Sports Attendant

Salary: £23,144 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 07 January 2024

The Role

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus, the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

We are looking to recruit a full-time colleague who will work as part of the team responsible for the safe and effective operation of the University’s sports facilities. Our campus facilities have recently benefited from a £30 million investment, that includes 3 new high-tech artificial pitches, world class gym, and 8 court sports halls amongst other superb recreational spaces including bar and café.

You will predominantly be based at our outdoor sports sites, located at Longbenton and Cochrane Sports Ground. It is essential you have keen passion and appreciation of sport and sporting activities (including disability and accessibility in sport) and experience of setting up sports equipment.

You will need to have good communication skills, basic IT skills, and be able to deliver a good level of customer service ensuring an excellent experience to our users, while working with minimum supervision.

To meet the business needs, you will be required to work throughout the opening hours of the outdoor sports (9am - 10pm on weekdays and 9am - 7pm on weekends) as agreed with the Sport Operations Manager.

Interviews will be held on Thursday 18 January 2024

You may also want to read more about what we have on offer here

Key Accountabilities

• Control, monitor and supervise the use of the University sports facilities to ensure the safety and security of all staff, users and property
• Support students with disabilities, long term health and mental health conditions to access sports facilities safely
• Identify and advise disabled students about access constraints that impact use of sports facilities
• Conduct an annual accessibility audit of facilities and report findings to the Operations Manager and/or Sports Facilities Supervisor (outdoor)
• Open up and close down the sports facilities as required following the normal operating procedures set out by Sports Services, adhering to the stated hours of use
• Provide a reception service in the sports facilities assisting and advising all users in a professional and friendly manner to ensure they are directed to the right area of the facilities
• Deal with accidents and emergencies, administering First Aid as required
• Clean and maintain the indoor sports facilities areas and the external environment relating to the buildings to ensure required levels of cleanliness for all users
• Conduct regular building, activity area and equipment checks to ensure everything is fit for purpose, completing all the necessary documentation, reporting defects in the building, equipment and services
• Check, clean and maintain all sports equipment
• Set up activity areas and associated equipment for a wide range of sports and special events
• Maintain all equipment storage areas in a clean, neat and tidy manner
• Carry out general portering duties. This will include delivery and collection of post, moving of equipment, receiving and delivery of goods to appropriate areas / people
• Have a flexible approach to operational tasks and to carry out other duties commensurate with the level of the post as directed by the Operations Manager and/or Sports Facilities Supervisor (outdoor)

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Basic knowledge of sport and sporting activities
• Knowledge of disability and familiarity with the implications of this in a sport setting.
• Knowledge of / sensitivity to multicultural and disability issues.
• Interest in sport and recreation
• Approachable and well presented
• Welcoming and friendly personality
• Physically capable of setting up sports equipment
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Be able to work alone/unsupervised but also as part of a team.
• Methodical / logical approach to tasks
• Flexible approach to work
• Basic IT skills

Desirable

• Ability to problem solve        
• Relevant experience of customer service delivery in a sport and leisure environment
• Relevant experience of basic cleaning and maintenance delivery    
• First Aid Qualification
• Basic knowledge of student sport      
• Basic knowledge of how-to setup and take down sports equipment
• Basic knowledge of cleaning and maintenance protocols

Attributes and Behaviour

• Delivering Services
• Sees anyone they come into contact with (e.g. users, visitors, other departments, colleagues) as “customers” and interacts with them appropriately acting upon all requests / enquiries as requested
• Has a positive attitude to all aspects of the role and is enthusiastic in ensuring all users get as enjoyable a leisure experience as possible
• Pays attention to details to follow set procedure and protocols in order to deliver a high quality of service to all users across all aspects of the service
• Understanding others
• Clarifies the understanding of others to avoid misinterpretation and to confirm the other person’s expectations.  This is applicable with users or colleagues in order to deliver a high-quality service
• Adapts own response to take into account the diverse range of cultural differences, behaviours and perspectives that present themselves on a daily basis within the sports facilities

Communication

• Concise in all methods of communication so information is effectively passed to colleagues and users of the sports facilities
• Chooses the most appropriate method of communications for each situation depending on timescales and complexity of information to be relayed
• Is factually correct in the information being passed which requires a knowledge of Centre policy and protocol

Qualifications

• GCSE Maths and English or equivalent

 Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26511