Recruitment of
Societies Co-ordinator
(Academic, Affecting Change and Sharing Activity)
August 2013
Job Description
Societies Coordinator
Responsible To:Student Activities Manager
Responsible For:Student societies (Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity)
Salary: £19, 056
Summary of Post
The post will facilitate the development, coordination and operational management of LGoS’ Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity groups. The post holder will also work with the rest of the Membership Services team in supporting students wishing to engage in activities which benefit and enhance their student experience.
Specific Duties
- Supporting Student Activity
The post holder shall:
-Implement sound structures and training to deliver high quality support for students involved in Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity groups.
-Offer advice and assistance to the students involved in Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity groups, with particular reference to encouraging high standards of performance, safety and participation.
-Provide executive support to the work of Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity groups including, but not limited to, managing databases, room bookings, supporting and overseeing events.
-To oversee the running of other Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity events
-To work with the other Society Coordinators to develop and implement LGoS events
-To support society committee members in creating development plans and agree targets for individual societies, including Give it a Go activity sessions
-Work with the Student Activities team, relevant groups, particularly the University’s Careers Service and the Volunteer Centre, in recognising the work of members involved in activities.
-Liaise closely with other members of the team in developing and delivering a structured programme of training for societies.
-Work with the membership services department to develop and implement the department’s plan
-Work with relevant staff on the promotion of membership services and activities.
-Build and maintain positive and close working relationships within the University and external partners to raise the profile of LGoS.
-Proactively encourage activities and opportunities which enhance the student experience.
-To identify any links our groups have with other groups and support these appropriately
-To ensure that volunteers are supported and developed according to the Investing in Volunteers accreditation to ensure an effective service is provided to our volunteers
- Training and Development
The post holder shall:
-Assist the department with the development and delivery of relevant training and reward systems for members involved in student activities, elected officers and staff.
-Develop and maintain involvement in appropriate national and local development programs and liaison groups.
- Community Engagement
The post holder shall:
-Support societies to further their outreach work
-Work with other student organisations within the city, collaborating on opportunities wherever possible which will support the performing arts and media groups.
- Representation
The post holder shall:
-Provide assistance, advice and support to elected officers in their lobbying and representational roles, including delivering briefings for meetings, research into issues and developing campaigns.
-Link local and national trends within student activity with the lobbying work of LGoS elected officers.
-Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of issues affecting the Higher Education and local agendas.
-Work with LGoS’ senior managers and other staff members on policy matters.
-Develop and maintain effective relationships with relevant university staff in order to progress and promote the work of the Guild.
- Supervising others
The post holder shall:
-Oversee the work of the Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity society committee members, ensuring that high standards of activity and personal development are available.
- Managing resources
The post holder shall:
-Monitor the Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity society accounts, including deciding on project grant applications within set guidelines, and regularly reporting decisions to the Trustee Board.
-To assist the Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity groups with the production of budgets and provide ongoing monitoring and support
-To assist the relevant societies with ongoing maintenance of their various facilities
-Authorise purchases and payments as appropriate, within agreed budgetary constraints.
-Explore and secure potential external funding streams for student activities
- Health, Safety and Hygiene
The post holder shall:
-Work in a safe manner, seeking to minimise hazards to ensure the safety of other staff and students, and report all safety hazards immediately.
-Ensure that all health and safety, fire and building regulations and procedures are complied with.
-Ensure all student activity is undertaken within a safety framework.
- Other
The post holder shall:
-Compile reports and manage records as required, including being responsible for the administration of relevant Guild databases.
-Be present at, and assist in the running of, Welcome Fairs.
-To ensure that personal knowledge and skills are updated to ensure effectiveness in meeting work objectives
-To maintain an up to date awareness of trends and developments related to Affecting Change, Academic and Sharing Activity groups and assist them in developing their activity including making recommendations for change
-Attend meetings and training events as required.
-Comply with Guild policies and procedures at all times and comply with and promote the environmental and sustainability procedures within the Guild.
-Contribute to the positive and professional image of the Guild and not act in such manner as to bring the Guild into disrepute.
-Undertake any other duties appropriate for the grade and responsibilities of the post that may from time to time be reasonably requested.
-Have a flexible approach to duties and work and, in particular, adopt a team work style with departments and activities across the Guild. This may involve undertaking duties in support of the activities and services of other departments in particular the venues department.
