Customer Service Specialist 3 / Internal Only

Full Job Description

Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Flexible schedules may be available upon supervisory approval. Minimal travel to in-person trainings when required.

The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)was created by an initiative of the people to provide timely and meaningful public access to accurate information about the financing of political campaigns, lobbyist expenditures, and the financial affairs of public officials and candidates, and to ensure compliance with and equitable enforcement of Washington's disclosure and campaign finance laws.

Some of what you’ll enjoy doing will include:

You will be acting as the Customer Service Lead for PDC customer service staff, leading interactions with PDC customers and providing critical support to both internal and external customers.

You will interpret agency-related laws, policies, and procedures for both customers and customer service staff to resolve complex and escalated inquiries, complaints, and issues.

These problems demand a high level of expertise, critical thinking, the ability to navigate and to find effective solutions, and often involve intricate processes and multiple stakeholders.

You will have a pivotal role in consulting with customer service staff, empowering them to independently resolve customer inquiries and issues.

You will be responsible for documenting and tracking issues reported by customer service staff and proactively identifying and recommending changes to agency policies and procedures that cause difficulties for customers.

As the Lead for your team, you will coordinate and deliver training for PDC customer service staff in client/customer relations, agency policies and procedures, application navigation and troubleshooting, and problem resolution.

You will mentor your staff by identifying individual training needs and growth opportunities as well as identifying improvements to customer service resources and training so that the customer service team may more effectively and directly serve PDC customers.

Who we are looking for:
We need someone who has superior attention to detail and can perform independently. If you are someone who wants to work with a collaborative team of dedicated staff and you are committed to ensuring public access to information, this job is for you!

Requirements

Some of what you’ll enjoy doing includes:

• Lead and coordinate customer service operations for telephone inquiries, in-person office reception, written communications, and online help desk interactions.
• Provide detailed complex guidance to customers on navigating the Commission's website, accessing desired information, and using services and applications.
• Serves as a subject matter expert in the PDC database and imaging system to respond to public and staff’s complex inquiries.
• Offer clear explanations of forms, pamphlets, and other materials.
• Interpret and apply knowledge of laws, regulations, and processes to address inquiries on filing requirements, e-filing systems, complaint processes, and other PDC services.
• Resolve complaints whenever possible, and appropriately refer issues to other PDC staff.
• Consult, mentor, and advise customer service staff to resolve complex problems.
• Identify and recommend changes to agency policies and procedures to improve customer service effectiveness
• Lead targeted outreach campaigns in response to system issues, regulatory changes, recurring customer challenges, or other business reasons.
• Coordinate and execute the distribution of approved mass communications to targeted stakeholder groups by submitting through agency applications and maintaining distribution records.
• Track and compile phone system data to support reporting on call volume, response times, and service trends.
• Identify, coordinate, and deliver training on customer service processes, agency policies and procedures, application navigation, troubleshooting, and problem resolution.
• Deliver specialized training on agency policies and procedures to empower customer service staff to resolve complex issues.
• Mentor staff by identifying individual training needs and growth opportunities to enhance their problem resolution skills.
• Update training materials and resources to ensure staff have current information.
• Conduct regular training sessions to reinforce learning and address emerging issues.
• Document and track client/customer issues using computer applications and software.
• Review reports from campaigns, lobbyists, and others to ensure compliance with filing requirements.
• Contact filers of deficient reports to clarify required additional information.
• Extract relevant data from reports and enter it into the agency database.
• Provide training and oversight to customer service staff on reviewing and data entering disclosure reports.
• Lead and coordinate quality assurance processes for other customer service staff
• Create and publish training registration pages using pre-approved language.
• Ensure accurate configuration of event details, registration settings, accessibility information, and enrollment capacity limits.
• Coordinate the receipt, sorting, date-stamping, filing, and routing of agency mail deliveries.
• Independently review incoming reports and correspondence, respond to inquiries, and refer complex questions to appropriate staff as needed.
• Ensure timely delivery of mail to intended recipients.
• Ensure the accurate scanning of paper reports to create digital images.
• Ensure accurate indexing by entering the filer's name and selecting the report type from a menu.
• Train and mentor staff on scanning and indexing procedures.
• Perform quality checks for other customer service staff.

Qualifications

REQUIRED:

[OPTION 1]

High school diploma or equivalent and three years of experience providing assistance to clients/customers regarding inquiries, complaints or problems.

[OPTION 2]

One year of experience as a Customer Service Specialist 2.

[OPTION 3]

Equivalent education/experience.

And the following skills and abilities:

• Effective written and verbal communication skills for diverse audiences.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Familiarity with online collaboration tools and remote work platforms.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to mentor/train staff.
• Knowledge of agency-related laws, policies, and procedures.

PREFERRED:

Experience leading a customer service team.

Additional Information

How to Apply:
Interested? We would love to hear from you! Click “Apply” at the top of this page to start your application. You can save the application and come back to it, if needed. Be sure to complete the application fully to include a full work history and responses to the supplemental questions.

Please provide the following documents in order to be considered; failure to do so may result in you not being considered for the position:

• A letter of interest that shows your personality and voice to describe why you are the successful candidate and how you meet the specific qualifications for this position
• A current resume, detailing experience, and education
• A current list of at least three (3) professional references with current contact information

**Do not attach any documents that include photos or private information (social security number, year of birth, etc.).

NOTE: By submitting these materials, you are indicating that all information is true and correct. The state may verify information. Any untruthful or misleading information is cause for removal from the applicant pool or dismissal if employed. A resume will not substitute for completing the “duties summary” section or supplemental questions of the application. Please do not “refer to resume” for detail, or your application may be disqualified.

Opportunity for All:
The Public Disclosure Commission celebrates our differences and we are committed to a workplace that supports equal opportunity employment and inclusion regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, marital status, families with children (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sex, sexual orientation, gender identity diversity, age, status as a protected veteran, honorably discharged veteran or military status, status as an individual with the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with disabilities or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local laws.

You are welcome to include the name and pronoun you would like to be referred to in your materials and we will honor this as you interact with our organization.

Contact Information:
For questions about this recruitment or to request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact Angie Anderson by email at jobs@des.wa.gov.

Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing may call through the Washington Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.