Behind the job ad

The job: Housing assistant

The employer: Two Towers Housing Co-op, Bermondsey, south London

‘Suitably qualified’

We have not asked for specific educational qualifications because that puts a barrier up to people with other experience, but we want someone qualified in housing with basic housing management experience.

‘ONE YEAR’S EXPERIENCE IN HOUSING ADMINISTRATION’

You should have experience of pre- and post-inspection of repairs: I have a simple practical test for this. We also want experience of rent collecting and recording policies and procedures and that will be tested in the interview too.

You will need basic knowledge of health and safety and there will be an Excel test on budgets – we do our record keeping and housing benefit statistics on Excel.

‘EXCELLENT CUSTOMER CARE RECORD’

Because tenants and leaseholders tend to live on top of you, you have to be a good person’s person and customer care skills are essential. We need someone, young or old, with a mature outlook and experience of face-to-face work with clients.

‘ATTEND EVENING MEETINGS’

There are monthly meetings between residents and the council and a monthly committee meeting for the co-op, which you must go to. But you get time off in lieu.

SALARY: £18,000-£20,000

This is quite a reasonable salary and there’s a substantial pension scheme: you pay about 5.5% and the company pays about 10.5%. And you’ll gain experience of a lot of different areas. You should be able to run any office after leaving here.

DEADLINE: 18 FEBRUARY