Salary: $24.53 Hourly Location : Newport, OR Job Type: Full-time Job Number: 24-20 Department: Employee, Customer & Community Services Division: Customer Service Opening Date: 10/22/2024 Closing Date: 11/6/2024 11:59 PM Pacific Description Central Lincoln People's Utility District is seeking two individuals to join or Customer Service Team in Newport. If you are career driven and strive in a fast paced office environment, this is a great opportunity to put your skills to work. Note: Preference will be given to qualified individuals who are bilingual. Your job in the department is to . . . Serve as the first point of contact for customers. Your job also involves . . . Identifying, investigating and resolving customer issues, process payments, and update customer accounts, processes service orders to establish or discontinue electrical service, and manage delinquent accounts. Representatives work individually and as a team to meet Central Lincoln's objectives and exceed our customers' expectations Essential FunctionsJOB FUNCTIONSCustomer Service:
- Interact with internal and external customers via phone, in person, email, and written correspondence.
- Answer phones promptly and courteously utilizing company procedures.
- Receive and respond professionally and accurately to all customer inquiries regarding service, customer disputes, billing questions, cancellations, and new customer sign-up.
- Support customers in setting up and troubleshooting various programs including but not limited to, SmartHub, Auto Pay, Energy Services and rebates.
- Provide consistent and sustained positive and measurable customer service experiences for internal and external customers resulting in increased customer satisfaction, high customer engagement, effective dispute and conflict resolution, and positive public reviews.
Processing Payment & Cash Handling:
- Process payments in varying methods including cash, check, credit cards.
- Responsible for daily balancing, preparing bank deposits and change orders.
- Monitor delinquent accounts, negotiate payment arrangements, and make referrals to appropriate assistance agencies.
- Prepare accounts for collection agency and write off process.
- Assist vendor in ongoing collection inquiries and disputes.
- Run routine reports and update account information to ensure accurate account records.
Assist the senior and train other Customer Service Representatives with all duties assigned.Complete special projects and other duties as assigned to meet team, department and Central Lincoln goals while actively demonstrating accountability and responsibility for achieving desired outcomes and measurable results.
- May also be responsible for mail room duties, including operating mailing equipment, general office and interoffice mail routing, preparing and distributing courier boxes.
Knowledge, Skills & AbilitiesKNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND/OR ABILITIES To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The required knowledge, skills and/or abilities are listed below: Knowledge of:
- Computer proficiency in Windows and Microsoft applications.
- Cash handling and balancing.
- External computer application systems.
Skill or ability to:
- Must possess a professional demeanor and telephone etiquette.
- Must possess excellent customer service, data entry and typing skills.
- Must work efficiently and effectively, both independently and as a team.
- Handle multi-line phone systems during heavy call volume in a professional and efficient manner.
- Use multi-screen customer information system to enter data.
- Analyze data and perform complex bill calculations.
- Identify issues, make decisions, and resolve problems.
- Ensure customer concerns are understood and clearly explain resolution to the customer.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills necessary to communicate clearly and effectively with internal and external customers, vendors, contractors, and other diverse audiences while providing outstanding customer service. Demonstrated ability and competency to communicate clearly and concisely.
- Work in conjunction with other departments to resolve customer issues.
- Must be able to react well under pressure and treat others with respect.
- Follow Central Lincoln Rules & Regulations, procedures, guidelines and policies, including the safety requirements of this position.
- Follow all company and industry policies, procedures, laws and standards around the handling of sensitive/confidential customer information.
- Convey information, ideas, and facts both orally and in writing to supervisors, colleagues, and individuals, inside and outside Central Lincoln, using language and a format the audience will best understand.
- Utilize computers and other technology to communicate in written and verbal forms (e.g., word processing, texts, emails, spreadsheets, department-specific software).
- Effectively relate well with others, including supervisors, colleagues, and individuals inside and outside Central Lincoln. Exhibit a professional manner in dealing with others and working to maintain constructive working relationships.
- Take personal responsibility for the quality and timeliness of work. Show up to work on time, and follows instructions, policies, and procedures. Meet productivity standards, deadlines, and work schedules.
