Building Skills in Customer Service

Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training is working in partnership with Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council to enhance customer service skills and knowledge across the organisation. The Council provides residents and visitors to the area with a wide range of council services and information, whether by telephone, in person or by email and through its website.

The management team were looking to recruit staff, but found it difficult to find the right calibre of applicant.  By working alongside Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training, the Council looked to develop their own talent through Apprenticeships, giving individuals the added advantage of on-the-job experience combined with off the job knowledge development.

Christine Giles, Account Manager at Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training, worked alongside the Council to design Apprenticeships around the needs of the business, resulting in Grace Malbasa and Humairaa Khalifa joining Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council in September 2017 and undertaking Apprenticeships in customer service, aligned to the latest Apprenticeship standards and practices.

Grace and Humairaa quickly progressed in their roles, developing valuable skills and knowledge, including team work and communication. With the support of their Training Advisor, Denise Paul from Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training, they went from strength to strength becoming the first apprentices to achieve distinctions in the final assessment on the new Apprenticeship standards, a superb outcome and testament to their dedication to providing excellent customer service. 

Sally Lucas, Executive Director Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training, commented, “Grace and Humairaa should be incredibly proud of themselves with such fantastic results. The final assessment is a really challenging experience, requiring the demonstration of outstanding skills, knowledge and confidence.”

Commenting on their progression within Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council, Gavin Orton, Customer Services Manager said: “We are delighted at how well Grace and Humairaa have grown and developed within their customer service roles.

“Our organisation will be looking to recruit further apprentices alongside Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training, the partnership works extremely well for us and we are excited about developing further apprentices in the future.”

Photo caption: L-R: Gavin Orton with Humairaa Khalifa (centre) and Grace Malbasa