Hi, I'm starting my HMRC journey as a CS advisor soon. Are there any prep work/resources I can read before my first day?

Hi Norbert, thank you for your question and good luck with starting your HMRC Journey!

Apologies, I'm unaware of any specific preparation work or resources you're required, or could read. However, my advise would be, and what I did when I joined the Civil Service to prepare, was search for the role online.

I presume 'CS' is a customer services advisor? There are webpages such as this one on the civil service careers website, with videos available to view about the role, what to expect etc: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/hmrc-the-role-of-a-customer-services-advisor/

When preparing for my role, I took time to reflect and research about the role. For example, understanding HMRC's role more generally - how tax contributes to the wider community. As well as beginning to familiarise myself with some key terms, such as PAYE, Self-Assessment, National Insurance, VAT, etc.
If you know what area you're going into, such as Income Tax and looking at Self-Assessments, then you could familiarise yourself with key information, such as SA filing dates.

Other more broad research I did was reviewing HMRC values and understand how much role, and how I wanted to work would fit in to these. There are pages, such as looking at success profiles, which may give a good understanding of your role and expectations at certain grades. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Regarding customer service in particular, I would reflect on what key skills I have and what I wanted to improve on. For example, I knew I would be having customer meetings; I wanted to improve negotiation and developing rapport, so I sought guidance and learning on these subjects, such as online reading regarding showing empathy and dealing with 'difficult situations', in a professional manor.

It is positive you want to prepare, but don't put pressure on yourself to do so. My key preparation was reflection that resulted in starting a role with an open mind, willingness to learn, and positive pro-active attitude.

I hope this helps.
Daniel