ASSISTANT ACCESS AND OUTREACH OFFICER
FURTHER PARTICULARS
The College seeks to appoint an Assistant Access and Outreach Officer who will undertake a range of activities to support and strengthen the College’s efforts to attract the strongest candidates from all kinds of schools and colleges, irrespective of background.
The College
Founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas White, St John’s College is among the oldest of the thirty-nine colleges of the University of Oxford. The College, which enjoys registered charitable status, is an independent, self-governing body which functions both as an academic institution and as a social and residential centre for its members. Almost all of the subjects offered by the University can be studied at the College.
The College has approximately 400 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students. The Fellowship includes approximately 100 academics, of which 50 are members of the College’s Governing Body which has overall responsibility for all aspects of the running of the College. There are approximately 200 non-academic staff.
For further information about the College, please visit our website at:
About the post
The College aims to maintain its current high standards of academic excellence and at the same time to attract applications from students with the highest academic potential regardless of background. St John’s is proud of its reputation as a socially diverse community and is committed to working with the University, with schools and colleges and with other organisations in order to contribute to widening participation in higher education.
As part of the University of Oxford’s ongoing commitment to engage with all schools, each Oxford college is linked to a region to ensure that all schools have a first point of contact within the University. As part of this programme, St John’s is linked with the London Boroughs of Harrow and Ealing, and with Brighton & Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex.
The College has recently developed proposals for an outreach project (the St John’s Inspire Programme) to be conducted with the College’s linked schools. With this in mind, we are developing an outreach programme for high-achieving pupils in non-selective state schools. We want to encourage pupils with exceptional promise to aim high, to stretch themselves academically, and to be confident in making well-founded applications to a top university like Oxford. The programme will be developed and piloted initially in our London linked region, Ealing/Harrow, and then adapted and rolled out in the Sussex linked region. The launch of the first phase will take place during June 2017. It is expected that the final cycle of the programme will take place during the 2021-22 academic year. The College’s Access and Outreach Officer has been seconded for a two-year period in order to get the Inspire Programme off the ground. The purpose of the advertised post is to cover some of the College’s existing access and outreach activities during this period of secondment. The post is available from as soon as possible and will end on 30th June 2018.
Working under the supervision of the Access and Outreach Officer, the main duties of the postholder will involve being a point of contact in the College for information about undergraduate applications and admissions, and will deal with schools, colleges and prospective applicants. They will undertake a range of activities to support and strengthen the College’s efforts to attract the strongest candidates from all kinds of schools and colleges, irrespective of any particular background. The postholder will work within the College Office at St John’s, liaising with the Academic Dean and other senior College members.
The postholder will also be required to provide assistance to the Undergraduate Admissions Officer during the annual undergraduate admissions process.
Specific duties include:
Access and Outreach
- Co-ordinate and deliver a programme of liaison with schools and colleges in the UK to provide students, parents and carers with accurate information in an appropriate format about all aspects of applying to and studying at St John’s.
- Maintain relationships with schools in the College’s linked areas, as part of the University’s regionally co-ordinated outreach programme.
- Co-ordinate and deliver a number of visits by potential candidates and schools to St John’s to provide an opportunity to experience academic life within College.
- Co-ordinate and deliver a programme of liaison with teachers, such as the College’s annual Study Week for Teachers, which provides an opportunity for teachers and education professionals to stay in College for a week during the summer.
- Work with the Access and Outreach Officer and the Undergraduate Admissions Officer to organise and deliver College open days.
- Work with the Access and Outreach Officer to recruit, select, train and co-ordinate student helpers to assist with the College’s recruitment and widening access activities.
- Provide assistance to the Access and Outreach Officer in the organisation and delivery of the Inspire Programme.
- Provide support to other members of College engaged in access and recruitment activities.
- Work under the direction of the Access and Outreach Officer in order to maintain the College’s existing links with other providers of schools and colleges liaison activities and draw upon best practice inside and outside the University of Oxford – e.g., the University’s Central Admissions team, UNIQ, student funding and access office, other colleges, departments, the student union, and external bodies such as HELOA and IntoUniversity.
- Assist with development and maintenance of web-based materials and other resources related to recruitment, admissions and outreach programmes at St John’s.
- Any other duties as required by the Access and Outreach Officer, cognate with the areas listed above.
- Undergraduate Admissions Process
The Undergraduate Admissions process is a particularly intense period, beginning in October and continuing on a largely full-time basis until December. The postholder will work closely with and under the supervision of the Undergraduate Admissions Officer to provide assistance during this period. Specific tasks will include:
- Collating information on, and liaising with, subject tutors and applicants;
- Assisting with selecting, briefing and coordinating student helpers;
- Organising and overseeing remote (e.g. Skype) interviews; and
- Assisting the Admissions Officer with the smooth running of the process.
