Advice Session Supervisor

Our Generalist Advice Supervisors provide excellent on-the-day generalist advice supervision across our services.  

You could supervise advice already, or be an experienced adviser looking for their next move. This role is perfect for a candidate who wants to deliver an immediate impact in their work and is enthusiastic about bringing people along with them. You'll maintain a consistently high quality of advice and helping clients by providing support, guidance and feedback on a day-to-day basis by:

• actively supporting the quality of generalist advice and pathfinding (triage) by guiding the team to information sources, checking that all aspects of a client's situation have been considered, checking that follow up work is progressed, that research and campaigns issues are identified and outcomes are recorded 
• actively supporting each team member to develop their skills and competences, by guiding, demonstrating, encouraging, suggesting, coaching, giving timely & constructive feedback and challenging appropriately 
• adapting the level of support to individual competence and taking account of the whole team’s needs.  
• managing the practicalities of advice sessions by overseeing and managing all practical issues relating to the session

PRINCIPAL TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Supervision 

• Ensure that all advice given under your supervision conforms to Citizens Advice quality standards and with our systems and procedures. 

• Supervise advice teams in our main office, at outreach locations and on remote services (e.g. Adviceline) to ensure smooth running of services and client journeys. 

• Manage drop-in sessions at our main office and at external locations 

• Identify general training and support needs in paid and voluntary staff under your supervision and feed back into the organisation’s learning and development plan. 

• Provide timely feedback to paid and voluntary trainee advisers by observing client interviews and reviewing follow-up work 

Quality assurance and training 

• Working as part of our case review team, conduct case reviews to set rectification action for both paid and voluntary staff to ensure Citizens Advice quality standards are met. 

• Keep up to date with legislation, case law, policies and procedures, and disseminate updates to paid and voluntary staff through our communications channels. 

Research, campaigns and partnership building 

• Take part in the organisation’s responses to local research and campaign issues by supporting paid and voluntary staff to collect case studies and statistical data. 

• Contribute to developing partnerships with other organisations to support our advice work. 

Other duties and responsibilities 

• Carry out any other tasks that may be within the scope of the post to ensure the effective delivery and development of our service. 

• Be alert to funding opportunities and contribute to funding bids and proposals. 

• Demonstrate commitment to the aims and policies of the Citizens Advice service. 

• Abide by the health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for own safety and that of colleagues. 

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

Essential 

• Ability to commit to and work within, the aims, principles and policies of the Citizens Advice service and the vision of Citizens Advice Kensington and Chelsea. 

• If not currently a supervisor, a minimum of two years’ experience and demonstrable ability of delivering good quality generalist advice.

• Experience of delivering advice across different channels (telephone, in-person, etc.).

• Understanding of the complex needs of our clients, the ability to empathise, and to deliver advice in a way that meets the client's needs 

• Ability to prioritise own work, meet deadlines and manage a variety of duties. 

• Good interpersonal and communication skills, verbally and in writing.  

• Proven ability to build relationships with clients, volunteers, staff and partners. 

• Experience of working with, managing and developing volunteers. 

Desirable 

• Familiarity with Citizens Advice’s policies, procedures and systems. 

• Experience of formally or informally supervising, mentoring and/or guiding colleagues. 

• Experience in giving debt advice