How we support you: what help is available and how to find it - Helen O'Leary

The start of a new academic year can feel a little overwhelming, even for experienced exam officers. My team of Customer Support Managers is here to help and we’ve lots of different ways to support you, whether you’re a new exams officer or have been working within a school for years and simply have some questions.

Firstly, did you know you can follow us on Twitter – my team posts lots of useful tips, information, key date reminders and the odd topical cartoon so, if you don’t already, why not follow us @OCRCustSupport.

One of the key parts of our role is to attend local exam officer network meetings – thanks to all of you who have already invited us along, please keep the invites coming! If there are any groups we’re not attending, or haven’t visited for some time, it would be great if you could invite your local Customer Support Manager along and allow them a slot on the agenda. Just get in touch and let us know you’d like us to get involved in your network.

To make it as easy as possible to find your local group we’ve teamed up with The Exams Office to produce a free-to-access network map – simply find your local group and get in touch with the contact listed to find out the details of the next meeting.

If you already attend a network meeting then we’d love to know what you think. We’ve put together a short survey so, if you have a couple of minutes, please take part and help us make the networks even better.

We also run network meetings for teachers. If any of your colleagues want to find out more about any of the qualifications we offer then please do ask them to complete our Expression of Interest form.

New to OCR qualifications or just want to refresh your knowledge? Admin training sessions on a variety of our qualifications are available on an ad hoc basis and are free of charge. We just need a minimum of 8 attendees (which we’ll help you to find) and a centre with a suitable room. Just get in touch with your Customer Support Manager to see how we can help you.

We understand you don’t all have the same questions and administering qualifications is a complex task. We’re always happy to consider any request for bespoke training which relates to our administrative and operational processes. So, if you’ve a topic in mind, then get in touch with us. We’d love to hear from you.

We’re also supporting The Exams Office and RTA Training with the delivery of a number of training events in October and March. Designed for those who are new to the exams officer role, the training will provide comprehensive support around the main exam-related tasks and activities needed for general qualifications.

We want to support you throughout 2015/16 so do get in touch to let us know if there is anything we could do to improve our support to you.

About the author

Helen O'Leary - Senior Customer Support Manager

Since joining Cambridge Assessment in 2004, Helen has worked in many areas of the organisation, starting her career with Cambridge International Examinations, before taking up her current role in 2011 as Senior Customer Support Manager for OCR.

Helen's role is extremely varied and she considers herself really lucky to get to meet many of OCR's customers, across a wide variety of educational contexts. She is passionate about great customer service and loves to hear about what OCR get right, as well as what could be improved, so that OCR can provide an enhanced customer experience.

In this blog series, you’ll hear from a variety of experts across OCR and the wider organisation. Helen hopes you find the information useful and if there’s anything that you would like to see featured then please do get in touch.