UK Ministry of Defence
Defence Business Services (DBS) - Central Operations Enquiry Centre Advisor
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Tomlinson House, Norcross, Blackpool, Lancashire FY5 3WP
Job Summary
Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?
Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?
Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.
Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.
DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.
We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.
“Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.”
Come and join the DBS community today!
Job Description
Defence Business Services - Enquiry Centre Advisor Role
Our DBS Enquiry Centre Service Include Three Telephone-based Teams
- Civilian Personnel (Civ Pers) - Primarily an inbound telephony service, this team provides a service which enables managers and employees to effectively follow and adhere to HR policy and processes including Resourcing, Pay, Leave and Leavers. We also manage several inboxes from which we resolve or triage inbound email queries throughout Defence Business Services (DBS).
- Finance and Procurement Services (F&PS) – Winners of the MOD Financial Team of the Year, MOD Head Office & Corporate Services Commendation and Customer Service Excellence Awards. The team provides invoice, payment, and account support to both Suppliers to and Debtors of MOD, as well as signposting to process and procedure guidance & technical advice for Procurement users and Commercial & Financial professionals across DBS & MOD
- Veterans UK Helpline – Consistently providing support and advice to the UK’s Veterans, Service Personnel and their families. The team provides assistance for both of the Veterans UK compensation schemes, War Disablement Pensions and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. Assistance and advice is also provided to Veterans, their families and Dependants with issues such as benefits, housing and welfare.
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You don’t need any previous experience or qualifications to join us, but we are looking for hardworking and resilient team players, who are enthusiastic and genuinely want to support our customers with their needs. Keeping customer satisfaction at the core of every decision and behaviours, through verbal and written communication skills to enable you to converse with customers daily.
Helping to deliver excellent customer service listen to, understand, empathise and engage with customer requirements. The successful candidate will accept ownership for effectively resolving phone or email enquiries, customer issues and complaints to the highest quality.
Our customer facing operating hours are 8am – 4pm, Monday – Friday
Responsibilities -
The role requires you to:
- Open and Honest: Clear Communication at every step of the customer’s journey
- Manage large volumes of inbound calls/correspondence in a timely manner, listen to, understand, empathise and engage with customer requirements
- Answer calls/ correspondence on a variety of subjects, working as part of a multi-skilled team.
- Handle queries from customers efficiently and effectively, Providing sound advice and a high quality of knowledge
- Log and update queries from customers using a Service Management system.
- Undertake training and up-skilling to support the changing business requirements.
- Recognise continuous improvement possibilities, championing the benefits to the customer and operations.
- Support the Operational Team Leader and Manager in overall service delivery.
Person specification
- You take pride in completing your work to the highest standard
- Ability to process high volumes calls/correspondence without compromising quality.
- Confidence, understanding and patience when working with demanding customers.
- Be an excellent communicator aiming to deliver a positive customer experience.
- Positive attitude with the ability to problem-solve and achieve outcomes in a timely manner
- Ability to effectively manage customer expectations.
- Take ownership of issues and persistently drive them to resolution.
- Ability to work with IT, including Microsoft products
- An openness to feedback and confidence working with others.
- Ability to multi-task, set priorities and manage time effectively.
- Excellent listening skills and natural empathy
- Attention to detail with the ability to retain and assimilate information quickly
Desirable Skills
- Contact/Enquiry Centre Experience
- Customer Service Experience
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
Managing a Quality Service
Alongside your salary of £27,866, Ministry of Defence contributes £8,072 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
- An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
- 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service (pro rata). In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for the King's birthday
- Hybrid working, where role permits
- An opportunity to be considered for Reward & Recognition.
- Family friendly policies including parental leave and adoption leave
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- Professional and personal development of skills
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
- Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
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Allowances
The post does not offer relocation expenses.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
Employment Hours
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2027.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Completing Your Application
Behaviour examples requires more than just information about what you did, it requires you to explain. There are many different approaches you could take to writing behaviours, such as the STAR, or the CAR method. As to which one you chose to use, it’s all down to your personal style of writing. Within the Civil Service, the most common approach is: The STAR method.
Using the STAR method, allows you to set the scene, show what and how you did and the overall outcome. The job holder (and later the interviewer) will use this method to gather all the relevant information about a specific capability that the job requires.
Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.
Where are you? Who was there with you? What had happened?
Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.
What was the task that you had to complete and why? What did you have to achieve?
Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information of what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it
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