Lauren Thomson

I am an organised, dedicated and motivated individual who takes pride in staying up to date with new developments and learning new approaches to achieve the highest standard of customer service. I am a proactive employee who enjoys staying busy and achieving goals. I am always striving to improve my performance to help others.

I am a team player who understands the importance of effective communication and working together to achieve a shared goal. If someone communicates their need for help, I will offer assistance if I am able. I have strong IT skills and experience with most Microsoft tools at a high level.

I have excellent time management skills and do well prioritising my workload. I am a naturally empathetic person who thinks critically and logically to understand the customer perspective with an open mind.

Telephone/Admin Volunteer at The British Heart Foundation

• Speak clearly and confidently over the phone and be aware of the "Gift Aid" scheme.
• Proactively listen with customers to better understand needs and resolve customer queries and problems using effective communication and providing step-by-step solutions.
• Listen to customer concerns and escalate major issues to the store manager.
• Multitask and write down information while actively listening to customer.
• Use the open fleet system and enter information into the database so that the driver knows where to go.
• Keep records and private documentation, safe and secure.
• Call back customers to book in appointments for the collection or house clearance.
• Answer emails in a timely manner to not keep customer waiting.
• Call customers in a timely manner to avoid keeping them waiting.
• Ensure all customers are responded to and meet deadlines and quotas.
• Prepared range of written communications, documents and reports.
• Help and support customers at the counter
• Use the till and have counting skills
• Keep the till safe and secure
• Successfully negotiated with an angry and agitated customer and calmed the situation.
• Successfully helped a confused customer suffering from mental health struggles and explained clearly that her delivery was already made.
• Continuously met quotas and deadlines
• Successfully resolved a problem when a customer wanted to cancel her collection but could not find her name in the system. Discovered she had called the wrong store dealing with her collection.
• Took the initiative to find out in the system why I was getting so many phone calls asking when the drivers were arriving and discovered the driver's van broke down.
• Effectively communicated with the drivers and warehouse manager to answer a customer query
• Worked well with warehouse staff to help the customer drive to the correct location to pick up furniture.

Cats' carer Volunteer at Cats Protection

• Maintain clean, hygienic living environments to ensure cats' comfort and safety.
• Maintain high standards of living to meet animal welfare laws.
• Build strong, trusting relationships with customer looking to safely surrender their cats by providing continuous support and delivering the best possible care.
• Engaged in respectful communication, respecting their decision to surrender the cat without the feeling of judgment.
• Monitored cats' health, behavioral and physical changes, promptly reporting concerns to the shift leader.
• Continuous monitoring of pregnant cats and report changes.
• Engage with customer looking for a new cat and listen to their needs (age/type etc.)
• Explain to customer the needs of the cats (only cat, not good with kids, outdoor cat etc.) and find a good match.
• Explain to the customer gently and effectively with clear examples as to why they are not the right match.
• Show empathy and consideration to customers who have recently lost a loving furry friend and help them through the difficult stage of finding another.
• Successfully found matches for many cats and owners.
• Successfully helped a pregnant cat due to monitoring skills and got her the care needed when she was sick
• Handles kittens and got them used to being handled by humans
• Handled an anxious stray and got it used to being handled by humans through patience and resilience
• Worked in a team well to get a cat into a cage.
• Effectively communicated cat monitoring to the shift leader and enquired about a cat who needed medication.

BA with Hons, History and Sociology at Stirling University