Operations Directorate

Grade 3: - £18,212 to £19,623 per annum
Fixed Term - Full Time
Contract Duration: 1 year fixed term
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 06-Nov-2021, 7:59:00 AM

Job Family: Community, Participation and Engagement Services

OUR CHARACTERISTICS: We are a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, in a unique and historic setting.

OUR VALUES: We are inspiring, challenging, innovative, responsible and enabling.

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Business, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our University community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national and regional communities that we work with and serve.

It is expected that all staff within the University:

• Contribute to our learning culture by engaging in mentoring, training and coaching.
• Positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Have due regard to Health and Safety requirements appropriate to grade and role.

Family key attributes

Roles in this family provide an excellent stakeholder experience for our diverse and supportive community.

Overall family purpose

• Provide excellent student support services, development and extra-curricular activities.
• Align and deliver programmes and activities to meet operational and strategic objectives to enhance the stakeholder experience.
• Respond to stakeholders at the point of service delivery, either in situ or remotely.
• Facilitate the development of excellent colleague and academic engagement.
• Provide a stakeholder focussed service designed to increase widening participation and diversity.
• Promote the Durham reputation by establishing and broadening national and international community links to enhance the cultural and economic viability of the City and region.
• Enhance the Durham wider student experience by developing extra-curricular activities.
• Contribute to and enhance active, inclusive and supportive communities of stakeholders.
• Work collaboratively and network across the University with staff in other families to ensure a smooth, timely and high-quality delivery of service.
• Engage with suppliers, consultants and specialist professionals to deliver programmes and activities to enhance the stakeholder experience.
• Engage and encourage outreach and participation with external professionals, schools, alumni and donors.
• Engage and network with both internal and external stakeholders to facilitate knowledge exchange and impact through local, national and international communities.

Link to key strategic plan

• An economically and environmentally sustainable approach to delivering stakeholder focussed services across the University;
• A world-class student, alumni and donor experience;
• Focussed on the needs of all users working together to deliver front-line services as part of the Wider Student Experience;
• Learn from and match best practice in the Wider Student Experience around the world;
• Opening up our world-class sporting facilities to local clubs and athletes;
• Support and facilitate activities as part of the Widening Student Experience at Durham;
• A stakeholder-focused orientation, offering satisfying careers to all staff;
• Ensure that an increasingly diverse workforce is treated equally, fairly and with respect, and that all staff are demonstrably valued and actively engaged.

The Department and role purpose

The Senior Catering Finance Assistant (Previously: Community Catering Co-ordinator) is predominantly a financial and office/home based role involving the administration of college catering purchases. Key tasks include the setting up of purchase requisitions via the e-procurement system called Acquire, matching suppliers priced delivery notes against purchase orders on Acquire, receipting goods received and providing the colleges finance team with accurate catering monthly spends information as well as addressing any purchase account issues, referring to colleagues for support where necessary.

Core responsibilities:

• Provide a highly responsive and/or frontline service to stakeholders.
• Assist team members within a wider service team with a rotation of tasks and duties or with own small area of day to day responsibility.
• Respond to service users logging and recording queries and information systematically in accordance with procedures.
• Operate a system to record, dispense and distribute resources and information as required.
• Assist team members to concentrate effort on a more regular basis to achieve common goals.
• Apply skills and techniques to operate and use a range of everyday task or job specific equipment, tools and resources.
• Follow a set of pre-determined tasks and objectives, with some discretion for variation, referring to team members where necessary.
• Gather and collate data and information for others to use for evaluation and decision making.
• Contribute to the tidying, set-up and maintenance of facilities, equipment and resources.
• Liaise with representatives from other teams/service areas where necessary. 
• Collaborate with team members to identify work flows, timescales and where support is required.

Role responsibilities:

• Deliver a frontline service to stakeholders with team members within a defined service area for concentrated periods of time.
• Operate a range of domestic, office, maintenance tools and equipment efficiently and effectively.
• Monitor and record changes to the working environment and service processes to ensure the safety, security and hygiene of service products and services.
• Follow University identification and security procedures when dealing with stakeholders new to a service area.
• Provide direction to service users about the range of events and activities and how to access them.
• Complete necessary skills training to deliver a service in a retail, catering or leisure environment.
• Apply manual dexterity, physical effort and/or sensory skills to carry out work in a defined space or service area.
• Assist team members where necessary to review and update risk assessments.
• Respond to first-line queries from suppliers, stakeholders and contacts where necessary.
• Any other reasonable duties.