-To ensure the service is accessible for all members and meets the needs of LGoS’ diverse membership
Notes
The minimum working week for the post is 35 hours. However, due to the nature of the work, actual working hours may exceed this total and may involve some evening and weekend work. This is considered part of the contract and reflected in the grading for the post.
The job description is current at 12th August 2013 and will be reviewed annually. It outlines the main duties of the position and is designed for the benefit of both the post holder and LGoS in understanding the prime functions of the post. It should not be regarded as exclusive or exhaustive.
In particular, given the grading and nature of the post, the responsibilities of the post holder may well change from time to time. The post holder may, from time to time, be required to be based at and/or work from any University of Liverpool site.
Preferred Candidate Profile
The following sets out the range of personal qualities, skills and experience that the preferred candidate will be able to demonstrate. It is recognised that interested applicants will have a variety of previous employment histories and thus will be stronger in some areas than others. Interested applicants should however, seek to demonstrate in their application how their competencies best meet the criteria set out below.
Qualifications
- Degree or relevant management/professional qualification
Experience
- Project development and management
- Experience of working with, or as part of, student societies
- Motivating and developing volunteers
- Identifying and overseeing quality volunteering/fundraising projects
- Multi-agency collaboration
Knowledge
- Higher education and issues affecting students
- An understanding of the political process and the role of elected officers
- Awareness of the principles and current issues in the field of volunteering and fundraising
- An understanding of the way in which grant awarding bodies operate and distribute funding
Skills
- Independent and self reliant, being able to work without close supervision.
- An innovative approach to problem solving, being able to provide leadership and direction
- Comfortable in a team working environment.
- Computer literate, specifically on Microsoft Office packages.
- Able to build to build appropriate relationships with relevant partners.
- Excellent report writing and verbal communication skills.
- Able to understand and work towards a budget.
- Ability to manage working time effectively, and prioritise projects appropriately.
Aptitude
- A commitment to promoting the principles and practice of equal opportunities.
- A commitment to working within a student-led, democratic organisation.
- A commitment to staff and student development and to promoting a learning culture.
- Tactful and diplomatic with an assertive nature.
- Flexible and hard-working.
- Pro-active work style.
- Approachable nature, with the ability to relate to a variety of audiences in an appropriate manner.
Recruitment Process
Deadline for applications is 27th September 2013
Interviews will be conducted week commencing 7th October 2013
Due to the nature of the role we anticipate a high response rate and therefore may be unable to respond to unsuccessful applications. If you have been shortlisted then you will be contacted by 1st October. If you have not heard anything by this date then your application has not been successful. Thank you for your interest and we hope if your application is unsuccessful on this occasion that you will apply to us again should the opportunity arise.
What is LGoS?
LGoS is a lobbying organisation that brings people together and
works with them to bring about positive change.
Liverpool Guild of Students exists as both an organisation in its own right and as an integral facet of the University of Liverpool, helping to recruit students by offering them extra-curricular opportunities, retain students by supporting their academic and non-academic lives, and encourage students to return as postgraduates or alumni by fostering a sense of community.
Primarily our role is to lobby the University to the benefit of students, but we also offer advice and information, facilitate a democratic governance structure, work in partnership with the University, support student activity, provide a safe social environment, and enable personal development. However, these services are necessary but not sufficient to describe to what end we exist.
The influence we have, and seek to have, extends far beyond the University precinct. The students of Liverpool constitute one tenth of the City’s population, and their impact upon it has been significant both economically and socially. They have much to offer as students, but also as citizens, employees, volunteers and voters.
On a national scale, our members help to make up the 2.5 million higher education students in the UK. When the 5 million further education students - that share with them a national representative body and many of the same challenges – are added, it is clear that we are members of a large family that seeks to both promote the interests of students and, by demonstrating the positive effects of education, benefit the country as a whole.
We also believe that students have a legitimate place in discussing and influencing world affairs. The National Union of Students was founded in 1922 in order that students from the UK could be formally represented at conferences of the ‘Confederation Internationale des Etudiants’, described at the time as “an intellectual brotherhood among the students of the world, from whom will naturally be drawn the rulers of another generation, and which will contribute greatly towards the peace of the world”. This is an ideal to which we still subscribe: that if citizens of the nations of the world can meet and understand each other, through their efforts perhaps conflict can be avoided and a better world realised.
