Meet the Team - Lauren
At Citizens Advice Wigan Borough, we welcome staff and volunteers from all sorts of backgrounds. In this blog post, we introduce Lauren, our Finance and Executive Assistant. Lauren works in our admin and finance areas. She started working with us 2 and half years ago.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I start my day by monitoring the admin sections of my role.
We receive referrals from other organisations, such as the Council, so I organise the queries and assign them to the teams to make contact
We get emails and whatsapps from clients, so I read those and add them to our spreadsheet with the details, so our advisers can call them to discuss their needs
It's my responsibility to get any letters and forms printed and posted to our clients so I make sure those are ready to post.
We have periods where we’re busier than others and our advisers might take a bit of time to get back to any messages, so I send courtesy messages to people who have contacted us to say that we are processing their query and will be in touch soon.
I then send text messages to the people who have upcoming appointments to remind them of the dates and times, and any information they should bring or have on hand.
I then monitor any incoming feedback that we get from clients and check our recruitment account
Our drop in service opens at 10am, so then I’m answering the door, giving consent forms to clients and then passing the forms onto the adviser to be seen.
I also manage the admin for the Pension Wise team, so I process appointments for them.
What do you enjoy most about working for Citizens Advice?
As much as my role is process based, no two days are the same so there is so much variety. It’s never boring and there is always something new to do. There is also such a mix of people. I have close friendships with several members of staff both inside and outside of work and having those friendships and being able to rely on people makes the job so much better.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I like to spend time with my family, we love playing video games together. At the moment it's a mix of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Forza with my husband and son. I’m also almost finished my degree at Open university researching children and young people focusing on curriculum, and I'm trying to learn to crochet and knit, emphasis on learning - it’s not progressing very quickly!
What would you say to someone who is nervous about getting help?
Some people are nervous and think we won’t be able to help. We’ve been around for 85 years and we’ve helped so many people with so many queries, that there is very little that we haven’t seen and can’t help with. We don't judge people for needing our help, and our advisers are patient and understanding.
