Advice Manager

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Job description

Who we are

Part business, part charity, part membership body - students' unions are all seriously fun places to work. They are organisations in their own right. Professionally run, but different. Professional teams support elected student leaders to make change, improve lives and fulfil potential; we help make it happen.

Founded in 1897, LSE Students' Union is one of the oldest Students' Unions in the UK and is the representative and campaigning body for students at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Like other Students' Unions, it also funds and facilitates student activities of campus, including societies, sports clubs through the Athletics Union (AU), the Media Group and Raising and Giving (RAG) charitable fundraising initiatives.

About the job

The LSESU Advice Service is a sector-leading service with high student satisfaction rates and a talented and high-performing team composed of 1 full-time Adviser and 2 part-time Advice Assistants.

The Service provides advice to students on a range of academic and housing issues, whilst also administering a series of increasingly sought-after hardship funds.

The Advice Manager will be expected to become an expert in the various areas of advice and support provided and, whilst the bulk of the casework will be team-delivered, the manager will also be expected to provide 1:1 student advice and to hold a regular caseload, as well as providing strategic leadership of the department and overseeing case supervision.

In addition to reacting to student demand, we are also a proactive service that produces regular blogs and manages two social media accounts. The successful candidate will therefore be responsible for setting and overseeing the Service's communication and engagement strategy with a view to increasing stakeholder awareness, improving service accessibility, and delivering regular, proactive and useful information to students.

Another key aspect of the role is departmental support for student officers. What this looks like will vary, but likely responsibilities include writing and delivering committee briefings, supporting policy and campaigns work and being involved in officer project teams, including potentially as project manager.

The Advice Service also sits within the wider Student Voice Department, which includes the Representation Team. The job therefore entails working closely with and supporting colleagues across the department, as well as across the organisation.

Who are we looking for?

In many ways this isn't a typical Advice Service, and we're not looking for a typical Advice Manager. We pride ourselves on our innovative approach to service delivery and are looking for someone who shares that creative ambition and attitude.

Being a skilled and experienced caseworker is considered essential. We are looking for someone who is both empathetic and pragmatic, and capable of handling an-at-times large and complex caseload whilst maintaining low response times and handling challenges with a positive and solution-focused attitude.

Key to this role is the strategic leadership of the Advice Team. You should be someone with vision who is able to set ambitious targets, with the motivation and skills to execute them. Line management experience is therefore desirable although we would consider exceptional candidates without this experience provided they were able to demonstrate relevant transferrable skills, including a capacity to lead, manage and motivate others, and an ability to take 'tough' decisions.

Given the key role in providing 1:1 advice; leading a team; setting and delivering our communications and engagement strategy; writing and copy-editing blogs and social media posts; and potentially writing and delivering committee briefings; strong interpersonal, written and oral communication skills are considered to be essential.

We are seeking someone who is self-motivated, driven, a strategic leader and a role model to others. Someone who is a team player, able to bring others long with them and to build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships.

If this sounds like you, we'd love you to apply!

Why apply?

Because you're excited by the challenge! The exact opposite of corporate, we're progressive, daring and creative individuals working to make a difference in unconventional workplaces.

Benefits and Perks

In return for your passion and experience, we offer:

• 25 days holidays per year
• Additional closure periods at Christmas and Easter
• Free LSE Students' Union gym membership, advice from dedicated professionals, wth a wide range of activities including yoga classes, dance classes, pilates classes
• Cycle to Work scheme enabling significant savings on bicycle purchase
• Access to LSE & UAL staff training courses
• Ability to purchase TOTUM (NUS) card giving wide range of discounts
• Flexibility for work-life balance
• Interest-free travel loan

How we recruit
We want to ensure all systems, policies and processes are free from bias or discrimination and are fair and accessible, therefore we ask that all candidates complete our Application Process in two stages:

Part 1 (Application Form) is all about you telling us about your suitability for the role and will be used to determine if you are shortlisted for interview.

Part 2 (Equal Opportunities Monitoring and Contact Form) is personal information - so we can contact you if you are shortlisted for the interview. It also helps us gather and analyse demographic information about our applicants. This part will only be seen by HR and will not have any impact on shortlisting.

Application forms are formatted to ensure the equality monitoring data is removed before applications are seen by the shortlisting panel. This process allows us to ensure that the shortlisting is done in a fair and consistent manner and all applicants are given the same opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.

Unfortunately, we can only consider applications made thorugh our website.

Want to apply?

To apply, please complete our online application which can be found on our website via the button below.

For more information on the role, please refer to the job description which can also be found on our site.

If you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Head of Student Voices, Ricardo Visinho, via email.

Please ensure that you have listed the lse.ac.uk email domain to your safe senders' list to receive all communications related to your application.

Job application timeline

Closing date: Monday 9AM, 6 December 2021

Intended Interview dates: 13 December 2021