Specific role requirements

• Deal with general catering enquiries on behalf of the community within University Catering.
• Co-ordinate and place food and non-food requisitions on behalf of the community, in line with the procurement to pay process and 'e' procurement system called Acquire. 
• Liaise with suppliers and Procurement when required. 
• Quickly and effectively address and flag up account problems such as stoppages via inter-departmental communication, followed up with any actions needed for efficient resolution. 
• Collate delivery notes, receipt onto Acquire, chase credit notes and liaise with Accounts Payable when required.
• Attend meetings with Catering managers, Accounts Payable and Procurement on how best to improve or address specific account problems when required. 
• Collate and effectively communicate monthly spends information to Finance using Excel spreadsheet reports and e-mail on a monthly basis.
• Assist catering staff in their maintenance of current and up to date stock sheets by providing them with the latest product cost data taken from priced delivery notes or Invoices from suppliers. 
• Run transaction reports from Oracle Financials via the ADI system, sales reports on KX and various reports on Symphony, our EPOS back of house system.
• Collate stock transfer data from various outlets’ internal stock order forms into monthly stock transfer journals.
• Collate internal trade data into a monthly journal from both Symphony reported internal trades and the Finance Assistant’s banking records spreadsheets.
• To provide clerical and secretarial support such as meeting minutes, filing, photocopying, typing of menus, recipes specifications, Standard Operating Procedures and circulating memos.
• Any other duties which may be reasonably assigned.

Recruiting to this post

In order to be considered for interview, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above (including those listed in the section ‘Realising Your Potential Approach’).

In some cases, the recruiting panel may also consider the desirable criteria, so we recommend you evidence all criteria in your application.

Please note that some criteria will only be considered at interview stage.

How to apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What you are required to submit

1. A CV; 
2. A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
3. Examples of how you satisfy both the person specification and the Realising Your Potential Approach criteria. This may require completion of the 'Supporting Evidence' application section if specified by the recruiting manager. Please ensure you give detailed examples of how you meet these criteria if requested.

Please ensure that you submit all documentation listed above or your application cannot proceed to the next stage.

Contact details 

For further information please contact; Jennie Brownlow, Jennie.brownlow@durham.ac.uk

At Durham University, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails

Person specification - skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required

​​​​​​​Essential Criteria

1. Good oral and written communication skills.
2. Good IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office.
3. Five GCSE’s at least Grade C or level four (or equivalent) including English Language and Mathematics (or equivalent experience).
4. Evidence of personal development to maintain skills.
5. Experience of working as part of a team in a customer focussed service to ensure the delivery of high quality services.
6. Experience of managing time in order to meet deadlines.
7. Experience of providing advice and guidance to a range of customers and colleagues.
8. Ability to solve problems as part of a team and resolve straightforward issues.

Realising Your Potential Approach

Essential behavioural attribute / Realising Your Potential Approach text

PROVIDING EXCELLENT STUDENT AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT - Providing the best quality service to all our students, customers and stakeholders. Building genuine and long-term relationships through everyday interactions in order to drive up service standards and to enhance their experience.

1. Resolving problems efficiently in a cheerful, friendly manner
2. Ensuring knowledge of systems and processes are kept up to date to enable you to provide accurate information
3. Support/supervise others to engage effectively with students, customers and other stakeholders

WORKING TOGETHER - Working co-operatively with others in order to achieve objectives.

Applying a wide range of interpersonal skills.

1. Monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of working relationships
2. Having a good grasp of where your responsibility ends and that of others begins

DEVELOPING MYSELF AND OTHERS - Showing commitment to own development and supporting and encouraging others to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable them to reach their full potential for the wider benefit of the University

1. Being a role model by devoting time to own development, managing workload and making effective use of time
2. Engaging positively with appraisal processes by seeking, accepting and acting upon feedback

EMBRACING CHANGE - Adjusting to unfamiliar situations, demands and changing roles. Seeing change as an opportunity and being receptive to new ideas.

1. Viewing change situations as opportunities for improving and developing work
2. Remaining positive about moving forward despite being realistic about the difficulty of change

USING RESOURCES EFFECTIVELY - Making effective use of available resources including people, information, networks and budgets. Being aware of the financial and commercial aspects of the University.

1. Considering cost benefit analysis implications of decisions
2. Aggregating, utilising and interpreting management information
3. Using informal systems and channels of communication to inform and support objectives

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.