Adviser

What will you do?

• Complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role
  
• Talk to clients over the phone, face to face, or online to explore what problems they’ve come for help with
  
• Find information about the clients’ problems and help them to understand their options
  
• Support clients to take action to resolve their problems. This might include drafting or writing letters, making phonecalls, or referring the client to another organisation
  
• Write a summary of the clients’ problems and what action you’ve taken
  
• Look out for problems’ that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor

Some examples of what you could do:

• Help a client with debts work out a reasonable amount to pay back, and make a phone call to an organisation they owe money to.
  
• Explore what benefits a client is entitled to and help them to complete a benefit application form.
• Help a client who has problems with their landlord to understand their housing rights.

What's in it for you?

• Make a real difference to people’s lives
  
• Learn about a range of issues such as benefits, debt, employment and housing.
  
• Build on valuable skills such as communication, listening and problem solving, and increase your employability
  
• Work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
  
• Have a positive impact in your community.

What skills do I need?

What do you need to have?

You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:

• Be friendly and approachable
  
• Be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
  
• Have good listening skills
  
• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills
  
• Have good maths and IT skills
  
• Be able to understand information and explain it to others
  
• Be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection
  
• Be willing to undertake training in your role