Department: Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship
Location: Role can be located in London (West and East London), Birmingham, Manchester, or Leeds (On-site)
Type of Contract: Maternity Cover - Fixed Term – 1 Year
Working Pattern: Full Time - 40hrs Per Week
Salary Range £55,000-£62,000
GBS is a higher education provider offering a range of sector-relevant courses across ten campuses in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. Working in partnership with several of the UK’s leading higher education providers, we deliver vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in finance, accounting, business, construction, tourism, healthcare, and more.
Our Vision: Changing lives through education.
What We Do: The Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship department at GBS is dedicated to preparing students for successful careers and business ventures. It offers tailored one-to-one guidance, a dynamic online Careers Hub via Handshake, and a structured Employability Award that builds critical job-seeking skills through Bronze to Platinum levels. Students gain practical experience in CV building, networking, and real job applications, including tools like ChatGPT.
The role: The Head of Alumni, Data and Surveys is responsible for managing a team of Alumni Relations Officers and Data Technicians and ensuring relevant institutional objectives, particularly around graduate outcomes.
You will ensure that the members of your team are given clear targets and are resourced and empowered to meet them. They will develop and maintain the relationship between GBS and our growing number of alumni. Their key task is to build up our Alumni programme and to manage the relationship between GBS and its graduates, including informing them about the Graduate Outcome Survey. This will be done through communication with the alumni community by newsletters, events, on-line events, in-person events and other resources. They work closely with the Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship Team in tracking our graduates as they move into future employment and explore opportunities for our internship and volunteering programme.
Where alumni have not secured graduate level progression, they signpost them to the Careers Consultants for support. They work closely with our Marketing Department in creating and distributing communications for our alumni. They will also ensure there is an active and exciting programme of alumni activities and ensure that an accurate and complete alumni database is maintained and all alumni are ready for the Graduate Outcomes Survey.
Please note, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this position.
What the role involves:
To build a community of external stakeholders to support our alumni, including local employers, public bodies and third sector organisations.
To ensure that a complete database of alumni is maintained, all alumni are contacted prior to the Graduate Outcomes Survey and a calendar of alumni events is established.
To ensure that employment status data is collected and reported twice a year from all students.
To ensure that the team communicates with our alumni and external stakeholder communities and the alumni database is populated and maintained.
To ensure that a periodic alumni magazine/newsletter is produced, working with marketing distribute it.
To oversee the arranging of networking events, reunions and other events, both in person and on-line, for alumni members and external stakeholders.
To encourage engagement from alumni and external stakeholders to support extracurricular events, GBS development and promotion, and volunteering and placement opportunities.
To promote the alumni community to current students and external stakeholders.
To lead on the strategic planning for the direction of the alumni office.
To ensure that the alumni website, Careers and Placement platform, and online community are maintained.
To ensure that discounts, benefits and services for alumni members are sourced and awareness of those raised in the alumni community.
To ensure that local businesses and organisations are communicated with to arrange benefits packages for alumni members.
To oversee the tracking of students’ destinations and progression once they have graduated.
To ensure that alumni are kept informed about the Graduate Outcomes Survey and that they feel prepared for it.
To ensure that the employment status of alumni is actively monitored and recorded.
To ensure that any alumni who have not achieved graduate outcomes are supported and directed to the Careers team.
To manage the delivery of services in a cost effective and efficient manner and undertake any other duties as may reasonably be required, including administrative, management and evaluation duties appropriate to the role.
What Experience/Skills are required:
Essential:
Degree qualified in a relevant area of equivalent experience.
Substantial relevant experience of managing and leading large teams within the Careers and Entrepreneurship sector.
Demonstrable experience of working in a senior role.
Ability to deliver priorities to budget within a large and complex organisation.
Ability to lead, motivate, further develop and line manage a high performing team.
Excellent interpersonal and networking skills.
Excellent analytical skills.
Ability to persuade and negotiate using data and narrative.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
What We Offer
25 days annual leave, plus 8 public holidays
1-day extra leave per year of service, up to a maximum of 5 days
Workplace pension scheme
Tuition reimbursement for career development courses
Flexible Benefits: Cycle to Work, Workplace Nursery, Techscheme and much more
Perks@Work discounts platform, wellbeing centre and much more
Reward and recognition programme
£500 award employee referral scheme
Discretionary annual performance bonus
I will be starting a Masters in Careers and Employability Guidance in January, and this has been supported by my manager who allows me to manage my time and diary how best works for me. We are also given constant upskilling opportunities and encouraged to attend both internal and external learning and development events. — Kira McCormack (Professional Services Employee)
GBS is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and providing a workplace free from discrimination or harassment. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and communities. We take our core values seriously and work hard to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed