Additional Job Information

Student Voice Manager

Thank you for requesting further information about one of our vacancies. We have prepared this information to help you apply for the job. Please read it carefully. We look forward to hearing from you.

Birmingham City Students’ Union – A change organisation

At Birmingham City Students’ Union our purpose is to ‘enhance our students’ experiences and have a positive impact on their lives’. We have spent the last 9 months developing our strategic direction to better support our student membership. We have been recognised in the sector for our work within Student Engagement through winning the Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Support for Students (2010) for an exciting partnership with the University as well as the National Union of Students (NUS) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) joint award for Innovative Student Engagement (2011). We are at an exciting stage of our development mirroring the opportunity for change we aim to create with and for our students.

Our vision is to ‘positively impact on and enhance the lives of every Birmingham City University student’. We have set ourselves this massive challenge to ensure we are catering for the wide range of students that make up our membership. Our primary goal is to represent all 25,000 students and create positive change within their university experience, be it inside or outside of the classroom.

At the centre of all of this is a strong ethos of promoting accessible democracy and placing the student voice at the heart of our work. We are a collection of all our students, a force for change and full of active students. We will be at the heart of students’ lives.

This is where you come in, enabling student leaders to deliver on these key aims and goals.

Our Structures

Birmingham City Students’ Union works independently of the University, although we receive invaluable grant income from them each year. Set up as an independent charity, the Board of Trustees comprises of 5 Sabbatical Officers (students elected annually from the student body, who work full time to lead and direct the organisation and to represent the students). In addition the newly approved Memorandum and Articles of Association introduced non-sabbatical student trustees and external trustees for the first time. We also have 7 part time officers who join the 5 Sabbatical Officers on a separate Executive Committee.

The wide range of services includes the well established Advice and Information Centre, which provides comprehensive and professional advice and advocacy for all University students. The Union runs over 50 student groups covering a whole spectrum of sports and special interest societies and has developed a significant number of opportunities for students to undertake volunteering work within the local community. The Union runs various awareness campaigns for students on issues such as health awareness, accommodation advice and financial matters. We create meaningful engagement throughout all our activity supported by our dynamic Marketing and Communications department.

We are also proud of our new Student Voice department, developed from a successful history of student representation, democracy and campaigning on issues such as health and welfare, accommodation, academic issues as well as campaigns on wider issues such as opposition to lifting the cap on fees.

Our commercial operations provide important services to our members and generate funds to allow the Union to provide other services to support students. Despite national trends, we constantly strive to improve the take up of these services. Our turnover stands just short of £2m across a wide range of activity. We currently operate 2 bars, 2 shops, 2 catering outlets, a varied entertainments programme and a range of independently run units as well as a one-year-old lettings agency, Birmingham City Students Homes.

To support all of the activities described, the Union has a core staff team of 40 and some 80-student staff. Birmingham City Students’ Union strives to be a positive employer. This means that our basic employment practices are designed to provide a rewarding environment for everyone who works within the Union. We are especially proud of our award winning work life balance policies.

So … if you want to work for a student focussed, stimulating and vibrant organisation; if you want to help students get the most from their time at University; if you want interest, variety and fun in your work environment … then come and work for the Students’ Union. We know that our strength lies in the quality of the people we employ and of those students we support…

The Department – Student Voice

The Student Voice Department is integral to the Union. All our activity is led by students, influenced by students and where possible delivered by students. By reacting to the student voice we have significantly changed our strategic direction, created new opportunities for involvement and successfully enabled change at all levels of the University, enhancing the student experience.

We recognise that the function of representation and democracy is evolving. Through emergent partnerships with the University there is a wealth of activities that support the generation and capture of the student voice outside of the Students’ Union traditional sphere. It is these more informal, non-traditional routes we need to work alongside and engage with to continue our effective representation of the needs and desires of our students. At the same time we wish to further establish our core student representative structures, democratic processes and student led decision-making, embedding the Students’ Union as a key partner within the University.

Within the team we currently have one full time Representation Coordinator and one full time Democracy and Campaigns Coordinator. The team is further supported by fixed term student and graduate interns providing key project based support for online learning and teaching development and coordinating our student partnership agenda. Our aim is to develop the whole resource to develop student voice activity further and to establish better, local links with faculties through a number of student interns.

The landscape of Higher Education is changing and along with it are several key developments within the University namely a new Vice-Chancellor and major estate changes. Through this role and this department we want to ensure that students and the student experience is at the forefront of these changes creating a positive impact on their lives.

The Job – Student Voice Manager

The Student Voice Manager will lead this department into the new phase of operation, diversifying our activities and strengthening our ability to accurately and timely represent the student voice.

We are looking for a creative individual who is passionate about working with and on behalf of students with a desire to create student led change. Not shy of challenging the normal approach or traditional routes we need someone to lead people, finance, policies and procedures and to create meaningful engagement with staff and students to drive forward the Student Voice over the next 3-5 years.

Summary of Terms and Conditions

Work Base: You will be based at one of our main campuses: City South Edgbaston, City North or a City Centre campus with an expectation to visit and work at each campus when appropriate and planned.

Hours and weeks of work:35 hours per week all year

Holiday Entitlement:32 days pa rising to 37 days with long service, plus 8 statutory days

Rate of Pay: Scale S01, (£24,646 - £26,276)

Probation period:3 months

Flexible Working:We are proud to have won the Birmingham and Solihull Best Business Awards for 2007 Work Life Balance having been placed as finalists the 2 years prior. We were awarded a Gold Award 2010 for Work Life Balance.

Applications for flexible or part time working arrangements are welcomed and will be considered.

Timescale:Provisional interview date of the 24th of September 2012

How to apply

The application form is your first opportunity to demonstrate suitability for the post, and, as we operate within an equal opportunities framework, we base any decisions solely on the information you provide.

Within this pack is the Job Description and a person specification. We will use this to assess your application. Candidates who are able to demonstrate that they meet the person specification most closely will be most successful. You should address each point on the person specification in turn within your application.

Please DO NOT SEND CVs as we will not consider them.

Please make it clear on the form which position you are applying for.

Please complete the enclosed application form and return it by midday on the closing date of 4th of September by email to or to the address below.

Julie Cato, Recruitment (SVM01)

Birmingham City Students’ Union

Franchise Street

Birmingham

B42 2SU

Thank you for your interest in Birmingham City Students’ Union, we look forward to receiving your application.

Additional Information for the Student Voice Managerpage 1