Student Development and Mentoring Assistant

JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Permanent, full time for 35 hours per week.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday with flexibility in start/finish times.

Organisation structure

Education and Students, Careers and Employability.

Your line manager will be Bridget Wells, Careers Consultant.

Place of work flexibility

Your time will be split between the Horizons, Reading office and your home*. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of four working days each month in Horizons. *Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable – please see the ‘Working from home’ section on our Careers Site for further information.

High level summary of job role

You will work across the Careers and Widening Participation teams, delivering and reviewing activities that support students and graduates to achieve successful work and study outcomes. These activities encourage the development of skills and confidence through engagement with the built environment industry and those working in it, and contribute to the delivery of the University’s strategies on Access & Participation, Widening Participation and Graduate Futures.

You will have the opportunity to be involved in a range of activities including industry Mentoring Programmes, Alumni Engagement, Networks, and live and virtual events such as Space to Study.

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

Mentoring

• Review the current mentoring provision and identify areas for development and improvement.

• Manage the mentoring programmes and activities on a day-to-day basis, supporting students and mentors with regular check ins, participant support and management of the mentoring journey.

Alumni

• Promote opportunities for alumni to support and engage with current students, maintaining up to date contact details.

• Work with the Marketing team to deliver cohesive messaging and service to alumni.

• Support alumni mentors, providing training and information.

Managing events

• Support the delivery of virtual and in person networking events, including the Women’s Network.

• Book speakers and/or alumni for events, adhering to the University’s External Speaker Policy.

• Provide administrative support such as communications, location, travel and catering arrangements and travel booking for Widening Participation and Careers events, including Space to Study.

Student success and engagement support

• Support the delivery and administration of student success initiatives, including the Student Officer Scheme and the Childcare Learning Fund.

• Contribute to evaluation processes and evidence gathering to demonstrate progress against institutional targets.

• Ensure appropriate risk assessments are undertaken for activities.

• Use research to support the development of initiatives and activities.

• Undertake training in areas such as safeguarding and supporting disabled students to ensure all students are supported as effectively as possible.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: None.

Budget responsibility: None.

In this role you will liaise with the following: Careers and Employability, Widening Participation, Disability and Welfare, Student Advice, Student Community, Marketing, built environment organisations, University student alumni

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement

How the person requirement will be assessed:

A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment

Please be aware that as part of safer recruitment and onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure unless specified otherwise), and three years employment history. This is all part of our commitment to safeguarding our students. Keeping our students safe is a responsibility shared by everyone within the University.

Qualifications and training

GCSE Maths and English language Grade C or 4 or above (E, A).

Degree level qualification (E, A).

Previous experience

Supporting and working with students (E, A, I).

Managing and delivering events (E, A, I).

Customer service experience (E, A, I).

Experience within the education sector / built environment / higher education (D, A, I).

Behaviours and attitudes

Alignment to the University’s core values and growth mindset approach, which reflect our culture. Refer to the specific behaviours within the Competency Framework (E, I) – summarised within the careers site.

Skills, knowledge, other requirements

Verbal and written communication skills (E, I).

Strong listening skills, with a commitment to providing excellent customer service (E, I).

Effective presentation skills, including presenting to groups of a variety of sizes (E, I).

Skilled in establishing positive and effective working relationships with staff, students, and external organisations at all levels and across a broad range of areas (E, I).

Ability to use own initiative to undertake and progress work (E, I).

Good time management and organisational skills (E, I).

A passion for continuous improvement (E, I).

A positive and enthusiastic team player (E, I).

Digital skills confidence: We use MS Office which includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and several other systems/technology (E, I).

Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students regardless of your area of work within the University; we want our students to be successful (E, I).

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed. The University is regulated by the Office for Students and Ofsted, and we have specific requirements and expectations around safeguarding, Prevent, and anti-harassment and bullying. This is all part of our Competency Framework requirements (E, I).

Knowledge of SITS or similar student or customer records database (D, I).

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: Salary range from £25,000 to £27,000 per annum

Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.

Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the People’s Pension which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether. We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.

Family-friendly policies: Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types. Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).

Wellbeing: Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.

Sustainable travel: Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.

Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.

Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).

Other valuable benefits:

• Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.

• You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.

• We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Charlotte Thackeray on 0118 467 2496 or email c.thackeray@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk

Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.

We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.

Closing date and next steps

We will receive applications until the advert closes on Monday 21 September 2026 at 17:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.

Interview details

Dates for interview will be advised to you later in the process. We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.

Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Note for internal candidates

If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.