GAP Social Opportunities Assistant

Job Role: GAP Social Opportunities Assistant

Department: BedsSU

Location: Luton Campus 

Salary: £12.01 per hour 

Hours: 22.5 hours per week (October 2024 – April 2025)

To be eligible to apply you must be a graduate who received an Undergraduate Honours degree from the University of Bedfordshire between January – July 2024. 

About the Social Opportunities Assistant placement

Our vibrant Social Opportunities programme has welcomed more than 3,000 unique students to over 220 events across 6 of our campuses in the academic year 2023/24. In line with our Strategic Plan, we want to be with students on their distinctive student journey, which means we have to offer a diverse range of events and activities to mirror our hyper-diverse student body. As such, our programme of events incorporates: daytime and evening events; regular events such as our weekly Games Night and Film Night; cultural events such as Diwali, Eid Al-Fitr, and Nigerian Independence Day; our regular club nights such as AfroBeats, DesiBeats and Mid-week Madness; and student-led events run by our student Societies. 

On this placement, you will be a key part of the team that develops and delivers this programme, experiencing every stage from working to a budget, liaising with host venues, risk assessing activities, and sourcing materials, to the set up and facilitation on the day, and using student feedback to develop future plans. Additionally, you will be prepared to work flexibly around our Social Opportunities programme: some evening work will be required and you must also be comfortable working in an environment where alcohol is on sale.

As a small team, we require everyone to play a role in the frontline team, always being willing and able to be the first point of contact for students with Beds SU, whether that be providing email support in our Enquiries service or supporting our “front of house” service at our Help Desks. You’ll develop your questioning skills to make the interaction as useful as possible, champion Beds SU at information fairs (e.g. Refreshers Fair) or in induction talks/lecture shout-outs, and help create and develop student-friendly self-help resources to support students on their journey. 

Full training and support will be provided so nervous public speakers or first-time budgeters are very much welcomed.

About BedsSU 

Beds SU operates independently from - but in partnership with - the University of Bedfordshire to bring students together, empower the student voice and advocate for a fair, equitable and rewarding student experience at every campus. 

Our close-knit team covers the breadth of the student experience, supporting students: 

• In their course – using feedback gathered by our Course Reps (students elected, trained and supported to gather and pass on feedback on the academic experience) and in forums/online, we are  seeking to consistently improve the academic experience so students see more of what they like, and less of what they don’t;
• In their student life - our vibrant Social Opportunities programme ranges from cultural celebrations such a Diwali and Eid al-Fitr, to club nights, and events for child-friendly events for students with children, engaging thousands of students this year; we utilise our commercial spaces in Luton and Bedford, Metro and the Hub, to help students put their stamp on their campuses;
• To create positive change – through our elected Officers and Networks for historically oppressed student groups, we run campaigns and make representations on behalf of students, whether that is contacting MPs about the impact of upcoming legislation, or lobbying local suppliers to provide reduced prices for students in the cost-of-living crisis; recent representations have resulted in subsidised catering on campus for students, free period products, and an expansion of our Community Pantry; 
• When they need support - welcoming students to our spaces through our Help Desks and online enquiries system, we take a pride in getting to students to the correct team and the support they need within 2 working days; our free, confidential and independent Advice Service supports students with everything from academic appeals and academic misconduct issues, to landlord disputes and general safety/wellbeing issues. 

In all of our work we seek to embody our values, being bold, caring, present wherever students are, and putting students first. If this sounds like you, Beds SU needs you on the team.

You can find out more about BedsSU at: https://bedssu.co.uk/

For more information about the role access the attached job description and personal specification. 

Eligibility

The GAP is open to any graduate who undertook an undergraduate (BA/BSc/BEng/LLB) course at the University of Bedfordshire on either a full or a part time basis, and were awarded their honours degree between January and July 2024.

You will not be eligible to apply if you are currently or will be undertaking any postgraduate study at the University of Bedfordshire or another university during the period of the placement.

We are not able to accept applications from current registered students at the University of Bedfordshire.