Outreach Officer

Salary: £29,605 to £30,487 with progression to £32,982 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 01 May 2024

This is an exciting time to join the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE) as we take forward our strategy to showcase our outstanding reputation.   

As an Outreach Officer, the postholder will work as part of the Faculty Marketing and Communications Team to coordinate the Faculty’s representation at events on and off campus and during colleges/schools visits, aligned to the University’s recruitment strategy. The post holder will have a key focus on the fantastic School of Engineering (www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering)

The School of Engineering has a rich history in the city and brings together all engineering disciplines to provide collaboration across teaching, research and innovation. The School is undergoing significant investment and we’ve recently launched phase 1 of our Stephenson Building, which is a £110million development creating state-of-the-art facilities for learning, research and industry partnerships.  

The successful candidate will play a key role in developing and delivering a range of student-focused, aspiration-raising interactive activities and materials designed to raise awareness of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects offered by the Faculty and to encourage the recruitment and conversion of high quality students from diverse backgrounds.

Excellent organisation skills, a confidence in presenting to large groups and the ability to build outstanding working relationships with key stakeholders are essential parts of this role. 

For more information about the SAgE Faculty, please click here. 

For more information about the School of Engineering, please click here. 

We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive working environment and we would be happy to discuss arrangements for flexible and/or blended working.

The appointment is fixed term (ending in October 2025) and offered on a full-time basis (37 h/pw) with an immediate starting date. 

To apply, please complete an online application form and upload a CV and covering letter. Please structure your covering letter as a supporting statement of no more than two sides. Please outline how you meet or exceed the requirements for the role as listed below.

For an informal chat about the role, please contact Laura Jones, Student Recruitment and Marketing Manager (Outreach) (SAgE Faculty) on laura.jones8@ncl.ac.uk 

Key Accountabilities

Under the guidance of the Student Recruitment Marketing Manager (Outreach), lead the development and delivery of high-quality events and activities for target schools and colleges. This will include:

• Organisation and delivery of aspiration-raising projects and activities
• Development and delivery of high-quality presentations and workshops designed to raise the awareness of STEM subjects, in schools/colleges to a range of target audiences including potential applicants, parents/carers and school staff
• Leading on the development and organisation of high quality, on-campus STEM events and activities for target schools and colleges. This includes overseeing the recruitment, selection, training and co-ordination of Student Ambassadors, aligned with central University processes and policy to support delivery of these events
• The recruitment, training and coordination of the work of current students employed as Street Scientists to support the delivery of outreach activity. This includes providing Child Protection Training; ensuring students receive Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)) where appropriate, monitoring student performance and implementation of disciplinary procedures
• Contribution to the ongoing evaluation of these projects and activities, and the monitoring and tracking of individual students in order to evaluate the impact of events and gauge their appropriateness, effectiveness and impact for the target audience/s. Prepare relevant evaluation reports for managers about the activities undertaken to ensure continuous improvement of activity
• Contribution to ongoing work with target schools and colleges by carrying out visits throughout the UK to deliver activities, presentations and other appropriate outreach and awareness-raising sessions in schools/colleges.
• Develop and produce appropriate recruitment-related publicity / marketing information (print, web-based and new media) to raise the profile of the University and its activities among target audiences.  
• Organise and deliver aspects of collaboratively run projects and events. This may include contributing to the development and delivery of conferences and events for target groups such as looked after young people, disabled students, parents and teachers. 
• Support the representation of the University at a range of Higher Education recruitment events throughout the UK including large undergraduate Higher Education conventions, smaller recruitment and careers events in individual schools and colleges, and other recruitment events as may be identified during the course of the year.  
• Develop excellent relationships with key internal and external stakeholders. 
• Work closely with colleagues involved in marketing, student recruitment and communications at Faculty and University level to ensure alignment with the University’s student recruitment strategies and communications, share best practice and undertake joint planning to maximise impact.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• An awareness of the UCAS application system, recruitment and admission cycle for university students and an awareness of the issues affecting the progression of students from widening participation cohorts entering Higher Education 
• Outstanding communication and presentation skills, both oral and written, in a range of styles appropriate to target audiences
• The ability to plan and organise intensive, complex, customer-oriented events or projects, including evaluation of effectiveness/impact
• Excellent time-management and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage a complex workload
• Excellent team working skills with the ability to initiate, develop and maintain productive working relationships with key stakeholders
• Initiative and a creative approach to problem solving
• Experience of working with and enthusing young people about Higher Education 
• Willingness to work some evenings and weekends.
• Full, clean driving licence 
• Willingness to travel throughout the UK and overseas and stay overnight, as required.
• Receive Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)

Desirable

• An awareness and understanding of complexities of recruitment to STEM subjects nationally and knowledge of issues relating to aspiration-raising, widening participation and progression

Attributes and Behaviours 

Communicating  

• Tailors content of communication to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately  
• Uses face to face communication regularly; team meetings, one to ones, informal discussions/chats, briefing sessions etc
• Can hold attention of others using appropriate techniques; questioning, rhetorical questions, changing tone and pace of voice and animated style

Planning and Organising  

• Sets own priorities in conjunction with team and area objectives
• Uses systems and tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date
• Ensures that others know how process and systems work
• Maintains flexibility in work plans to allow for changing circumstances   

Team-working  

• Shares relevant and useful information with others  
• Willing to help others and share workloads 
• Respects the value that different views bring to the team

Understanding others 

• Clarifies understanding of others to avoid misinterpretation  
• Adapts own response to take into account cultural differences, behaviours and perspectives

Delivering Services  

• Sees other departments and colleagues as “customers” and follows through on their enquiries and requests  
• Keeps fellow team members up to date with progress 
• Takes responsibility for achieving own targets 
• Pays attention to detail 
• Strives to deliver high quality results

Qualifications 

• Degree or equivalent levels of experience

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26901

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