Volunteer Receptionist

Job description

Carers Lewisham is a charity that supports Carers in the London Borough of Lewisham. A Carer is someone of any age who provides unpaid support to family or friends who could not manage without their help due to illness or disability.

We provide a range of services including advice, information, emotional support, breaks, and opportunities to meet other carers.

We are looking for a Volunteer Receptionist to support our team for a four hour shift on a Monday or Wednesday morning 9am-1pm.

The receptionist is to be responsible for the delivery of a highly-effective information service for callers and visitors which will provide a friendly, professional and helpful first port of call.

Main Tasks:

1. Answer reception telephone/email and direct to an appropriate member of staff to ensure timely and accurate responses.

2. Answer front door and escort visitors to activities where appropriate, preparing tea/coffee for guests as necessary.

3. Ensure all visitors sign in/out of building.

4. Process incoming and outgoing mail, including info packs and leaflets as directed.

5. Assist the Executive Assistant with general administrative duties.

6. To attend training as necessary and appropriate.

7. Ensure own knowledge and understanding of all internal policies and procedures as well as all relevant, external strategies, policies and legislation.

All Carers Lewisham post-holders are responsible for:

Working to the policies and procedures of Carers Lewisham.
Promoting equal opportunities and respecting diversity within all aspects of their work.
Complying with Health & Safety regulations.
Carrying out additional duties where appropriate which may be allocated from time to time by the Chief Executive.

Note that this is a voluntary, non paid role. However Carers Lewisham reimburses volunteer travel expenses.

Desired profile

The successful candidate must be an excellent communicator with a good standard of written and spoken English. They will be organised and flexible, as well as comfortable with computers (IT training will be given where necessary).

They must be able to work effectively within a small team, where mutual support is vital to the achievement of the charity’s objectives, and will ideally have experience of working in a charity and/or a health & social care setting:

Skills, Knowledge and Attributes (Essential/Desired):

Friendly, approachable and confident with a flexible, positive ‘can do’ attitude (E)
Good communications and inter-personal skills (E)
Good organisation skills, ability to prioritise a varied workload and work on own initiative (E)
Good teamwork skills (E)
Knowledge and understanding of carers and caring (D)
Understanding of equality and diversity issues (D)
Appreciation of charity and/or social enterprise (E)
Resilient, resourceful and an effective problem-solver (E)
Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion (E)

Carers Lewisham requires all staff and volunteers to have a DBS check.