About Us
The Library Service promotes the benefits of reading for pleasure, learning, health, and wellbeing, through events and activities. We provide a welcoming environment for all, encouraging families to join in our regular activities, supporting people accessing digital services, offering regular activities for adults to help combat loneliness and isolation and helping people in need find their way to other local services that can help them.
We offer a smart training package so you can be part of our work from the very first day. And we’re invested in our staff, with opportunities for the right people to progress to supervisory and management roles, or to join one of our specialist librarian teams, organising events and outreach work.
For more information about West Sussex Libraries, watch this short video West Sussex Libraries: Animation - YouTubeand why not explore our West Sussex Librarieswebsite.
About The Job
Do you want to make a difference to people’s lives and help communities to grow?
Do you enjoy working with people of all ages and backgrounds?
Do you want to develop your customer service skills working as part of a dynamic team?
If so, working in a library could be just the role for you!
Salary: £20,812 to £21,189 per annum (£10.79 to £10.98 hourly rate) and entitlement to Crawley Weighting Allowance (£561 per annum) plus enhancement for working 7 hours 35 minutes hours 1 in 2 Saturdays.
Working Pattern: Full Time (37 hours per week) Please see shift pattern attached at the bottom of the advert.
Location: Crawley Library Southgate Ave, Crawley RH10 6HG
Interview date: 11 April 2023
We’re looking for friendly, enthusiastic, and resourceful people, with excellent digital skills, to join our team as the key initial contact delivering a customer-facing library service, helping to deliver a high-quality enquiry service, providing information accurately, and signposting to other services.
It’s an active role; carrying books, pushing trolleys, lifting boxes and being on your feet for long periods of time.
You will be a keen team player, able to work alongside partners and volunteers providing excellent customer service to the whole range of visitors to the library.
Flexibility is key as one moment you may be helping a customer log-on to the library Wi-Fi and download an eBook, the next leading a Baby Rhyme Time session for parents and babies. The variety of our work means that no two days are the same. We get huge job satisfaction from helping everyone who comes through our doors, and you could too!
No candidate will meet every single desired qualification. If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to learn more about you!
A full job description is attached at the bottom of the advert.
Experience and Skills
Key Skills:
- Good communication and customer service skills to interact effectively with the general public and experience of providing a service giving basic advice and guidance.
- Experience of team working and the ability to work as part of a team completing shared tasks, including working alongside volunteers and demonstrating an appreciation of their role.
- Good interpersonal skills with the ability to confidently work with children, families and customers of all ages e.g. reading to groups of young children during story time sessions and hosting Knit and Natter sessions in the library.
- Ability to quickly respond to changes in ways of working and to promote new library initiatives, e.g. helping customers access digital services.
- Ability to demonstrate initiative and judgement whilst working within library practices and procedures e.g. resolving simple problems such as dealing with the late return of a book.
Qualifications and/or experience:
- 4 GCSEs with A-C passes including Maths and English or equivalent qualification/experience.
- Digital expertise and experience, particularly with basic Office applications.
Rewards and Benefits
Why choose us as your next employer? We care about wellbeing, allowing time for celebrating our teams efforts, and developing our team to be the best they can be. Alongside this, we also offer the below benefits.
- An excellent local government pension scheme
- Generous holiday entitlement of 24 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
- A range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
- Maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
- Volunteering opportunities
- Training and development opportunities, including coaching, mentoring and apprenticeships
- A range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts pageif you are a business looking to offer a discount)
- Health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders, Wellbeing Hub and Voluntary Health Cash Plans
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
The reference number for this role isCPP00705.
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Victoria Roffe (Library Officer) at victoria.roffe@westsussex.gov.uk
For an informal conversation regarding the application process, please contact Rosa Siracusa (Resourcing Advisor) at Rosa.Siracusa@westsussex.gov.uk
For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.
To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to satisfactory references and health check.
West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.
For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please visit our website.
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Job Reference: CPP00705