Selection Criteria / Person Specification
Requirements Essential
and
desirable
criteria
E D
Education / Qualifications
- Educated to degree level or equivalent professional qualifications. E
Experience and Attitudes
- A demonstrable interest in access and outreach work. E
- Recent knowledge and/or experience of higher education and an interest E
in the current issues facing the higher education sector.
- Strong administrative experience and organisational skills. E
- A flexible attitude towards duties, including a willingness to work both E
independently and as part of a team.
- Flexible in their approach to their work – the role requires the postholder E
to spend some time away from Oxford visiting schools and colleges, and
willingness to occasionally work outside of the standard office hours
(evenings and weekends).
7. Experience of teaching, undergraduate recruitment, widening D
participation, or other relevant areas within higher education.
Skills, Knowledge and Abilities
8. Excellent written and spoken communication skills and excellent E
interpersonal skills with a record of influencing and motivating others.
9. A confident communicator, able to deal with potential applicants, E
teachers, careers advisers, parents, university staff and students and
members of the public.
10. Excellent IT skills including experience of and confidence with Microsoft E
Office packages and databases, and familiarity with use of web-editing
tools and social media.
11. An ability to work calmly under pressure. E
12. The ability to work to multiple deadlines and to prioritise workloads. E
13. The successful candidate will be required to undergo a DBS Check. E
14. A full, clean UK driver’s license. D
Terms and Conditions of Employment
Salary: Appointment will be at Grade 5 of the University’s salary scale for academic related staff, according to experience.
Hours of work: 33.75 hours per week, the distribution of those hours to be agreed with the successful candidate. As the demands of this role require very flexible working patterns, including some time spent away from Oxford, the postholder will be expected to be flexible in order to meet the demands of the post. There are also particular periods of the year when longer working hours or occasional weekend work may be necessary. Time off in lieu may be given by arrangement with the Academic Administrator.
It is expected that longer hours of work may be required during the admissions period in December.
Holidays: Annual leave entitlement is 30 days, to include 5 fixed days to be taken at Christmas, plus 8 public holidays. Personal leave is to be taken out of term time, although it may occasionally be possible to take up to five consecutive working days leave during term-time, subject to operational requirements. Bank holidays which fall within term may need to be worked, though if this is the case two days of paid holiday in lieu of each day worked will be given. The holiday year begins on 1 January and ends on 31 December. All leave must be approved in advance.
It will not be possible to take leave during the two-week admissions interview period in December.
Meals: The postholder is entitled to free lunches in the Senior Common Room when the College kitchens are open.
College gym: The postholder will be entitled to use the College’s gym facilities, subject to the completion of an online induction.
Right to work:The appointment will be subject to the provision of proof of the right to work in the UK. This role will not attract sufficient points to obtain a sponsored tier 2 visa under the points based immigration system, however applications are welcome from candidates who do not currently have the right to work in the UK, but who would be eligible to obtain a visa via another route.
Probationary and notice periods: The appointment is subject to satisfactory completion of a six-month probationary period, during which the notice period will be one month on either side.
Additional information: As this post involves working with young people, the offer will be subject to a satisfactory report from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
How to apply
There is no application form. Candidates should email a covering letter and a curriculum vitae with details of qualifications and experience to . Applications should be in the form of a single PDF file. Candidates must also provide the names and contact details of two referees.
Please ensure that all information relevant to your application is included in your attached document as the selection committee will not be provided with any information provided in your email.
Your application should be emailed to the College by no later than noon on Thursday 22nd June 2017. Late applications will not be accepted.
If you have previously been employed, your referees should be people who have direct experience of your work through working closely with you for a considerable period, and at least one of them should be your formal line manager in your most recent job. Otherwise they can be people who know you from recent education, or voluntary experience. It is helpful if you can tell us briefly how each referee knows you. References will not be taken up before the interview stage.
Any queries related to these further particulars should be directed in the first instance to the Access and Outreach Officer, Katherine Fender.
Recruitment monitoring: Candidates are encouraged to include a completed equal opportunities monitoring form with their application. Your information will not form part of the selection process and will not be disclosed to the selection panel. Please send this electronically as a separate PDF document to the email address above.
Data protection: All data supplied by applicants will be used only for the purposes of determining their suitability for the post, and will be held in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the College’s Data Protection Policy.
Equality of Opportunity: The policy and practice of the College requires that all staff are afforded equal opportunities within employment and that entry into employment with the College and progression within employment will be determined only by personal merit and the application of criteria which are related to the duties of each particular post and the relevant salary structure. In all cases, ability to perform the job will be the primary consideration. Subject to statutory provisions, no applicant or member of staff will be treated less favourably than another because of their sex, marital status, sexual orientation, racial group, age, disability or religion and belief.