Are you passionate about providing outstanding customer service and helping students feel at home? Join our dynamic team as a Residence Services Advisor and play a vital role in delivering a seamless, student-focused accommodation experience.
About the role
The University manages over 1700 bedrooms on the Plymouth campus, mostly occupied by 1st year undergraduate students as well as supporting small cohorts of health students alongside our NHS partners in Torbay, Taunton and Truro.
Working closely with our Hall Officers, you’ll be an integral part of a team dedicated to offering support for all student queries from welfare to maintenance whilst they are resident in our halls. You’ll be the first point of contact for public-facing queries, whether by phone or email, offering clear and accurate responses and signposting services both inside and outside the University. Many enquiries come from parents or families and whilst working on the service inbox or phone line you may occasionally be the first point of contact dealing with upsetting or sensitive issues, escalating these as appropriate, following protocols such as confidentiality and GDPR.
You'll use our bespoke accommodation software, StarRez, to manage bookings, track occupancy, allocate parking spaces and keep records of all interactions. Day to day you’ll provide administrative support to the Halls Team including setting up meetings, ensuring records are updated and minuting formal meetings with students held as part of our conduct and complaints processes. You will also monitor daily updates from our buildings provider for example maintenance resolution reports, ensure that any issues match our list of outstanding issues and highlight trends and recurring problems at team meetings, to ensure that students’ living environment is maintained to the highest standards.
This is a role where no two days are the same. Daily working hours will be negotiated with the successful candidate and using the University’s flexible hours policy this may involve working up to one evening per week to support students who cannot attend meetings during the day due to placements or course commitments. There may also be a requirement to occasionally cover an evening shift since the team supports each other with cover when essential.
To support the core activities of the University the whole Accommodation Team are involved in key events such as Open Days, Applicant Days, Student Arrivals, and University Clearing. This requires an element of weekend working approximately 10 times per year. Whilst the role is office based, there is a requirement to interact directly with prospective students, families, and supporters, and helping them navigate the journey to University life as well as visiting halls and checking on issues as they arise, therefore the opportunity to work from home is limited in this role.
If you're ready to make a positive impact and be part of a fun, supportive team, we want to hear from you. Whilst an understanding of Student Accommodation issues would be helpful, it is more important to be highly organised, solution focussed and able to deal with changing priorities as full training will be given.
There is an essential requirement within this role that you will be required to travel to and work at different University sites and/or other business locations that may not be easily accessible by public transport.
This is a full-time position working 37 hours per week on a permanent basis. We regret that there is no opportunity to work from home in this position.
This role will require an Basic Disclosure and Barring Service Check
For an informal discussion to find out more about the role then please contact Rebecca Figg by email at rebecca.figg@plymouth.ac.uk.
For more information about the job and the person specification, please refer to the job description.
Application Process
Please apply online, demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the knowledge, qualifications, training, and experience elements of the job description in your supporting statement.
Following the closing date of the vacancy, you will be notified on the outcome of your application in due course.
Anticipated Interview Date(s): 12th February 2025
Our Offer
A successful external candidate for this position would be employed by the University of Plymouth Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Plymouth. Employees of the University of Plymouth Services Limited work alongside the University of Plymouth colleagues in delivery of Plymouth’s strategic vision, and will adopt the University of Plymouth’s HR policies and procedures in full unless otherwise stated.
When joining us, you will receive:
*Pro rata if part-time
A summary of our comprehensive benefits can be viewed here.
Additional Information
The University of Plymouth is an inclusive community where everyone is welcomed regardless of their background. To find out more about our inclusive community initiatives, such as Athena Swan and the Race Equality Charter, please visit our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webpages.
We particularly welcome applicants from under-represented communities at the University of Plymouth, such as people with disabilities, ethnically diverse and LGBT+.