Senior Student Recruitment Assistant

The Role 

Are you hardworking, organised and passionate about university education and the opportunities it can offer young people?  Would you like to work as part of a busy and friendly team in a varied and dynamic role? The UK Recruitment team have an exciting opportunity for you to join us as a Senior Student Recruitment Assistant  

The Senior Recruitment Assistant supports the work of the UK Recruitment Team by providing an efficient and professional customer service to all stakeholders, in order to maximize and diversify the number of well-qualified undergraduate applicants and student intake to the University. Duties include supporting the organisation and delivery of a range of events and activities (online and face-to-face), and responding to enquiries from prospective UK students and their influencers to ensure home recruitment targets included in the University’s Student Recruitment Strategy and Access and Participation Plan are met.

The Newcastle University UK Recruitment Team develops, leads and delivers a range of exciting events and activities designed to encourage young people from across the UK to consider university and to give them a taste of what life is like as an undergraduate student at Newcastle University.  

The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting the work of the UK Recruitment Team by providing an efficient and professional customer service to all stakeholders, to maximize and diversify the number of well-qualified undergraduate applicants and student intake to the University. Duties include supporting with the organisation and delivery of a range of events and activities (online and face-to-face) including our complex, large scale residential summer school events and responding to enquiries from prospective UK students and their influencers to ensure home recruitment targets included in the University’s Student Recruitment Strategy and Access and Participation Plan are met. 

You should have a good educational background to at least GSCE standard, or equivalent, including demonstrated writing and numerical skills. You should have good communication skills, both oral and written as well as an ability to communicate effectively with a range of ages of potential students, parents, academic colleagues and external contacts. Experience of working within a complex, busy and varied customer focussed service with excellent time management, organisational and administrative skills is essential. Experience of working with large datasets and confidence using Microsoft Excel would be advantageous. It is desirable that you have an awareness and understanding of the issues affecting the progression of prospective UK students entering Higher Education. 

This is a busy and exciting role, providing the post holder with a great deal of job satisfaction and would be suited to candidates wishing to begin or progress their career in the Higher Education Sector. 

Find out more about the work of the UK Recruitment Team - www.ncl.ac.uk/schools/   

The position is available on a full time, permanent basis.  

The UK Recruitment Team currently work flexibly enabling you to work in the office 3 days per week with the option to work the other 2 days at home (meetings, events and travel permitting). 

Interviews will take place on Wednesday 6th August, in person on our Newcastle campus. 

Informal enquiries about the role should be directed to: Mary Kelly, Student Recruitment Manager by email: mary.kelly2@ncl.ac.uk 

Please note that if you are successful to this role, you will require a DBS before you can commence in the role

Key Accountabilities

• Serving prospective UK students and their influencers in accordance with service standards and procedures to provide a welcoming, prompt, effective and efficient service to all customers.  This includes organising recruitment events and visits, responding to enquiries received by web form, post, email, telephone, Live Chat and in person, and evaluating all activity to ensure continuous improvement
• Provide support for all school and college recruitment visits carried out by the UK Recruitment Team across the UK by liaising with target schools, organising visit logistics, hotel reservations, hire car bookings and all other visit arrangements
• Provide support for a range of recruitment events (online and face-to-face), led by Student Recruitment Co-ordinators. This includes supporting events such as residential summer schools; a range of on-campus events, such as campus tours and Offer Holder Events; and organising logistics for UCAS exhibitions
• Support the administration of the PARTNERS Programme as required. To include processing PARTNERS application forms; answering queries; liaison with the Admissions Team regarding individual applications
• Maintenance of finance spreadsheets, under the direction of the Student Recruitment Managers, to record spending on Undergraduate Recruitment and Admissions-related accounts and support the Head of Undergraduate Recruitment and Widening Participation in the provision of financial reports, external audit information. Use SAP/P2P as an interactive user to undertake relevant purchases and payments
• Maintain accurate student records to allow appropriate monitoring and tracking and lead capture through the appropriate systems; ensure files and accurate records are kept in accordance with The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Complete user testing as appropriate
• Liaising with Academic Schools, teams and services as required. Including working closely with the Faculty colleagues, UG/PG Admissions Teams, the International Recruitment Operations team, Student Services, Estates and external providers as appropriate, to provide a streamlined, consistent and top quality customer service to prospective UK students and their influencers
• 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 that may be identified during the course of the year
• Contribute to other relevant duties and activities identified by the Head of Undergraduate Recruitment and Widening Participation to encourage applications to the University from well-qualified students. This includes support for the University’s residential summer schools programme, support for the Confirmation and Clearing process, support for FE and mature student activities, parents’ events, Open Days and Offer Holder Events, and attendance at appropriate conferences to ensure ongoing updating of knowledge

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience (Essential)

• Absolute accuracy and reliability, including in times of extreme pressure
• Good communication skills, both oral and written as well as an ability to communicate effectively with a range of ages of potential students, parents, academic colleagues and external contacts
• Total confidentiality and ability to deal with sensitive situations and customers who may be upset, assertive etc
• Excellent time management skills, organisation and administrative skills
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills 
• Initiative and a creative approach to problem solving
• Excellent IT skills
• Substantial experience of working within a complex, busy and varied customer focussed service

Attributes and Behaviour

• Willingness to work some evenings and weekends
• Receive Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS)

Qualifications

• A good educational background to at least GCSE standard or equivalent including demonstrated writing and numerical skills