, customer service and despatch - all under one roof.

We only sell direct, by mail order - our customers ring up, post an order form or order online and we send the books to them. You won't find us in bookshops or on Amazon.

All of us are passionate about giving our customers a 5 star product with a 5 star service to match - and we're looking for another top-notch customer service assistant to join the team, so we can keep on giving our customers a great service.

If you have a good work ethic, like variety, have the patience of a saint, are good on the phone and aren't scared by technology, this could be the perfect job for you.

We're looking for someone who's able to:

• Answer the phone with a smile - even at the end of a long, busy day.


• Help and advise customers who may not know exactly which books they want - you'll need to be able to recommend which of our books will best suit their needs.


• Deal with a big stack of post - enter orders and payments onto our computer system without mistakes.


• Reply to emails and letters - a mixture of straightforward ones from customers ordering a book, to trickier ones with questions you might need to think about. (A pretty decent level of English is important.)


• Cope with the occasional grumpy customer - and being so nice to them they end up happy after all. (Most of our customers are lovely - but there's always the occasional one who's having a bad day...)


• We don't expect you to be a full on tech whizz but it'd be helpful if you're comfortable using the kind of kit we write about - PCs, tablets and smartphones.


• You'll need to be switched on and have an excellent level of attention to detail and we're really looking for someone who's naturally a helpful, friendly person.


• During busy periods we need you to be able to react, keep up the pace and prioritise your work.


• There'll also be various other tasks that come up along the way - you'll need to be prepared to get stuck in.


• You will need to be someone who can get on with a job without constant supervision and would be happy to work on your own from time to time (once you're properly trained, of course).


Experience and Qualifications

We're especially keen to hear from you if you have previous experience in a customer service role or come from a hospitality background.
We'd like applicants to have a grade 5 or above in Maths and English (old GCSE grade C) but relevant experience could be considered.

This is a part time, permanent position. 18 hours in total.The hours are Wednesday & Thursday 12pm - 5.30pm and Friday 9am - 5.30pm. Including a 30min unpaid lunch break.

Salary is £22,308 pa FTE plus profit related bonuses + pension.