Receptionist

Salary: £21,761 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: 26 March 2023

The Role

We are seeking to appoint a motivated and enthusiastic person to join the Professional Services Team in the School of Modern Languages to provide effective and efficient reception support.  This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and expanding School with colleagues from around the globe.

We are looking for an individual with solid organisational skills and excellent interpersonal and communication abilities preferably with experience of working in a busy office environment. You should have up-to-date IT skills, a good general education with the ability to pay attention to detail and work to tight deadlines. You should be a team player but also able to use initiative to prioritise key tasks to ensure deadlines are met.  A positive ‘can-do’ attitude and a flexible, helpful and professional approach are essential.

To apply, please complete an online application and upload a CV and a covering letter. Your covering letter is a supporting statement and should outline how you meet the essential criteria of the role and evidence this with examples.  Any informal enquiries are welcome and should be directed to leigh.whitlie@ncl.ac.uk.

Key Accountabilities

• Reception
  • To run the School’s reception by responding to telephone, email and personal enquiries from staff, students and external visitors to provide a friendly, efficient and professional customer service
  • To undertake general office duties to support the operation of the School Office, such as maintaining noticeboards, reporting building faults, filing, maintenance of School records as well as responsibility for dealing with deliveries and post
  • To be responsible for photocopying, copyright and maintaining photocopiers in liaison with suppliers, monitoring and reporting on their use. Ensuring timely distribution of photocopying for teaching and events. Train all staff in the use of copiers, including secured print and scanning
  • To co-ordinate door/floor signage including signage for academic consultation hours
  • Ensure sufficient keys are cut and stored securely for SML offices
• Support to Teaching and Student Recruitment
  • To assist with the organisation and running of student recruitment days: UG and PG Open Days and Offer Holder Days (OHDs).  Note that some OHDs and University Open Days may take place on a Saturday meaning that occasional Saturday working would be required
  • To assist with the updating of Canvas, including the SML Community
  • To write standard letters for students
  • To ensure exam scripts delivered to the School are passed to markers in a timely fashion and that they are archived in accordance with GDPR rules
• Support to Research, Events and Finance
  • To assist with the organisation, advertising and running of conferences and other events including making room bookings and ordering catering for campus events as well as making hotel and travel bookings for staff and students for specified events
• General Clerical Support
  • To be responsible for keeping stationery supplies stocked, replenishing and re-ordering as appropriate according to the needs of the School and in line with University policies
• Other Duties
  • To act as Fire Warden for SML areas of Old Library Building.  Undertake regular health and safety inspections under the guidance of the School Safety Officer
  • Other tasks as designated by the line manager appropriate to the grade

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Excellent planning, organisational and numeracy skills, with attention to detail and ability to work to tight deadlines
• Excellent and proven interpersonal skills, ability to relate well to others, to be patient, calm and tactful
• Able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with the ability to deal independently with potentially difficult students.  Ability to write well and accurately
• Ability to work both as a team and independently, working flexibly as required

• Experience of managing own time effectively, working autonomously, using initiative and judgement to resolve problems
• Experience of working in a relevant role in a busy office environment, working both independently and as part of a team

Attributes and Behaviour

Communicating            

• Uses clear, concise and accurate communication, tailoring approach accordingly and encouraging a two way communication process
• Disseminates key messages to staff and colleagues internally and externally and ensures understanding
• Understands how best to appeal to the other person/group, correctly interpreting the right way to approach a situation
• Is factually correct and gives consistent verbal and non-verbal messages
• Clear and concise: gets the message across to others
• Chooses communication tools appropriately e.g. selective use of emails and other channels of communication

Delivering Services

• Works continually towards achieving excellent service delivery through understanding and meeting the expectations of the University, students, colleagues and others
• Cooperates with others in achieving targets and deadlines
• Takes responsibility for achieving own targets
• Has a positive attitude for doing things better
• Pays attention to detail
• Is enthusiastic in getting the job done on time

Team Working

• Works collaboratively with others, plays a positive role in teams and establishes and grows relationships across the organisation
• Shares relevant and useful information with others
• Keeps other team members up to date with progress
• Respects the value that different views bring to the team

Planning and Organising

• Manages time, resources and own workload by prioritising and organising effectively
• Works in a planned and structured way
• Ensures that all activities are completed on time

• Uses systems and tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date

Qualifications

• Comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Excel, Outlook, email and Internet
• Good level of general education - must include 5 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C/5 or above
   

Newcastle is an inclusive global University community 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 Global 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 our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from everybody, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital status/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, as well as being open to flexible working practices.

The University holds a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. The University is also a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 25231