Writing and speaking to customers in a clear, polite and honest way that answers their question and keeps their trust.
Good work shows: Answers the customer's actual question; uses plain words without jargon; gives clear next steps and timescales.
Customer communication is one of the communication skills on FinderK.
The job simulations and Skill Paths below include work that is checked for this skill. You do the work in an original fictional company and get feedback on it.
Customer support associate at Hearth Box
About 50 minutes. Included in Plus.
Six customers wrote in overnight after a bad delivery day. Sort the queue, apply the credit policy, reply honestly to an angry customer and escalate a food safety report with the facts.
Skills: Sort a support queue by urgency and impact; Apply a credit policy and approval limits; Write an honest customer reply under pressure; Escalate a food safety report with the facts
Quality technician at Pennant Precision Components
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
A batch for the morning truck failed its final check on a machine that has just failed calibration. Decide what the results really show, contain the batch, and tell the customer the facts.
Skills: Interpret inspection data from a suspect measuring instrument; Hold product within quality authority under schedule pressure; Define a containment from in-process records; Write a factual nonconformance report and customer notification
Tax assistant at Pembrey and Lowe Accountants
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
A photographer has sent a year of spending with her own notes on what counts as business. Sort each item under the firm's expenses guide, ask her the right questions, and hold the rules kindly when she pushes for a holiday and cash wages to count.
Skills: Classify expenses as allowable, mixed use, capital or not allowable; Apply the mileage rule without double counting; Ask a client clear questions for missing evidence; Explain a rule to a client who disagrees
Pharmacy technician at Meadowbank Pharmacy
About 55 minutes. Included in Plus.
The medicines fridge was too warm overnight and the alarm had been muted. Quarantine and value the stock, get the facts to the manufacturers, and keep the patients who are waiting safe and informed, without deciding what only the pharmacist can.
Skills: Follow a cold chain procedure under time pressure; Work out an excursion from logger data; Ask manufacturers for advice with the right facts; Tell patients about a delay within your role; Record an incident to fix the cause, not blame
Fundraising officer at Kestrel Valley Wildlife Trust
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
Check two months of donations for the Gift Aid claim, then tell a major donor that the project she funded has been cancelled and give her a real choice, and report both to the fundraising committee.
Skills: Apply Gift Aid rules donation by donation; Handle restricted funds within charity rules; Give a major donor bad news and a real choice; Report figures and decisions to a committee
Site safety advisor at Pellow Construction
About 75 minutes. Included in Plus.
Twelve findings from the weekly safety walk. Decide which work stops now under the procedure, deal with a roofing contractor who wants to keep working, and tell the client the truth about the scaffold she has come to see.
Skills: Apply stop work criteria consistently; Enforce permit to work conditions under pressure; Say who must act and by when on every finding; Report safety matters accurately to a client
Dispatcher at Lockgate Couriers
About 50 minutes. Included in Plus.
A van has broken down with nine parcels, including medicines, funeral flowers and lab samples. Reassign them within three drivers' hours, decide what moves to tomorrow, and keep the customers who will wait informed.
Skills: Reassign work by priority within time and hours limits; Weigh a cost against a service promise; Tell customers about delays early and honestly; Escalate what needs a manager's approval
Practise the core work of a finance assistant: testing expense claims, preparing allowable costs and checking payroll before it runs.
Practise the core work of hotel and events coordination: an overbooked night, a conference dinner and a busy front of house.
Practise the core work of an operations assistant: ordering from records, replanning after a breakdown and checking stock will last.
Practise the core work of a quality and safety officer: holding a suspect batch, walking a site and handling a cold chain failure.
Look after buildings and the people in them.
Practise the careful quality work of clinics, pharmacies and trials.
Prepare for a first job in customer support or operations.
Run the buildings people work and live in.
Build the core habits of a good finance assistant.
Learn to act well when something goes wrong.
Practise the work that keeps clinics, wards and pharmacies running safely.
Keep deliveries moving when things go wrong.
Work on reporting that has to be right.
Learn to help people well when things have gone wrong.
Learn to keep goods and services flowing.