Job Title: Work Experience Officer

THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM Recruitment Role Profile Form

Department: Careers & Employability Service

Salary: £22,249 to £26,537 per annum , depending on skills and experience. Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance

Job family & level: APM Level 3

Contract Status: Permanent

Hours of work: Full time, 36.25 hours per week

Location: Any UK campus

Reporting to: Careers and Employability Placement Consultant

Purpose of the Role:

The University’s ambition as part of Global Strategy 2020 is to strengthen the opportunities for University of Nottingham students to undertake work experience while studying at the University. The Work Experience Officer will play a key role in the delivery of Careers and Employability Service led placement and internship initiatives.

The role-holder will be expected to;

 Ensure the successful delivery of the Nottingham Internship Scheme through effective engagement with students, graduates and host organisations.  Effectively administer grant funding to support host organisations in hiring interns through the Nottingham Internship Scheme.  Effectively administer grant funding to support students undertaking internship/placement experiences overseas.  Support the growth of internship/placement/work experience programmes for specific student groups, currently in development.

The role-holder will also provide administrative support to the Careers and Employability Placement Consultant in activities related to the development of placement activity across the institution.

To achieve our desired aims the post holder will need to demonstrate excellent organisational skills, a proven ability in developing relationships with external stakeholders, an ability to manage a high volume workload and work to tight deadlines, and an understanding of the graduate labour market.

The role will require occasional evening work during peak periods, and occasional early morning and weekend work from time to time. It will also require occasional travel around the UK. NB – The Nottingham Internship Scheme provides financial support in the form of grants to external organisations to assist them in creating paid internship opportunities for students and recent graduates from the University of Nottingham.

Main Responsibilities % time per year

1. Business/External Engagement 30%

- Develop new and maintain existing relationships with employers to secure suitable opportunities for the Nottingham Internship Scheme and other initiatives. - Devise and implement strategies to increase the number of opportunities, including marketing campaigns, events and visits to employers. - Manage incoming enquiries from employers, with a focus on turning speculative enquiries into opportunities, directing enquiries to colleagues where appropriate. - Represent the Careers and Employability Service at relevant events and networking opportunities. - Assess employer demands, problems and enquiries and resolve these in a timely and effective manner, escalating to line manager where appropriate. - Contribute to the development of service wide employer engagement activity.

2. Student/Graduate Engagement 20%

- Work closely with colleagues within the Careers and Employability Service to effectively promote the Nottingham Internship Scheme and other work experience initiatives to current students and recent graduates. - Liaise closely with the Information and Communications team, contributing to the development of materials to promote work experience activity. - In collaboration with Employability Education Project Officer colleagues, design and deliver a programme of pre, on and post internship support to students involved in the Nottingham Internship Scheme. - Contribute to the design and delivery of events to promote the Nottingham Internship Scheme to students, with support from the Careers and Employability Placement Consultant. - Manage student queries and problems relating to internships, independently or through liaison with appropriate colleagues.

3. Nottingham Internship Scheme Administration 20%

Ensure the effective end-to-end delivery of the Nottingham Internship Scheme including; - Assessing suitability of job descriptions. - Making necessary checks regarding; insurance, health and safety and risk assessment. - Liaising with internship providers to define selection and recruitment processes. - Advertising opportunities. - Monitoring and managing applications. - Supporting host organisations in arranging interviews, through to offer stage. - Effective monitoring of internships through to evaluation, managing issues if required. - Working with colleagues to create and ensure the delivery of effective pre, on and post internship support activities. The role holder will be expected to create and develop effective systems and processes to support the above activities (including reporting). 4. Awarding financial support, project reporting and budgetary 10% responsibility

- Judging applications from external organisations in order to make fair and consistent decisions on eligibility to receive financial support. - Judging applications from students in order to make fair and consistent decisions on eligibility to receive financial support, with specific regard to the International Work Experience Grant. - Administering grant payments. - Maintaining effective reporting processes and monitoring budgets.

5. Supporting the development of new work experience initiatives 10% led by the Careers and Employability Service.

- Working closely with the Careers and Employability Placement Consultant, colleagues and external organisations, to support the development of new work experience schemes and activities.

6. Administrative support and liaison across the university 10%

- Providing administrative support to the Careers and Employability Placement Consultant in activities related to the growth and development of placement activity across the institution. - Liaison with relevant stakeholders across the university to ensure consistent and up to date information and messages with regard to internship/placement activity.

Any other responsibility commensurate with the role.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

Essential Desirable

Qualifications/ Higher National Diploma (HND), or Degree or equivalent. Education equivalent qualifications/certification, plus A recognised project management considerable experience in a qualification. relevant role(s).

Skills/Training Excellent communication skills with Knowledge of Higher Education sector / Knowledge ability to tailor approach as required including knowledge of employability by audience. challenges linked to the graduate recruitment market. Excellent project management skills.

Excellent written communication skills and the ability to report information accurately and succinctly.

Ability and confidence to present information clearly to senior colleagues.

Successful track record of meeting challenging targets, and prioritising a complex workload.

Ability to work in a team environment, supporting colleagues and sharing expertise.

Excellent networking skills.

Experience Experience of graduate recruitment Experience in the design and delivery of and/or managing work experience or presentations and workshops internship programmes. Experience of working within a business Demonstrable experience of effective and/or student facing role, preferably in a engagement with employers and higher education environment. external stakeholders to generate opportunities.

Experience of recruitment and selection and associated practices.

Experience of project-based work involving tight deadlines and budgetary responsibility.

Experience of grant funded activity and reporting.

Demonstrable experience of working collaboratively with colleagues.

Experience of using CRM systems.

Statutory/ Knowledge of relevant legislation Legal relating to work experience activity e.g. data protection, employment legislation, disability support

Decision Making i) taken independently by the role holder; Prioritising own workload

Organisation of events and responding to unforeseen problems that arise during the day to day co- ordination and management of events/activities.

Independently resolving queries from internal and external stakeholders.

ii) taken in collaboration with others; Planning and scheduling of marketing activities and other relevant events or initiatives

Development of web materials

Attendance at external networking events to maximise opportunities of building new and relevant relationships. Decisions regarding appropriate methods for initially approaching new external contacts.

Decisions regarding the awarding of financial support where requests fall outside of defined eligibility criteria.

iii) referred to the appropriate line manager (Careers and Employability Placement Consultant) by the role holder. Decisions about complex or sensitive situations, which cannot be solved independently.

Expenditure in relation to events, promotional activities, etc.

Substantial changes to systems and processes.

Additional Information This post will make a significant contribution to the aim of the University to encourage all students to gain work-based or placement experience while studying at the University. This is articulated in our Global Strategy 2020 as to ‘Provide students with opportunities to develop the skills, qualities, knowledge and experience to prepare them for high-value employment in their chosen field’ and specifically, to ‘Create more work experience, placement and internship opportunities for students locally, nationally and internationally’.