Student Assistant

International Student Guides (2 Posts Available)  
Queen's University Student Experience Team requires two International Student Guides to play a leading role in the planning and delivery of a truly exceptional and enriching international student experience. 
These posts are available from an anticipated start date of week beginning Monday 2 September 2024, working up to a maximum of 12 hours per week to support the planning and delivery of the Pre-Semester Engagement Programme and International Student arrival. 
Thereafter, hours will vary per week, on average between 8-10 hours per week. 
 

Closing date:  Applications close at 11:59PM (Belfast time) on Thursday 15 August 2024.  Late applications will not be accepted. 
 

MAJOR DUTIES  

• To be an open and welcoming initial key point of contact for international students, providing answers to common student queries, and to promote the supports offered within One Elmwood Student Centre;   
• To facilitate regular student drop-in clinics (both in-person and virtually), which are tailored to a range of practical and administrative queries across the student journey, for example, registering with healthcare providers, opening a bank account, building connections etc. (full training will be given); 
• Assisting with campus duties associated with the Pre-Semester Engagement Programme, orientation, and supporting students with settling in through informal advice and guidance,   
• The planning, promotion, delivery and evaluation of ongoing International Student-led events to support student interaction and experience; 
• Through provision of training, the ability to work alongside Student Experience Team colleagues to facilitate the response to initial support queries. This may be particularly helpful where language skills present barriers to navigating and accessing support;  
• Familiarisation of and signposting key university support services including in-course support, Academic English Service, Immigration Support Service, Student Wellbeing, Accessible Learning Support Service (formerly Disability Services), Learning Development Service and the Graduate School; Accommodation, Queen's Sport, the Students' Union, Student Finance, and Careers, Employability & Skills;   
• To provide an excellent customer service experience to new and returning students;  
• To always act as an Ambassador for the University when undertaking the duties of the post;  
• Proactive monitoring of key issues and trends facing international students, with meaningful and effective events designed around student insight and engagement; data entry to shared spreadsheets / issues log to provide to supervisors within the Service;  
• Assisting with the creation of informed promotional content to highlight events, website and social media; 
• To assist with social media and website promotion, with input from the Service's Marketing and Communications Team; 
• Assisting with other projects throughout the academic year that help students settle into university life and learn more about the services & support available to them  
• Carry out any other duties which are appropriate to the post as may be reasonably requested by the Supervisor.   

Question 2: Please outline your student number, current course, year, and level of study (example: 40123456, Level 2, Undergraduate, BSc Biological Sciences). 

Application Process  

Within the Cover Letter please explicitly answer the following questions. Please pay regard to the Essential and Desirable Criteria. The Shortlisting panel use these criteria to determine your eligibility. It is therefore essential that you provide sufficient evidence of how you meet the criteria. 

Suggested word limits have been included to offer guidance on a suitable length. Please note these are suggestions, and not concrete limits. 

Question 1: Please confirm that you are an international student (a Student Visa holder). 

Question 2: Please outline your student number, current course, year, and level of study (example: 40123456, Level 2, Undergraduate, BSc Biological Sciences). 

Question 3: Events: What experience and/or knowledge do you have in working as part of a group to deliver an event (examples: clubs and societies events, social gatherings, school events). (Suggested word limit: 100-200 words)  

Question 4: Promotion tactics: Please describe what experience do you have of coordinating social media accounts, or content used to promote events and initiatives? e.g. websites, posters, event promotion (Suggested word limit: 100-200 words)  

Question 5: Ambassadorial duties: Please outline what experience you have of performing ambassador duties, representing an organisation or service, or communicating with peers on a personal or individual, communicating shared experiences basis (Suggested word limit: 100-200 words)  

Question 6: Please outline your current plans for travelling to Belfast ahead of the 2024-25 academic year. What date do you plan to arrive in Belfast? (The responses to this question will not be used for shortlisting purposes, but will help to give the panel a sense of how the successful applicants will be able to perform duties within the first few weeks. *Please do not change or alter any travel plans throughout any stage of this recruitment exercise.*) (Suggested word limit: 1-2 sentences).  

Question 7: Please confirm that you are available to take part in mandatory paid training during week commencing 2 September 2024. (Suggested word limit: 1-2 sentences). 

Essential Criteria  

1. Registered students at Queen's University Belfast for academic year 2024-25 and for the full period that these posts are available, otherwise the application will not be considered. (Please note, eligibility restrictions apply to PhD/MPhil applicants based on date of first registration as an undifferentiated research student, as per our code of practice and University Regulations associated with PGR students, in the first instance). 
2. At least three months' experience of undertaking a role requiring customer service skills or experience of delivering talks, workshops etc.; 
3. Experience of managing and delivering a project 
4. Experience of organising and/or promoting events/activities 
5. Experience using MS Office packages, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint 
6. Experience of using social media in a working environment 
7. Experience of working within a team 

Desirable Criteria  

1. Experience of working within a university setting 
2. Experience of updating websites 
3. Experience of managing a budget 
4. Experience of working on marketing/promotional campaigns 
5. Experience of designing publications/promotional materials 
6. Experience of undertaking tours or presenting to groups of people 
7. At least one month's experience of undertaking office-based administration e.g. answering telephone, email enquiries, photocopying