Governance Structure
LGoS is a democratic organisation; that is, our members – the students of the University of Liverpool – elect students as decision makers.
Eight Student Trustees are elected to sit on the Trustee Board alongside four non-student external trustees. Four of the Student Trustees also take on the full time role of Student Representative Officer and are known as the President, Deputy President, and the two Vice Presidents.
The Trustee Board has overall responsibility for the management and administration of LGoS, fulfilling this by setting the overall strategic direction and directly managing the Chief Executive. Management and administration on a day-to-day basis is therefore delegated to the Chief Executive and staff team.
The role of the Student Representative Officers is to gather feedback from students and lobby the University and other external bodies, be it the local council, police, NHS, transport providers or businesses in order to bring about positive change for students. To help them do this, our governance structure is designed to gather information from students in a number of ways.
16 students are elected to sit on the Student Council, the principle purpose of which is to advise the Trustee Board on the strategic direction LGoS should be taking, based on the opinions and views of students.
The 16 student councilors are elected from the body of students present at the first student forums of each academic year.
The forums are divided into four groups Guild Life, University Life, Societies Life and Liverpool Life, each meet four times a year. Students and Student Representative Officers are encouraged to submit agenda items for each forum. The agenda items can range from discussion items on issues that the national student movement is debating to positions that students feel the Guild should take, to finally policy suggestions. All Guild policy has to have the approval of a forum, if a forum passes a policy it sends it to the Student Council who debate the merits and if that body passes the policy it is sent to the Board of Trustees who analyze the policy and check that it is in keeping with the charitable objectives of the organization.
We also have committees that consider matters of a strategic nature, such as finance and recruitment. We ensure that the committees have democratic credibility by ensuring that at least one student representative officer and student trustee are present, each committee also has an external trustee who has voting rights. Senior staff with duties that fall within the scope of the committee such as the Director of Finance will attend the Resource Committee are encouraged to attend and usually present to the committee but they do not have voting rights and committee and Board decisions bind the Chief Executive.
In addition we gather information from students involved in activity groups and from student representatives, each course has its own representative. But we are always thinking about and looking for new ways to determine student opinion. This has led us to find new ways to ask students their opinions via social media; the organisation is committed to a program that expands the use of digital communication so that we create a constant two-way dialogue.
/ Follow on Facebook —/LiverpoolGuildofStudents /
Follow on Twitter —
@LGoS / LGoS, 160 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool, L3 5TR
Phone 0151 794 6868
Our democratic governance structure
Liverpool Guild of Students
Strategic Plan
(2010-2015)
LGoS Values
The pursuit of our mission will be shaped through the following values:
Responsible
We will employ sustainable methods for achieving our mission and vision by providing services that are financially sound, improve our environmental impact and raise awareness and involvement in sustainability projects.
Partnership Driven
We will strengthen and develop key collaborative partnerships that will enhance the ability of LGoS to fulfil our mission and offer greater value to our members.
Inclusive
We will strive to provide a wide range of services, opportunities and products that meet the needs of our diverse membership and pro-actively encourage participation.
Innovative
We will use information and data from our members to lead our decision making and development whilst benchmarking appropriately to ensure that we remain fit for purpose.
Involving
We will continue to develop a culture where members can comment on what is good and what is not and influence how we can progress.
/ Follow on Facebook —/LiverpoolGuildofStudents /
Follow on Twitter —
@LGoS / LGoS, 160 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool, L3 5TR
Phone 0151 794 6868
LGoS Organisational Chart
July 2013
/ Follow on Facebook —/LiverpoolGuildofStudents /
Follow on Twitter —
@LGoS / LGoS, 160 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool, L3 5TR
Phone 0151 794 6868
Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form
In accordance with its policy on equality and diversity Liverpool Guild of Students (LGoS) will provide equal opportunities to any employee or job applicant and will not discriminate either directly or indirectly because of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, or pregnancy and maternity.
In order to assess how successful this policy is we have set up a system of monitoring all job applications. We would therefore be grateful if you would complete the questions on this form. You are, however, of course, under no obligation to do so and if you would prefer not to answer some or all of the questions please return the form indicating that this is your choice. We have asked for your name to enable us to monitor applications at shortlisting and appointment as well as application stage.