Helpdesk Specialist

About the Role

We are seeking a professional, organised, responsive, and customer-focused Non-Technical Service Desk / Helpdesk Specialist to serve as a first point of contact for customers and internal users requiring support, information, coordination, or assistance.

This is primarily a non-technical support and service coordination role. The successful candidate will be responsible for receiving requests, logging tickets, gathering accurate information, providing updates, following up with relevant teams, tracking outstanding actions, escalating issues appropriately, and ensuring customers receive a professional support experience from initial contact through closure.

The role requires excellent communication, customer service, documentation, organisation, follow-up, and problem-solving skills.

You do not need to be an IT engineer or highly technical professional. However, you must be comfortable using computers, business applications, email, ticketing systems, Microsoft Office tools, and learning basic IT service terminology.

Key Responsibilities

Helpdesk and Service Desk Support

• Act as a first point of contact for customer and internal service enquiries.
  
• Receive support requests through approved channels including email, telephone, messaging platforms, and service-management systems.
  
• Log all requests accurately in the appropriate ticketing or tracking system.
  
• Capture complete information including the requester's details, issue description, location, urgency, and other relevant information.
  
• Categorise and prioritise requests according to established procedures.
  
• Assign or route requests to the appropriate team, specialist, engineer, vendor, or department.
  
• Maintain ownership of communication and follow-up until requests are resolved or formally transferred.
  
• Ensure no support request is ignored or left without appropriate action.
  

Customer Service

• Provide courteous, professional, and timely assistance to customers and internal users.
  
• Acknowledge requests promptly.
  
• Explain next steps clearly and manage customer expectations.
  
• Provide regular progress updates on open requests.
  
• Follow up with customers when additional information or confirmation is required.
  
• Confirm resolution or completion before closing requests where applicable.
  
• Handle customer concerns professionally and escalate complaints appropriately.
  
• Maintain a calm and professional approach when dealing with frustrated or dissatisfied users.
  

Ticket Management

• Create and maintain accurate service tickets.
  
• Update ticket status, notes, actions, ownership, and resolution information.
  
• Monitor open and pending tickets throughout the working day.
  
• Follow up on tickets approaching agreed response or resolution deadlines.
  
• Identify overdue or inactive requests and escalate them appropriately.
  
• Ensure tickets contain sufficient information for the next person handling the request.
  
• Avoid premature ticket closure.
  
• Maintain clean, organised, and accurate service records.
  

Request Coordination

• Coordinate between customers and internal support teams.
  
• Follow up with assigned personnel regarding pending tasks.
  
• Track expected completion dates and outstanding actions.
  
• Confirm appointments, visits, deliveries, collections, or other service activities where required.
  
• Ensure relevant stakeholders receive complete information before carrying out assigned tasks.
  
• Communicate delays and revised timelines promptly.
  
• Support smooth handover between teams where requests require escalation or reassignment.
  

Non-Technical Troubleshooting and Guidance

The role may involve basic first-line assistance such as:

• Helping users understand simple procedures.
  
• Confirming whether equipment is powered on or connected.
  
• Checking that users have followed provided instructions.
  
• Gathering screenshots, error messages, asset details, or other information.
  
• Guiding users through simple approved steps.
  
• Confirming whether an issue affects one user or multiple users.
  
• Collecting sufficient information before escalation.
  

The Service Desk / Helpdesk Specialist is not expected to perform advanced technical troubleshooting, configuration, engineering, networking, server administration, or hardware repair unless separately trained and authorised.

Escalation

• Recognise when a request requires specialist or management attention.
  
• Escalate technical issues to the appropriate technical team.
  
• Escalate customer complaints and service risks appropriately.
  
• Provide complete information when escalating requests.
  
• Avoid unnecessary escalation where established procedures can resolve the request.
  
• Continue following up on escalated requests until appropriate ownership is confirmed.
  

Communication

• Maintain professional communication through email, telephone, messaging applications, and internal collaboration tools.
  
• Write clear and grammatically correct service updates.
  
• Avoid unclear, incomplete, or informal communication when dealing with customers.
  
• Communicate facts accurately without making unsupported promises.
  
• Keep relevant stakeholders informed of important changes or delays.
  
• Maintain confidentiality when handling customer and company information.
  

Documentation

• Maintain accurate records of support requests and communications.
  
• Document actions taken on each request.
  
• Attach required supporting information to service records where applicable.
  
• Maintain trackers, logs, spreadsheets, or reports as required.
  
• Ensure all records are clear enough for another team member to understand the history of the request.
  
• Follow company documentation and record-retention procedures.
  

Follow-Up and Monitoring

• Review outstanding requests regularly.
  
• Follow up on pending actions.
  
• Identify requests that are becoming delayed.
  
• Contact the responsible person or team where progress is required.
  
• Escalate persistent delays.
  
• Maintain visibility of unresolved requests until completion.
  
• Ensure customers are not left without updates.
  

Reporting

• Prepare daily, weekly, or monthly service desk reports where required.
  
• Report volumes of received, completed, pending, and overdue requests.
  
• Highlight unresolved issues and recurring service concerns.
  
• Maintain accurate activity and performance records.
  
• Support management with information required for service reviews.
  

Key Performance Expectations

Performance may be assessed against:

• Response time to incoming requests.
  
• Accuracy of ticket logging.
  
• Quality of documentation.
  
• Number of outstanding or overdue tickets.
  
• Timeliness of follow-up.
  
• Customer communication quality.
  
• Ticket closure accuracy.
  
• Compliance with service procedures.
  
• Escalation accuracy.
  
• Attendance and punctuality.
  
• Professional conduct.
  
• Customer satisfaction.
  
• Accuracy of service reports.
  

Requirements

Candidates should possess:

• HND, bachelor’s degree, or equivalent qualification in Business Administration, Customer Service, Office Administration, Information Technology, Computer Science, Communication, or a related discipline.
  
• Previous experience in customer service, call centre operations, helpdesk, service desk, office administration, customer support, front-desk support, or similar work is an advantage.
  
• Good computer literacy.
  
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, or similar productivity applications.
  
• Good written and spoken English.
  
• Ability to type accurately and maintain good records.
  

Fresh graduates with strong communication, organisation, computer, and customer-service skills may also be considered.

Technical Knowledge

This is a non-technical position, so advanced IT certifications or engineering experience are not required.

However, candidates should:

• Be comfortable using computers.
  
• Understand basic computer terminology.
  
• Be willing to learn basic IT service concepts.
  
• Be comfortable using ticketing systems and business applications.
  
• Be able to follow documented instructions accurately.
  
• Know when an issue should be escalated to technical personnel.
  

Required Skills and Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Excellent customer-service skills.
  
• Strong verbal and written communication.
  
• Good listening skills.
  
• Strong attention to detail.
  
• Good organisational skills.
  
• Ability to manage multiple requests simultaneously.
  
• Strong follow-up discipline.
  
• Ability to work under pressure.
  
• Good problem-solving skills.
  
• Professional telephone etiquette.
  
• Good email-writing skills.
  
• Accurate data-entry skills.
  
• Ability to follow processes and instructions.
  
• Ability to prioritise work.
  
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
  
• Reliability and accountability.
  
• High level of confidentiality and professionalism.
  

Personal Attributes

We are looking for someone who is:

• Polite and respectful.
  
• Patient with customers.
  
• Organised.
  
• Proactive.
  
• Reliable.
  
• Detail-oriented.
  
• Comfortable speaking with different types of people.
  
• Willing to learn.
  
• Calm under pressure.
  
• Persistent with follow-up.
  
• Professional in appearance and communication.
  
• Accountable for assigned responsibilities.