Adviser with Citizens Advice - Brentwood

Are you the sort of person who:

- can make a difference to an individual's life?

- wants to assist in changing the way things work for the better?

- is looking to get involved with the local community?

- is keen to learn new skills or put existing skills to good use?

If this sounds like you, Citizens Advice Bureau Brentwood want to hear from you. We are currently in need of advisors to help provide an effective and efficient advice service to members of the public. You will also help influence government and other organisations by informing them of the effect of their actions on the lives of clients.

Volunteers who give advice to our clients are at the heart of our service and we could not manage without them. Volunteer advisers receive full training in the skills needed to help people deal with their problems and learn how to find the information the client needs from our extensive database. Volunteers are supported and supervised as they begin to give advice and will get feedback and development opportunities throughout their time with Citizens Advice. There are a variety of roles and tasks up to giving full advice.

Advisers do some or all of this:

•finding out the key points of a client's problem

•finding out what a client's problem is and helping them understand self-help information so the client can act for themselves

•helping a client with debts to work out a reasonable rate of repayment and supporting them to negotiate this with creditors

•interviewing a homeless client to find out what their housing options are and helping the client decide their next steps

•interviewing a client that has been sacked and finding out whether they have lost their job unfairly or not.

What skills do I need?

You don't need specific qualifications or experience to train for the role.

You'd need:

•an ability to understand complex information

•be polite and good at listening

•to be familiar with using keyboard skills and searching the internet

•to be able to input data accurately

•a good level of literacy and numeracy

•to be open minded and not judge clients

•to enjoy helping people.

Interests

• Disability
• Homeless and Housing
• Mental Health

Activities

• Advice and Information