Senior Communications Officer - Research

Main purpose of the role
 

· Ensure a strong supply of high-quality applications from your regions to meet growth and set targets through strategic local and national partnerships.
 

· Working closely with the Marketing Manager and the rest of the marketing team, you will support all aspects of volunteer recruitment in your designated regions and will have opportunities to be involved in marketing support more broadly.
 

· The role is varied with plenty of opportunities to engage with our volunteer network and community links. You will need strong verbal and written communication skills and be confident adapting your approach and persuading when required.
 

· This role will cultivate and develop fruitful volunteer partnerships with local universities, community volunteer centres and other organisations. Thinking creatively about increasing the quantity of student volunteers is essential. 
 

· Raising our profile and brand awareness lies at the heart of our marketing and recruitment activities and you will play a key role in this.
 

· There is an expectation to develop data management and analytical skills to closely monitor the impact of volunteer recruitment activities over the short, medium and long term outlook.

Closing date: Sunday 11th February 2024

Interviews: w/c Monday 19th February 2024

Start date: Ideally Monday 4th March 2024

Place of work: Ideally based in one of our midlands or northern hubs (Birmingham, Coventry, Merseyside, Newcastle, Nottingham or Sheffield).

Duties and responsibilities
 

· Work with the Marketing Manager to ensure the regular recruitment of high-quality volunteer tutors who meet Action Tutoring’s criteria in your regions.
 

· Engage with universities in your region to build a wide base to attract student volunteers and ensure a sustainable pipeline, including: attending fairs, events, engaging with societies and relevant departments, networking and speaking opportunities to represent Action Tutoring. 
 

· Lead on local ‘on the ground’ marketing for your designated region. Liaise regularly with your local programme team to identify specific geographical areas for volunteer recruitment and identify new marketing links to build and diversify Action Tutoring’s pool of volunteers.
 

· Articulate the benefits and value of volunteering with Action Tutoring developing new communications documents and materials to assist this and attending events; supporting the profile raising of Action Tutoring wherever possible.
 

· Shared responsibility for managing Action Tutoring’s online volunteer advertisements, ensuring copy is kept up-to-date and adverts are live.
 

· Liaise with local community hubs to encourage promotion of our volunteering, to include  all potential volunteer profiles, including (but not exclusive to) students and retirees.
 

· Responsibility for developing partnerships with universities across your geographical remit, beyond Action Tutoring’s existing regions, to promote online tutoring volunteer opportunities. 
 

· Oversee our current placement provision for universities in your area, with shared responsibility for actively seeking new relevant placements through universities across the country: working closely with the relevant university contacts and students to ensure hours are being met, activities are being completed and reporting is in place.
 

· Generate regular reports and communicate updates to your university partners to demonstrate the value and impact of their student volunteers.
· Build relationships with other relevant organisations, including teacher training organisations, teaching providers and other charities to diversify Action Tutoring’s pool of volunteers. 
 

· Work with the current volunteer pool to identify student advocates for Action Tutoring in your area.  Encourage them to promote through their universities, particularly to encourage word of mouth recommendation.
 

· On-going research and planning into new possibilities and leads for volunteer recruitment. This could include online research and networking.
 

· Maintain accurate records of recruitment channels and relationships; use data to analyse the effectiveness of different recruitment channels and events, using this information to inform future work. 
 

· Produce weekly updates and monthly reports on the impact of various marketing activities on tutor application volumes in your area.
 

· Work with the Marketing Manager to manage marketing material stock, and manage requests from the marketing materials ordering form.
 

· Responsibility for managing Action Tutoring’s pool of volunteer advocates in your designated area, facilitating quarterly gatherings and coordinating monthly updates. 
 

· Any other duties deemed reasonable by the Chief Executive Officer.
 

 
Person specification
 

Qualifications criteria:
 

· Right to work in the UK.
 

We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others: 
 

· Confident carrying out calls and engaging with people.

· Well-organised, able to prioritise and multitask.

· Able to work independently and use initiative in a range of situations.

· Able to maintain a positive approach to repeated tasks and processes, with a sustained high level of accuracy and commitment.  

· Able to interact with a range of audiences and have outstanding verbal and written communication skills. The role involves regular communication with volunteer tutors and you will need to be able to adapt your communication style to different audiences, upholding Action Tutoring’s high standards of professionalism in all interactions.

· Able to meet deadlines and undertake administration to a high standard.

· Enthusiastic and open to new ideas. Action Tutoring values the creative input of all staff members to innovate and drive improvements.

· Adaptable and open to learning. You will need to be willing to adapt and to grow and develop with the organisation.

· Detailed and organised, able to plan and manage your workload.

· Committed to equity, diversity and inclusion.

· Committed to the mission and values of Action Tutoring.

· Committed to promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children.

You will be likely be more successful in this role if you have:
 

· Experience of working with volunteers.

· Analytical skills.

· Sales, recruitment or marketing experience.

· Experience using databases (including Salesforce).

· Able to think creatively and generate content to effectively convey messages.

· Recruiting, or working with, celebrity ambassadors.