JOB DESCRIPTION JOB TITLE: SCHOOLS LIAISON OFFICER (1-year fixed term) HOURS: Full-time (37 hours/week) with some evening and weekend work DEPARTMENT: Admissions RESPONSIBLE TO: Outreach Manager/Admissions Tutors COMMUNICATION LINKS: VERTICAL: Outreach Manager, Admissions Manager, Tutors for Undergraduate Admissions, Directors of Studies. HORIZONTAL: Head Porter, Internal Event Sales Coordinator, Support staff Background Homerton College is the most recent Cambridge College, though it has been here since the end of the 19th Century, gaining its Charter in 2010. We are situated on Hills Road on the south side of the city, between the rail station, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the biomedical campus. We have an excellent record of widening participation to the University of Cambridge and our Principal, Lord Simon Woolley, is eager for our efforts to continue in this area with the introduction of new and innovative programmes. Main Accountabilities: 1. To support the Outreach Manager in widening participation initiatives, in producing student- focused publications and social media and in delivering general student recruitment activities. 2. To support the Undergraduate Admissions Team during the 2025/26 admissions round (mainly in Oct-Dec but also at busy points throughout the year). Key Roles and Responsibilities: The key roles and responsibilities of this position are to: • Work as a member of the Admissions Team – currently the Admissions Manager, Outreach Manager, three Admissions Tutors, as well as with Student Ambassadors. • Work with schools, particularly those in the Homerton Link Areas (parts of South Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire, a share of Scotland with Pembroke College, the London boroughs of Hounslow, Richmond on Thames and Kingston on Thames) and the College’s linked schools in Cambridgeshire. • Visit Link Area schools to deliver talks and workshops for students. These could be ad hoc or during “tours” of our link areas for 4-5 days at a time. • Organise and run visits to Homerton by groups from schools in the College’s Link Areas. • Work in concert with the Admissions Manager and Admissions Tutors to help organise Widening Participation programmes with partner organisations such as Realise, The Brilliant Club, IntoUniversity and the Cambridge Physics Experience. This will involve raising POs, booking rooms and liaising with schools. SLO job description Sept 2025 Page 1 of 3 • Assist in the delivery of Homerton’s annual Student Conference and our STEMSMART residential, • attended by both current and prospective students. In collaboration with the Outreach Manager, organise and deliver content for Homerton’s suite of virtual and hybrid widening participation programmes, such as our Homerton College Admission Webinars, Future Ready Programme, Subject Focus Sessions and our Essay and Design Programmes. • Liaise with other Higher Education Institutions, charities and Departments and Colleges of Cambridge, as and when appropriate. • Maintain an up-to-date database of school contacts. • Support the Admissions Team in running the College’s open days, with some participation in subject- related ones such as the Maths Open Day. • Keep in regular contact with the widening participation and recruitment teams in the Cambridge Admissions Office (CAO) and to share practice and liaise with other Collegiate Outreach practitioners. • Assist in updating the content of the College’s admissions website and online presence. • Be trained in, operate and organise data collection and data entry using HEAT (Higher Education Access Tracker). • Support with the coordination and training of undergraduate student helpers for widening participation events. In addition to the above roles, this position involves administrative support for our Admissions Team during the main admissions period (mid-Oct to Dec) and in busy periods across the remaining year. Roles and responsibilities include to: • Act as one point of contact for prospective students, responding to phone calls and emails received. • Coordinate, support and train undergraduate student helpers for the main Admissions period. • Deal promptly with queries and take initiative on resolving queries, referring more difficult cases to senior members of staff. • Process documents received through the Undergraduate Admissions Portal. • Sort and prioritise incoming correspondence, assisting with outgoing correspondence. • Retrieve electronic documents (emails, uploads) and save them to the relevant applicant's record, • Assist with the planning and delivery of online technology testing sessions for applicants. • Assist with troubleshooting during the interview period. • Assist with preparing applicant files for pool days. • Assist in other Admissions tasks SLO job description Sept 2025 Page 2 of 3 Person Specification Essential Qualities • Educated to degree level, or significant experience. • Ability to work with minimal supervision and to take initiative, as well as taking instruction and working as part of a team. • Ability to communicate with people at all levels. • Ability to see potential problems and work through solutions until a resolution is reached. • Ability to organise the work of others and work to tight deadlines. • Excellent interpersonal skills. • Good presentation skills. • Strong computing skills, including the creation and development of databases and the use of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint and familiarity with video conferencing and collaboration platforms (Teams, Zoom, Whereby etc). • Organised and unflappable. • Good sense of humour. • Reliable and good timekeeper. • Willingness to work outside of normal office hours (such as evenings and weekends), with compensation through time off in lieu. (The time demands of the post are seasonal; it will be necessary for the appointee to work flexible hours, in accordance with these demands). • Willingness to undertake and pass First Aid training and other Health & Safety and Safeguarding training as necessary for the fulfilment of the role. • Knowledge of the secondary school sector and experience in advising/teaching school-age students and/or experience of the Cambridge College system. • Willingness to travel independently to areas in the United Kingdom (including overnight stays), following the College’s lone-working policy. (Mileage and other expenses, in line with the College’s Expenses Policy, will be paid for travel when on duty). • An Enhanced DBS will need to be obtained. Desirable Qualities • A clean driving licence. SLO job description Sept 2025 Page 3 of 3