Unemployed ‘need good customer service skills’

The Institute for Customer Service(ICS) said:

“Amid stubbornly high levels of youth unemployment in particular, a key issue for policy-makers and organisations is whether unemployed people have the skills and competences which employers require.”

The Commission for Employment and Skills reports that 41% of companies in England and 51% in Scotland have identified customer service as a major skills gap.

A recent report from the FSB suggested that 81% of business owners said they were ‘not very confident’ or ‘not at all confident’ that students leaving school at 16 have the right level of employability skills.

The service sector accounts for about three-quarters of UK economic activity, and it has been growing despite the poor economic conditions.

New figures from the ONS released today showed that in the first quarter of 2013 the UK economy grew by 0.3%, following a contraction of 0.3% in the final quarter of 2012.

The service sector was the main source of growth in the first quarter; growing by 0.6% and contributing almost 0.5 percentage points to GDP.
The ICS said:

“There is a heightened requirement for customer service skills, focusing in particular on emotional intelligence, commercial acumen and the ability to understand and use technology flexibly.

“ Customer service employees need appropriate skillsto be able to respond in a supportive manner to customers who are frustrated or distressed, dealing with the emotion in the situation and providing accurate and balanced information to customers.

“Employees need to develop the commercial acumen to be able to interpret company policies with common sense, and they need to be empowered to show flexibility and judgement.

“Employees also need to be increasingly aware and comfortable in using different channels and technologies to communicate with customers in the way that meets their needs.”

The ICS said customers have become less deferential and increasingly confident about challenging organisations.