There are currently a number of exciting opportunities for Housing Officers including:

• Permanent full-time posts - 37 hours per week • Temporary / secondment full-time posts (for up to 12 month Maternity Cover) - 37 hours per week • Permanent part-time posts - 18.5 hours per week (Monday-Wednesday lunchtime)

PLEASE CLEARLY STATE IN YOUR APPLICATION WHICH POST/S YOU ARE APPLYING FOR

Portsmouth City Council is the largest social landlord in the area with responsibility for managing over 17,000 council owned and leasehold properties!

If you believe you can make a valuable, positive contribution to our team then please read below for more about the role. Please take the time to read 'how to apply' carefully to ensure your application is not disregarded. Do not send us a C.V.

What's in it for me?

You will be starting on a salary of £23,166 going up to £27,394 as you progress. You will be entitled to 26 days holiday per year (plus bank holidays). The Council also offers a generous Pension Scheme and other staff benefits including free eye tests, discounts at local venues and childcare vouchers!

You may need to have the use of a car for the role, but the Council will pay 45p per mile you drive as part of your business so you won't be left out of pocket!

We value our employees and want them to reach their full potential. Although there is an induction period, you will be expected to learn on the job with the full support of the management team and your peers. Additional training is available if deemed appropriate and necessary.

What is the job?

The Housing Officer is expected to help tenants meet their responsibilities and sustain their tenancies as outlined in their tenancy agreement whilst delivering excellent customer service. Housing Officers support their customers by providing budgeting and money advice, tackling anti-social behaviour and helping tenants to maintain their homes and gardens in good repair. The Housing Officer will take appropriate tenancy enforcement action when proportionate and necessary to do so.

Our service is shaped by understanding what matters to our customers and what they need from the Housing Service. Many of our work processes have, in recent years, been redesigned to help us do this but we have more to do and continue to learn and grow.

There are 7 area Housing Offices and you could be based at any one of these providing housing management on a patch of approximately 250 local authority homes.

Who is the person?

As one of the housing officers you will need to have the following:

1. Active Listening skills

You will work with customers, colleagues and other professionals and need to demonstrate active listening skills to process all relevant information. In order to build a positive rapport with customers, it is important that the customer feels they have been listened to and you understand their concerns, views and queries, whilst picking up on any vulnerabilities.

2. Good communication skills

Be able to communicate effectively to a range of audiences and vary your style of delivery and technique to achieve positive outcomes.

3. Ability to organise and prioritise

You are expected to manage your time effectively, as often you will need to manage conflicting priorities.

4. Ability to make decisions, work independently and use initiative

Although you will be part of team within an area office, you will be given a patch of properties to manage independently. You will be expected to make informed decisions regarding the cases you manage. You must be able to consider all the facts of a case, work with others and utilise other resources to achieve the right result for customers. This will be a busy patch with many competing demands and you will need to take appropriate and timely action in order to achieve the right outcome for the customer and Portsmouth City Council.

5. Good letter writing skills

You will need to communicate in writing to customers, including the use of emails and be able to prepare documents to be used in case conferences or as evidence in court.

6. Confidence

You must be confident in your approach and delivery. When speaking with customers you need to clearly explain their responsibilities as a tenant and potential consequences of not adhering to the tenancy agreement.

7. Good IT skills

As a housing officer you will be using most of the Microsoft software including: Excel, Word and Outlook on a daily basis.

8. Motivation

You need to be pro-active and highly motivated with the ability to work quickly, accurately and consistently when under pressure.

9. Flexibility

You may be expected to work from any of the 7 area offices and carry out occasionally work outside of office hours.

Please write to tell us how you meet the criteria for the role. You will need to demonstrate transferable skills from your current or previous employment against each of the points described in 'Who is the person?' Applicants will be shortlisted based on their ability to use good examples illustrating what they've done, why they've done it and how they went about it?

If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please call Holly Lovejoy, Estate Manager.

There is no closing date. We will contact applicants as and when they are shortlisted. If you do not hear from us within 3 weeks of applying, please assume you have not been shortlisted.

IF YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR THIS ROLE WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS PLEASE DO NOT RE-APPLY.

For more details & instructions on how to apply please see the attachments.