Outreach Events Assistant - External Relations - 107600 - Grade 5

External Relations is comprised of nine teams which help drive delivery of the University’s strategic framework. External Relations communicates with Birmingham’s many different audiences in order to build purposeful relationships internally, locally, nationally, and globally. We enable those who wish to apply to study on undergraduate and postgraduate courses to make informed choices while ensuring our partnerships, profile, and reputation reflects the success of the University and delivers impact. External Relations sits within the University’s Professional Services structure which provides outstanding support to our researchers, enables an exceptional educational experience for our students, and helps the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally.

External Relations drives forward crucial strategic developments to maximise competitive advantage for the University and support flagship institutional projects.

The Outreach team are responsible for supporting the entry to the University of students from underrepresented groups. We also work with the Student Recruitment and Admissions team to develop, promote, and fulfil the University-wide recruitment and admissions policy and strategy for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This involves a wide range of activities including supporting University representation at higher education fairs throughout the country and in particular in the West Midlands and other identified areas, coordinating visits to schools and colleges, receiving incoming visits from school pupils, teachers, careers officers, and school leaders, and planning and delivering programmes for students in identified groups.

Role Summary

The Outreach team at the University of Birmingham is looking for a recent University of Birmingham graduate to join our busy team as an Outreach Events Assistant on a one-year fixed term contract.

The Outreach team works with students at schools and colleges across the West Midlands and nationwide, providing them with information, advice, and guidance about higher education. Our programmes and activities are designed to help students raise their aspirations and feel confident about applying to, and succeeding in, university level study. We work with over 250 partner schools and colleges, hosting visits for school groups and presenting at events in school.

This will be an active, varied, and hands-on role which will involve supporting the Outreach team in their work with schools and colleges across the West Midlands region and also with our nationwide partners. You will be working with school groups, hosting visits for students on campus, visiting schools and colleges across the region and country to speak to students and teachers, and supporting the delivery of events for students on our outreach programmes.

The role will provide opportunities for you to develop your communication, project management, and decision-making skills. You will be able to take ownership of different projects and events under guidance and supervision.

The main duties of this post will include:

• Events – preparing for and delivering events for students and teachers, including on and off campus events
• Public speaking – delivering talks to students and teachers
• Project management – taking responsibility for a wide range of administrative tasks and duties to contribute to the overall success of projects

Main Duties

• Delivering talks and presentations to school/college groups from across the wider West Midlands area.
• Providing information, advice, and guidance relating to higher education and the University of Birmingham.
• Preparing resources for school talks to suit the needs of the audience.
• Liaising with contacts in schools and colleges to arrange the visits.
• Attending careers and HE fairs across the region held in schools and colleges and also those delivered by partner organisations.
• Leading on-campus visits by school and college groups and preparing resources for students to use at these events.
• Supporting the general running of events including completing tasks in advance of events and helping the smooth running of events on the day.
• Supporting Senior Outreach Officers and Outreach Officer with events-related tasks. You will be responsible for all aspects of event administration, including devising promotional materials, social media posts and management, organising invitations and monitoring responses, venue identification and booking, and booking catering. You will need to coordinate with colleagues in order to ensure smooth and successful delivery of events.
• Communicating via email with teachers and students. You will deal with a wide range of more complex enquiries and correspondence independently, or exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University.
• Evaluating events and sharing information about events on Outreach systems. You will devise methods to ensure the University receives targeted feedback from attendees; you will consider this and make recommendations for future events.
• You will be responsible for recording event statistics and measuring these against agreed key performance indicators (KPIs) such as achieving attendance rates, cost per head targets, etc.
• Supporting student recruitment events at the University including Open Days and more general HE Fairs organised by UCAS and other organisations.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• A recent undergraduate degree from the University of Birmingham, or currently studying for an undergraduate degree with placement year at the University of Birmingham, with the ability to use this experience to demonstrate your knowledge and enthusiasm of Birmingham to prospective students.
• Effective public speaker with the ability to engage varied audiences.
• Excellent communication skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills whether dealing with students, academic staff, external organisations, or other members of the office team.
• Confident in liaising with different audiences including students, teachers, and parents.
• Confident user of technology including Excel, PowerPoint, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.
• Have a passion and enthusiasm for higher education, and be willing to share your experiences with others.
• Understanding of the widening participation agenda and the work of university Outreach teams.
• Aptitude to prioritise own workload, decide on short-term priorities to complete all tasks accurately and to a routinely high standard even when working to challenging and/or conflicting deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University [http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/colleges/index.aspx] and higher education institutions work.
• Willingness to engage and the ability to empathise with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to travel to schools and colleges across the wider West Midlands area and across the entire country as required.
• Awareness of Safeguarding