Community Safety Officer - Campus Services - 99701

Position Details

Campus Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £22,050 to £23,535, with potential progression once in post to £28,631

Band 400

Full Time / Permanent 

Closing date: 4th September, 2022

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. 

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.  We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. 

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.  With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. 

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.  We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. 

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.  In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. 

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.  On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. 

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham .

Background

The University of Birmingham Safety & Security Team is in a period of transformation and service improvement, so this is an exciting time to join a diverse and skilled new element of the department.
The Community Safety Team is a new concept, which puts the safety and experience of our students, staff and community first.   

The purpose of this role is to deliver an excellent customer focused security service to University staff, students, visitors and other external services. As a Community Safety Officer, you will be empowered to support engagement campaigns, create social media content to profile work being delivered by the Safety Team, and provide intelligence led, reassurance patrols of the University grounds and local areas.

You will also be required to provide first response to incidents which may require initiative and an independent risk assessment, whilst also applying the relevant escalation processes. A large part of the role entails interacting with students, listening to their concerns and improving engagement within the community. As such, you will need to have first class communication and interpersonal skills. 

Role Summary

We are looking for someone who can deliver a customer focused service who can support the Team Manager in delivering campaign activity and engagement. The role requires someone with strong communication skills who can also quickly make decisions. If you want variety, a great team to work with and the ability to contribute to the student experience, this is the role for you.

As a team, we go beyond the traditional boundaries and as an individual you must have the personal fortitude and flexibility to deal with this challenging and varied role.  We are prepared to invest in and train the right candidate, helping you to develop skill sets required to carry out your duties.

The role will involve working around the needs of the University community, which may include unsociable working hours and will require flexibility. 

Applications are strongly encouraged from candidates who have recently left the Higher Education Community and who feel passionate about improving the student experience.

Main Duties

Campaigns, marketing and social media 

Take ownership of allocated safety campaigns, working to agreed plans to maximise the engagement and reach, whilst monitoring budget and resource, escalating concerns where finances are not in line with the budget. 

You will write routine content for the CST social media platforms using the University‘s branding with the purpose of increasing awareness of CST activities.
Aid in delivery and implementation of Safe Zone App and supporting the role out across campus, including promoting awareness and knowledge of the application. 

Help to organise and run drop-in sessions for the community from our new Safety Hub meeting room to ensure positive engagement and gain valuable intelligence through open discussions relating to campus activity. 

This role will collaborate with our safety contacts, including those in local government and the police, to share information and best practice.

Establish strong working relationships with other members of the University community, providing support and advice where necessary.

Safety Intelligence and Patrolling

Understand and act upon the daily team briefing, formulating a patrol strategy and prioritising workload. 

Report and collate information and intelligence gained during engagement and patrol activity, contributing in a meaningful way to the intelligence cycle. 

Patrol and be a high-visibility presence in key areas, as and when directed to by the Team Manager or patrol strategy. 

Support students and the University community when they are reporting incidents. Understanding the wider support network within the University and signposting as appropriate.

Provide mental health and physical first aid as and when required. 

Compiling data and statistics, provided via reporting or intelligence, subsequently compiling this information into reports or articles for review by the Team Manager.
Provide day to day co-ordination to student workers and volunteers, ensuring that they are given adequate guidance.   

Monitor and respond to any alert from the SafeZone application.

Collaborate, support and liaise with the core Security Team ensuring that a strong working relationship is maintained.

Person Specification

Essential skills

GCSE English and Maths at grade A*-C/4-9 or other equivalent level 2 qualification. Where no equivalent qualification is held, relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role will normally be required. 

Ability to work as part of a team and on your own initiative within guidelines and procedure.

Excellent communication skills and the ability to react calmly and effectively in emergencies. 

High standard of customer service skills.
 
The highest level of personal integrity is required and must be always maintained.

Good standard of IT literacy, with an understanding of security systems to deal with alarm activations, other alert states and system malfunctions.  

Desirable skills

To have First Aid experience

Experience using different IT software packages

Ability to develop promotional materials and marketing plans

Contributing to social media accounts

Exposure to organisation of events

Knowledge of website content and internal intranet pages

Informal enquires to Matthew Lake, email: [email protected]

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.