Salary : $23.97 - $28.78 Hourly
Location : Kennewick, WA
Job Type : Full Time, Bargaining
Job Number : 202500005
Department : Customer Service
Opening Date : 01 / 30 / 2025
Closing Date : 2 / 6 / 2025 11 : 59 PM Pacific
FLSA : Non-Exempt
Bargaining Unit : 77
Equal Opportunity Employer / Veterans / Disabled
As of January 1, 2023, Benton PUD will be including a full wage scale or salary range for positions under the salary section shown per the Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5761 that amends portions of the Equal Pay and Opportunity Act. Please see the target hiring range for this position under the Position Purpose / Summary section.
Position Purpose / Summary
Join Our Customer Service Team at Benton PUD!
Do you thrive in a customer-facing role and take pride in providing exceptional service? Are you passionate about helping people navigate their accounts and billing with ease?
Benton PUD is looking for an enthusiastic, customer-focused professional to join our outstanding Customer Service team! This entry-level opportunity is perfect for someone with strong interpersonal skills who enjoys making a positive impact.
What You'll Do :
- Process customer payments accurately and efficiently.
- Provide a warm, professional welcome to customers in person and over the phone.
- Assist with routine inquiries and resolve common customer concerns.
- Direct customers to the appropriate department when additional support is needed.
Why Join Benton PUD?
Your role will be essential in shaping our community's experience with Benton PUD. As the first point of contact, you'll ensure every customer interaction is seamless, professional, and positive.
If you're outgoing, detail-oriented, and love helping people, we'd love to have you on our team. Apply today and be part of an organization that values exceptional service and community connection!
This is a bargaining unit position. The starting wage for a Customer Service Representative is $23.97 per hour.
The primary purpose of this position is to provide service to customers by handling a variety of customer account and billing issues, including answering telephone calls, performing payment processing and cashiering duties, performing account analysis in terms of credit / collections and payment arrangements, mail processing / delivery, and maintaining professionalism, to ensure service expectations are achieved and departmental policies, procedures and standards are followed.
Accountabilities
Support the District's mission to serve our customers and foster a positive workplace by personally choosing behavior aligned with our values and ethical code.Contribute to achieving the department's service level goals and performance standards by providing quality customer interactions and resolutions on the phone and in person.Ensure customer payment processing is timely and accurate and is in accordance with established District policy and departmental procedures by receiving and posting payments, reconciling cash drawers daily and operating the remittance processing system.Ensure efficient and effective lobby and phone system service by providing prompt greetings, handling routine customer requests, and referring customers to the appropriate department as needed.Ensure correspondence and payments are collected in a timely manner by picking up mail at the post office on an as needed basis; opening, sorting and routing of mail; performing Operations facility mail retrieval and delivery; operating postage meter and letter inserting equipment; preparing outgoing mail.Ensure returned mail is handled in an appropriate manner by conducting research to locate current addresses for customers and updating the customer information system in accordance with returned mail procedures.Maximize efficiency and service by utilizing multiple technologies and systems, recommending enhancements, and by training other customer service employees on use.Contribute to protecting the District's assets by preparing for and maintaining accounts for external collections.Ensure excellent customer service is provided by taking and processing requests for starting and stopping service, creating and modifying landlord agreements, assisting with credit issues, receiving outage calls, and resolving other customer service matters.Ensure timely account service activity by selecting and completing service orders in the customer information system, initiating disconnect / reconnects and by researching and responding to customer bill and service inquiries.Contribute to achievement of department goals by training other customer service employees as requested and cross training in other positions in the department.Ensure customers are aware of the need to contact the Customer Service Department regarding their account by hanging or hand delivering a door tag at the premise. This work assignment will be filled on a volunteer basis. Lacking volunteers, will be job assigned based on lowest seniority.Complete other duties as assigned to meet team, department and organizational goals.Minimum Qualifications, Experience and Certifications
Required :
High School Diploma or GEDTwo (2) years prior experience in a directly related customer service position or six (6) months District experience in a department or administrative support position.Pass District tests identified in the Office & Customer Service Classification -Testing Profile & Development Plan adopted by Letter of Agreement during the selection process or within two (2) years prior to the posting start date, or within two years prior to internal promotion.Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license.CREDIT CHECK REQUIREMENT : This position requires a credit check as a condition of hire or promotion. The selected candidate will be offered the position contingent upon review of credit and determination of suitability.
ADA Requirement
Attendance : Consistent need to attend work at the job site or work location. Frequent or constant need for punctuality.Physical Effort : Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. Occasional need to move or lift boxes and / or files weighing up to 30 pounds.Environment : Primarilylocated in a comfortable indoor area. May be exposed to seasonal changes in weather, including moderate to extreme temperature changes and winds, while leaving door tags at premises.Hazards : Most of the time is spent in general office or equivalent conditions.Sensory Attention : Typically requires regular use of one or more senses of medium intensity and long duration.Job Pressure / Deadline Orientation : Under regular pressure to meet deadlines, quotas and / or must frequently deal with unpleasant issues related to people or situations.Applications may be filed online at : www.bentonpud.org
Questions?
Contact Amber Melling via phone at (509) 585-2291 or email at careers@bentonpud.org
Benton PUD's Total Pay Approach provides a comprehensive package that includes compensation, benefits, retirement plans, and employee development. We have a variety of programs and options to fit your needs, including :
Health and Life Benefits :
Medical (PPO or CDHP)DentalVisionEmployee Life and AD&D InsuranceDependent Life InsuranceShort Term DisabilityLong Term DisabilityRetirement Benefits :
Washington Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS)457 and 401(a) Deferred Compensation Plans with Company ContributionSaving / Spending Accounts :
VEBA Health Reimbursement - to reimburse yourself for medical expenses or save for the cost of medical at retirementFlexible Spending AccountsHealth Care Spending Account
Dependent Care Spending AccountPaid Time Off
Personal Leave - accruals increase with years of service11 Paid HolidaysNew Years Day
President's DayMemorial DayIndependence DayLabor DayVeteran's DayThanksgiving DayChristmas Day3 Floating HolidaysOther benefits include :
Safety IncentivesWellness IncentivesAlternative Work SchedulesEmployee Assistance ProgramTuition Assistance ProgramTraining and Development OpportunitiesLeadership TrainingCommunity EngagementCasual Work AttireSome of these benefits may not apply to temporary or on call positions.Do you have a high school diploma or GED?
Do you have a valid drivers license?
Please indicate your years of experience providing "front line" customer service, which would include greeting customers, handling customer requests, and / or routing customers to the most appropriate person :
No experienceUp to 2 years of experience2 or more years of experiencePlease indicate your experience providing customer service by phone, including routing incoming calls (i.e., multi-line phone) :
No experienceUp to 2 years experience2 or more years of experienceHow many years of experience do you have in maintaining and balancing a cash drawer, including providing correct change?
No experienceUp to 2 years cash handling experience2 or more years cash handling experienceHow many years of experience do you have posting payments to accounts via data entry?
No experienceUp to 2 years of experience2 or more years of experiencePlease indicate your years of experience opening and distributing mail and processing outgoing mail for a business :
No experienceUp to 2 years of experience2 or more years of experienceDo you have keyboarding experience?
Do you have 10-key data entry experience?
Required Question
Salary : $24 - $29
