Contact centres – sometimes known as ‘Call Centres’ – provide a way for people to get in touch with businesses and organisations.

The contact centres industry is one of the fastest growing in the UK, with job opportunities in most urban areas. Contact centre apprentices could work for a number of businesses across a range of sectors – no matter where they end up, they’ll learn all about their employer’s services and products so they can assist customers as helpfully as possible.

On this Apprenticeship you could be working in areas like sales, information retrieval or account management, or for public service advisors, e.g. for the NHS or Local Government. No matter where you end up, the same sets of skills will apply: you’ll work the phones and computer systems; listen and communicate; solve problems; and work with a team in a fast-paced environment.

Employees of contact centres have to be helpful, friendly and well informed – after all, they’re representing their company or organisation to the public or helping their customers deal with emergencies for the police, fire and rescue, and ambulance services.

Because they spend most of their time making and/or answering calls, or responding to customers via emails or other computer networks, contact centre employees must have an excellent phone manner and be able to communicate in writing (it helps if they enjoy working with and talking to customers too).

Ultimately, contact centre work is about providing the best customer service possible, a valuable skill for any apprentice.