Minimum Qualifications and ProgressionMinimum Education Level High School Diploma / GED Minimum Experience Level Two years Specifics: Business office experience that demonstrates the required knowledge, skills and abilities. Substitution Note: A bachelor's degree in lieu of experience may be qualifying. Any combination of education, experience and training which demonstrates the ability to perform the required job functions may be qualifying. Language Preference: Preference will be given to qualified individuals who are bilingual. WORKING CONDITIONS Job Conditions: Typical Office Environment: The work in this position is primarily conducted in a temperature-controlled office environment. Office spaces include traditional office lighting (including fluorescent lighting), as well as shared office spaces and facilities that result in consistent and frequent noise (often louder than ambient noise), conversations among employees and clients, interruptions and other similar distractions. Work Location: Central Lincoln-Newport, Florence, Reedsport. Travel: Travel occasionally via traditional modes of transportation (including airline travel) over long distances, some of which may involve one or more night stays out of town, both within and outside the state of Oregon. Travel to any Central Lincoln Office is required for training and staffing needs. PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands are typical of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Physical capability to handle high mobility demands and complex personal interactions.
- Physical Ability: Tasks involve the ability to exert very moderate physical effort in light work, typically involving some combination of stooping, kneeling, crouching and crawling, and which may involve some lifting, carrying, pushing and/or pulling of objects and materials of moderate weight (0-25 pounds).
- Sensory Requirements: Some tasks require visual perception and discrimination. Most tasks require oral communications ability. Some tasks require the ability to perceive and discriminate sounds.
- Environmental Factors: Tasks are regularly performed without exposure to adverse environmental conditions, such as dirt, pollen, odors, wetness, humidity, rain, fumes, temperature and noise extremes, machinery, vibrations, electric currents, traffic hazards, animals/wildlife, toxic/poisonous agents, violence, disease, or pathogenic substances.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS Central Lincoln is committed to providing reasonable accommodations as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This job description indicates, in general, the nature and levels of work, knowledge, skills, abilities, and essential functions expected of the position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. Customer Service Representative Pay Progression: 1st 6 Months: $24.53 Junior A: $28.03 Junior B: $31.54 Junior C1: $35.04 Junior C2: $35.49 Junior C3: $35.80 Junior C+: $36.40 Central Lincoln is pleased to offer an extensive range of benefits to help our employees stay healthy and plan for their financial futures: Competitive Wages Personal Time Off (PTO) , Holidays Medical, Rx, Dental and Optical Insurance Life and AD&D Insurance Long Term Disability Insurance Short Term Disability Insurance (Voluntary) Flexible Spending Accounts 401(k) Contribution Plan/Employer Match 457 Deferred Compensation Plan Employer contributions to an HRA VEBA Complete details regarding coverage are located in the plan documents, summary plan descriptions, labor contracts and administrative policies that are provided to new employees. Central Lincoln reserves the right to modify or terminate in the future any benefit program that is now or later offered to you. 01 Why do you want to work for Central Lincoln as a Customer Service Representative? 02 Please rate your proficiency using the following computer programs and or software on a scale of 1-10. 1 being not proficient and 10 being extremely proficient.1. Microsoft Word2. Microsoft Office3. Microsoft Excel4. Microsoft Power Point5. Mitel (Phone System)6. Snagit (Screenshots)7. Chrome/Internet Explorer8. Zoom/Teams/Slack 03 Are there any other computer programs and/or software you are familiar with that was not included in the previous question? How have you used them and in what capacity? 04 Give an example of demonstrating your ability to work with a team member that has a different personality/work style than yourself. Explain hw you differed, what the difficulty caused, and what steps you took to resolve it. 05 Do you have experience working in a fast paced office environment? If so, please explain. 06 Provide a specific example of a time you had to handle multiple responsibilities simultaneously. How did you prioritize and organize your duties? 07 Are you bi-lingual? If so, in which language or languages. 08 We will accept applications for two weeks. Once the pool of candidates is established, it will be used to fill future positions for up to twelve months. Are you interested in your application staying on file for twelve months for consideration?
Required Question