Part 1: JOB PROFILE

Part 1: JOB PROFILE

DEPARTMENT: Operations

JOB TITLE: Caller Support Officer

LAST UPDATED: October 2012

1. MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB

To enable volunteers to deliver consistent, high quality caller support in line with Samaritans’ policies and procedures.

2. POSITION IN ORGANISATION

Ø Reports into the Caller Support Manager

Ø Provides guidance to Regional Caller Support Officers, Caller Support Deputies, other volunteers and General Office staff.

Ø Liaises closely with the Functional Lead for Caller Support and other senior volunteers.

Ø Liaises closely with staff colleagues from all functions and from major projects.

3. SCOPE OF JOB

Ø Provides support and guidance to volunteer officers and staff.

Ø Talks to callers involved in appeals/complaints or those who contact General Office.

Ø Takes action to address misuse of the service.

Ø Deals with external agencies.

Ø Contributes to service improvements or cross-functional projects.

4 DIMENSIONS AND LIMITS OF AUTHORITY

· This role has no line management responsibilities.

· This role has no budget accountability.

· Assigns c 2,000 callers per year.

· Manages c 50 police investigations and c15 prison investigations per year.

· Takes action to bar c 800-1000 telephone numbers per year.

· Manages c 40 organisation wide caller support plans.

· Monitors c 250 regional support plans.

· Manage the relationship with the Functional Lead for Caller Support and Regional Caller Support Officers.

5 QUALIFICATIONS

Ø A level/diploma or equivalent professional qualification

6 SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Knowledge and experience:

· Working directly with individuals in distress or difficult situations– either face to face or via a helpline.

· Handling confrontational situations and/or complaints.

· Working with volunteers.

· Proven ability to work independently.

Skills:

· Excellent interpersonal skills.

· Able to build effective working relationships at all levels face to face, over the phone and by email.

· Very good written and verbal communications skills.

· Very good problem solving skills.

· Able to analyse data.

· Good IT skills.

7 PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

· Empathises with Samaritans’ values.

· Is assertive and able to defend Samaritans’ values when challenged by senior people from external organisations.

· Has the ability to prioritise a busy workload and to focus on the priorities.

· Is collaborative, flexible and resilient.

· Has a customer-focused attitude and a desire to continuously improve the quality and relevance of their work.

· Is able to work one evening per week, and occasional weekends.

· Is willing and able to travel occasionally to meetings within the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Part 2: DUTIES & KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

AREA OF RESPONSIBILTIY

Provides support and guidance to volunteer officers and staff.

· Provides support and guidance to volunteer officers and staff about caller support policies, procedures and good practice.

· Provides support, knowledge and guidance to Regional Caller Support Officer and Caller Support Deputies in relation to individual callers with complex needs.

· Responsible for the production and monitoring of organisation wide caller support plans to ensure consistency of care.

· Supports Caller Support Manager in ensuring that all caller support policies, procedures and guidelines are current and inline with the organisational strategy and legal requirements.

· Provides guidance and support to branches and volunteers involved in police investigations and enquiries and ensures appropriate internal staff are kept up to date.

· Responsible for ensuring that all Regional Caller Support Officers meetings are organised effectively, well run and delivered within budget.

· Provides support and guidance to Regional Caller Support Officers ensuring that correct caller support policies, procedures and guidelines are being communicated across the organisation.

· Assigns callers who contact Samaritans by Email and SMS in line with policy and procedures.

· Maintains caller support records to ensure files and spreadsheets are current, relevant and up to date and in line with data protection requirements

· Maintains caller support intranet sites for use by General Office staff and volunteers.

· Contributes to updating the caller support sections of the Operations Manual.

· Produces information and reports for regional officers.

Talks to callers.

· Responds to callers who contact Samaritans’ via General Office – by phone or in person.

· Communicates with callers with regards to misuse of service.

· Manages the caller support process ensuring complaints and appeals for callers on support plans, restricted or barred callers are investigated appropriately and within agreed time scales.

Takes action to address misuse of the service.

· Investigates prolific and suspected inappropriate callers and takes action to resolve.

· Takes action to limit individual callers’ use of Freecall.

· Responsible for starting legal action against callers who continually misuse the service.

Deals with external agencies.

· Manages Samaritans’ response to police investigations - co-ordinate statements from volunteers,, gathers and produces evidence for court proceedings against nuisance/abusive callers.

· Liaises with prison authorities, court employees, Nuisance Bureau and other appropriate authorities when required.

Contributes to service improvements and cross-functional projects

· Works with the Caller Support Manager, the Functional Lead and other teams to identify, develop, and implement service improvements.

· Supports cross-functional projects by providing advice and guidance on caller support issues as necessary.

General Duties of a Samaritans’ Staff Member

· Contribute to the effective and efficient running of the General Office as appropriate.

· Participate, as appropriate, in staff forums and meetings.

· Adhere to all Samaritans’ Polices and Procedures.

· Represent General Office appropriately across the movement and Samaritans to the wider community as appropriate.

· Treat all colleagues, volunteers and members of the public with dignity and work within and adhere to Samaritans’ equal opportunities statement and polices.

· Carry out any reasonable requests made that are within the broad remit of the role