Service Desk Analyst

Shoosmiths - UK Law Firm of the Year Winner at the Legal Week British Legal Awards 2015.

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

Shoosmiths are currently undergoing an exciting period of development and investment in the IT infrastructure, with 40 live projects currently underway to transform business processes and increase efficiency firm-wide. As these developments and implementations continue, we are looking for talented individuals who are passionate about delivering excellent service who want to proactively contribute to the continued success of Shoosmiths.

We are currently looking for a temporary Service Desk Analyst to provide cover to the existing team (number 6 in total) on a 3 month rolling contract. You will provide 1st and 2nd line support services across the firm covering 12 offices in total, ensuring delivery of the highest level of support and coaching to end users. You will also ensure the business systems are being used in the most efficient and cost-effective manner, resulting in maximum return on IT investment. 

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is looking to move into their first IT role who may have recently completed a relevant qualification or certification. Full training will be provided to the successful candidate. 

As a member of the Service Desk Team, you will provide first and second line support for over 1,500 business users. You will be responsible for coordinating and managing issues through to successful resolution, involving relevant third-party or external third line support teams when required, whilst ensuring compliance with the firm’s IT security and service level agreements.

You will also be involved with assisting for resource planning for peak periods, presentations and out of hours client work, as well assisting with IT relocations and office moves.

You will be giving the opportunity to provide guidance and support to firm-wide Help Assistants as well as working closely with department experts for more detailed application fault diagnosis and scheduled upgrades. Therefore, excellent communication skills and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships within the IS department and all practice areas within the firm is paramount. 

The ideal candidate will have excellent customer service experience and sound communication skills, with the ability to work with a range of stakeholders at all levels. You will also have exposure to meeting deadlines and targets, able to use your own initiative to resolve issues in a high-volume department. Furthermore, you would have ideally undertaken formal customer service training and have a relevant IT qualification (e.g. CompTIA IT Fundamentals, Microsoft Technology Associate, BTEC ICT, IT related degree, etc.).

Essential experience:

• Good understanding of IT systems and infrastructure.
• Ideally you will hold a relevant IT related degree or BTEC qualification.
• Has had exposure to working to tight deadlines and working to agreed standards/SLAs.
• Able to use own initiative to resolve problems while working under pressure.
• Excellent communication skills
• A self-starter who is determined to succeed but can also work well in a team environment.
• A minimum of 5 GCSEs grades A-C including Maths & English

Desirable experience:

• Microsoft Product Certified / A + Certification
• Qualified at ITIL foundation level or above.
• Extensive knowledge of Service Desk environment.
• Equivalent and preferably some professional qualification such as MCP or MOUS certification.
• Familiarity with LAN (and WAN) technologies
• Formal customer service training.
• Experience in a law firm, professional services firm or other service sector industry.

You may also have experience in the following: IT Helpdesk Support, IT Support Analyst, Service Desk Engineer, IT Desktop Analyst, 1st/2nd Line Support Analyst, IT Support jobs, Service Desk jobs, Junior IT Helpdesk, Junior Service Desk Support. 

Additional information: Travel to other Shoosmiths offices may be required and you may also be required to work outside the core business hours of 8am-6pm on occasion. 

Benefits package 

Shoosmiths has an outstanding benefits package; we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm. These include:

• A pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5.5%
• Generous life assurance cover for peace of mind, up to 8 times salary
• Up to 23 paid working days holiday per annum with the option to buy up to 8 additional days. You can choose to 'flex' twice a year - January and July
• 'Happy Birthday!' - have a free day off to celebrate and a £50 voucher to spend! (We won't take it from your annual entitlement)
• Childcare vouchers which are not subject to tax or NI
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Staff introduction bonus scheme
• Corporate discounts on a wide variety of products and services
• Discounted conveyancing and legal advice, for instance for wills and family trusts

If you'd like to enquire about the salary, please feel free to get in touch with me via matthew.mercer@shoosmiths.co.uk or 03700 863 267. 

The application process

We will aim to respond to you within 3-4 working days following your application. If successful, you will be contacted by a member of our recruitment team for an informal telephone discussion. There will be two interview stages which will be held at our Northampton office. 

Interested but have further questions? Get in touch with me directly via email (matthew.mercer@shoosmiths.co.uk), phone (03700 863 267) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-mercer-91811a25). 

Background checks

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted.  These checks will include employment references covering the last 5 years, proof of ID, proof of address covering the last 5 years, Personnel Vetting credit search (which will only highlight insolvency or County Court Judgments - should any adverse data show on the Personnel Vetting search then any offer of employment made will be withdrawn).Terrorism Check (against data supplied by the Bank of England) and a DBS check previously known as a Criminal Records check.    

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.