Trainee Energy Advisor Plymouth, England
Job description
** Please read the full job pack available on our website (message us for details). We will only consider applications that include BOTH a CV and a cover letter. **
- Are you a good communicator, able to see things from other people’s point of view?
- Have you worked with people to achieve their goals?
- Do you use expertise in problem-solving and negotiation in your role?
Then you could have the skills we need to become a Trainee Energy Advisor.
Trainee Energy Advisor is not an entry-level role. It is an opportunity to bring your existing skills to a new challenge. Plymouth Energy Community is a ground-breaking charity that aims to create a fair, affordable and zero carbon energy system with local people at its heart. If you want to be part of our ground-breaking work, then read on.
You will join our frontline and award-winning Energy Team; providing support on the phone, in person, at events and in homes. During 6-months initial training, you will focus on energy advice or retrofitting homes:
- In the Advice Team, you will work with people to overcome energy issues, their risk of fuel poverty and the impact of living in a cold, damp home. This could be through income maximisation, negotiating with energy suppliers or accessing grants.
- In the Retrofit Team, you will support people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. You will use communication skills to demystify the options and navigate the process to complete installations.
Upon successful completion of training and probation you will become an Energy Advisor in our team.
About the role
The role of Energy Advisor sits within PEC’s frontline and award-winning Energy Team. We are recruiting Energy Advisors to support both our Advice team, helping people to overcome energy issues, fuel poverty and impacts of living in a cold, damp home, and our Future Fit team, helping people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
Working in our Advice team, you will deliver a major program to address the cost-of-living crisis, through energy support grants and advice. You will provide support on the phone, in person, at events or during home visits.
Working in our Future Fit team, you will support customers through the process of making upgrades to their home. You will use your technical knowledge and communications skills to demystify their options and support customers to navigate the processes they will go through in the customer journey to complete installations.
About you
To be a great Advisor, you need to be a people person. You take pride in the work you do and the quality of the relationships youbuild. Our service is person-centred, and people accessing it often live in vulnerable circumstances and may have additional needs when engaging. It is important that you have an inclusive outlook and an ability to share your knowledge in an accessible way.
We provide full training, so you do not need to arrive with experience of working in energy-related advice.
Experience of casework is helpful for working in the Advice team, as it is a key part of your role. Experience of learning and communicating about technical subjectsis helpful for working in the Future Fit team, where there is a lot of technical information to bring into this advice.
An Advisor provides advice face-to-face, in the community and in homes across the city and this should be exciting to you. You should have a passion for partnership working, be curious, have advanced listening skills and thrive in environments where you tackle issues alongside people.
Our employment offer
- Contract type: Permanent and fixed term roles (12 months with good potential for extension) available
- Hours: Full time role but we are open to part time arrangements
- Location: Plymouth, but with significant elements of flexible/home working
- Salary: £28,925 - £35,925 (dependent on experience/qualifications)
- Start date: We are looking for the right people to start as soon as possible.
Application Deadline: The application closing date is Monday 18th September at 10am.
Application process
All applications must include a detailed cover letter so that we can understand your reasons for applying and the skills you believe you have, to match the role profile. Applications without a cover letter will not be assessed.
Benefits:
PEC has a flexible, friendly, supportive, and rewarding working environment. Our benefits include:
- 25 days leave per annum plus bank holidays for full-time working
- An additional 1 day of annual leave for each year served up to 5 years
- Flexible Working practices (full time hours are 37 per week, Monday - Friday)
- Health and wellbeing cash plan – for discounted or free health and wellbeing services
- 24/7 free, confidential employee support service
- Ethical Pension scheme with a 5% salary contribution being matched by PEC
- Enhanced maternity and paternity pay
- Death in Service benefit – 4 x annual salary
Further details:
If you are interested in this role, but don't feel you meet all of the criteria, please do not be put off applying. We encourage you to send your covering letter and CV, or contact us for an informal chat.
If you wish to discuss your application or receive a large font version of the job pack, please contact us by emailing PECrecruitment [at] plymouthenergycommunity.com
About Plymouth Energy Community:
Plymouth Energy Community (PEC) is a multi, award-winning charity and a social enterprise, with a cooperative ethos. PEC’s mission is to empower our community to create a fair, affordable, zero carbon energy system with local people at its heart. We are a family of community led organisations bringing forward a range of projects that: bring local people together to tackle fuel poverty and the climate crisis, increase local ownership and influence over local energy solutions; improve community confidence to engage in the zero-carbon transition; and enable people to heat and power their homes affordably.
Since 2013, we have:
- Developed and generated 21 MWh of clean power from our community owned solar farm and 32 roof top arrays.
- Saved schools and community organisations over £0.5m from their energy bills through renewable power and energy efficiency improvements.
- Supported 21,000 households and delivered direct improvements to 2,400 homes visits saving each an average of £400 pa.
- Saved a total of 15,000 tonnes of carbon.
- Grown to a turnover of £2.2m pa with a dedicated staff team of 24.
Person Specification
Attributes and qualities - Essential criteria:
- Methodical and organised, with good attention to detail.
- Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with minimal supervision.
- Friendly, with excellent interpersonal skills and a sympathetic manner.
- Thrives in a fast-changing environment.
- Good negotiation skills
- A flexible and collaborative approach to teamwork
- Able to remain calm and solution focused when supporting residents in vulnerable circumstances, or who may be distressed.
- Able to balance workload and deliver high quality activities that meet funder and resident requirements.
- An ability and willingness to develop and implement procedures
Skills and experience - Essential criteria:
- Three A Levels at grade A–C or NVQ in relevant subject or relevant work experience
- Effective writing skills with an emphasis on communicating to a non-technical audience / general public.
- A competent user of Microsoft Office, (Word, Excel, and Outlook).
- Significant experience of working with residents from a wide range of backgrounds.
- Experience in presenting complex information in an accessible form for a variety of audiences.
- Demonstrable experience of providing end to end solutions for residents / clients.
- Experience in handling data and information in a secure and sensitive manner - on the telephone, in writing and in person.
- Experience of project working to reach targets.
- Experience of income maximisation and or welfare benefits
Attributes and qualities - Desirable criteria:
- Friendly, with excellent interpersonal skills and a sympathetic manner.
- Empathic with a strong interest in helping people to improve their circumstances
- Able to work well and provide leadership in a team.
- Able to remain calm and solution focused when supporting residents in vulnerable circumstances, who may be distressed.
- Methodical, organised, and self-motivated.
- A strong administrator; with good attention to detail.
- Proactively identifies potential issues and offers solutions
Job Type: Full-time
Salary: £26,425.00-£30,925.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Flexitime
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Private medical insurance
- Work from home
Schedule:
- Flexitime
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Plymouth
