Customer Service Assistant

We are looking for a strong team player who is customer service oriented, flexible and with good IT skills. The successful candidate must have excellent communication skills, be a very good speaker of English and able to work under pressure and to deadlines.

This position will develop excellent transferrable skills in the appointed candidate. They will learn to use a wide range of systems for business operations (e.g. SAP, Sharepoint), to be accountable and work well in a team, as well as to have a responsibility to handle money and reports. Our team members also benefit from working on interesting projects and events delivered by the British Council, can attend selected programmes and thus gain experience in all strands of business within the organisation.

Context and environment

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We are on the ground in six continents and over 100 countries, bringing international opportunity to life, every day. 

Our Customer Services team is the first point of contact for all customers in the areas which shape British Council’s work in Bulgaria – English courses, UK exams, document verification services, events and projects in Education, Society and the Arts.

Main duties

The post holder will deliver high quality services to internal and external customers in compliance with British Council’s corporate standards and procedures.

• Respond to face-to-face, telephone and email enquiries in a professional, helpful, timely, efficient and effective manner, in line with corporate standards, policies and procedures.
• Be informed of and actively promote the products, activities and services of all departments.
• Register customers, collect and process fees for Teaching Centre, Examinations Services and document verification services
• Redirect customer enquiries to appropriate departments when they cannot be dealt with by the Customer Service team.
• Record statistical and other relevant data for all enquiries and ensure that they are responded to in line with corporate standards.

We offer:

• Full time or part-time, permanent contract with a 6-month probation period;
• Monthly salary range of 1,250 BGN – 1,330 BGN gross (for full-time appointment) plus 0.6% statutory additional payment for years of service in a similar job;
• Annual salary increase based on the British Council’s performance-related pay system;
• Guaranteed 13th salary, equal to the full amount of one monthly salary for a full year of service (or proportionate amount for less than 1 full year of service), and paid in November;
• Working hours per week are 36 office hours + 4 hours for travel to work for full-time appointment (recognised in total as standard full-time working hours as per Bulgarian Labour Code);
• 23 days of annual leave + 12 non-working days for public holidays + 6 days of leave annually for medical reasons (unsupported by a medical certificate) for full-time appointment; 
• Health insurance, covering a number of expenses (such as medical examinations, prescribed medicines and hospital stay), for you and your immediate family members; 
• Regular on-the-job plus dedicated training opportunities;
• Special conditions for British Council language courses and exams for you and immediate family members;
• Opportunity to benefit from British Council’s Professional Development scheme to partially cover study costs;
• Terminal Gratuities – upon termination of employment all British Council employees in Bulgaria are entitled to a Terminal Gratuity payment of 1 salary for every year of service.

Applications must be submitted online via the British Council Jobs Portal. Please note that we do not accept CVs.

The closing date for applications is 23:59 GMT on Sunday 17 November. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews which are expected to be held in the period 25-29 November. If you have any questions about the working conditions and the requirements of the job please write to Teodora Vezenkova, Education Services Coordinator, at Teodora.Vezenkova@britishcouncil.bg. 

The British Council is committed to a policy of equal opportunity and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community. We work to ensure that people are not unjustifiably discriminated against on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation or any other irrelevant grounds. We guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria. 

The British Council believes that all children have potential and that every child matters everywhere in the world. The British Council affirms the position that all children have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse as set out in article 19, UNCRC; 1989.