Trading Standards Technical Officer

We are looking for two people to join us - one in our Operational Support Team and one in our Allocations Unit. The job description covers a wide range of duties that a Technical Officer may carry out, but the tasks below are more specific to these particular roles day to day. The range of tasks that you will be expected to undertake will increase as you gain further knowledge and experience in your role.What will I be doing? Operational Support role Our Operational Support Team co-ordinates vital support functions, such as licensing, administration, our calibration laboratory and training coordination. In particular, we are anticipating this role will include:

• Providing dedicated support to the lead officer for our Rural Support and Wellbeing Programme - potentially to include attending events
• Updating witnesses with progress on officers' investigations and making arrangements for them to attend court as needed
• Supporting investigations by assisting officers to prepare digital and hard copy files and documents for court
• Helping to manage our evidence stores and ensuring our hard copy and digital records are accurate
• Providing general support to managers and officers - which will include administration, taking notes at meetings and occasionally accompanying officers on visits.
Allocations Unit role Our Allocations Unit handles all incoming enquiries to the Service. In this role, you will help assess and allocate those enquiries through the following tasks:
• Dealing with and allocating incoming enquiries received via letter, email and telephone
• Contacting consumers and businesses to obtain information
• Reviewing cases received from the Citizens Advice Consumer Centre, carrying out initial research, triaging and allocating them accordingly
• Logging intelligence reports on our intelligence database
Please specify on your application whether you would like to be considered for the Operational Support role or the Allocations Unit role. If you are successful you may not be offered your first choice.

You are organised, work well as part of a team and use your initiative to resolve issues. You are approachable, keen to help others and able to learn quickly. You have excellent communication skills - you may well be the first contact that the public have with us. You will show empathy when speaking to consumers who may be worried and upset, including victims of crime. You will liaise confidently with managers, staff and partner organisations to obtain and share information and intelligence as needed. You are able to manage competing priorities, including calls about live rogue trader incidents, and are keen to gain knowledge and understanding of how Trading Standards operates. Although training will be provided regarding our bespoke systems, you will need to be confident in using databases, as well as standard Microsoft Office 365 packages - including Teams, Word and Excel.DBS check This role requires a DBS disclosure.

The Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service operates across the areas of Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay and is one of the largest Trading Standards Services in the country., We have offices in Plymouth, Torbay, Newton Abbot, Exeter, Barnstaple, and Wellington. As we cover a large geographical area some travel is to be expected.