Receptionist Accommodation Location: Canterbury Salary: £21,543 to £22,681 per annum Grade: Grade 3 Post Type: Full Time Contract Type: Permanent Release Date: Friday 19 April 2024 Closing Date: 23.59 hours BST on Friday 03 May 2024 (unless otherwise stated) Reference: CS-308-24 If you have experience of providing excellent reception services, good IT skills and the ability to actively listen to customers and deal with unexpected situations with courtesy diplomacy and patience this role could be ideal for you. Join our team, providing a friendly, helpful and informative reception service to students, staff and external visitors. What will help you make a difference? For much of your shift you will be the sole receptionist and therefore it is essential that in addition to having excellent customer service skills, you are able to deal calmly and confidently with all queries and bookings. When the students go home in vacation periods Kent Hospitality operates Conference/Bed and Breakfast facilities, so our reception services vary throughout the year to accommodate this. You will be working to a rota for this role. A typical shift pattern may be 8am until 4pm on week one, followed by 12pm until 8pm on week two. Shift patterns may vary and may finish as late as 11pm. Rewarding your contribution You will enjoy a friendly, open and collaborative working environment and support in your development and wellbeing, along with a range of great staff benefits including: 43 days' leave per year (personal leave, bank holidays and additional days allocated for the Christmas period, pro rata for part-time staff) an excellent pension scheme with generous employer contributions study while you work discounts, cycle to work scheme, local business discounts on-site parking For further information on our staff benefits please go to https://staff.kent.ac.uk/employment/benefits As Receptionist you will: Confidently resolve all initial enquiries from students, staff, residents, and others Issue keys and maintain/monitor the security of them in line with procedure Programme student and vacation guest bedroom key cards using access control software Act as the central reception point for deliveries, sorting and collecting post, taking, and passing on urgent messages, reporting room defects and taking payments Use our software module to search for and communicate with residential students by email and check students or vacation guests in and out. What we are looking for in the right candidate: GCSE grade 4/C or above in English and Maths or equivalent Experience of working in a busy and demanding front facing customer service environment providing excellent customer care The ability to demonstrate experience handling difficult and unexpected situations A high level of IT skill and familiarity. Meet your team The Commercial Services and Estates Department provides essential services at both the Canterbury and Medway campuses that are critical to the staff and student experience at the University of Kent. Commercial Services delivers a range of value-added services including catering, conferencing, residential accommodation, reception services, sport and recreation. The residential accommodation houses approximately 6,500 students during term-time across Canterbury and Medway campuses. The Canterbury campus is a successful conference, events and holiday location during the summer months. Estates are responsible for managing, maintaining and developing the infrastructure, buildings and extensive grounds at Kent. The department also has responsibility for the security of students, staff and visitors, transport, parking and travel; customer and postal services and the Design & Print Centre. The Commercial Services and Estates Department is a major operating unit within the University and has circa 520 substantive staff, plus a student timesheet cohort of 320 staff (rising to eight hundred during the summer months). If you require further information regarding the online application process, please contact peopleserviceshrkent.ac.uk Please note - Please refer to the for a full list of duties. Your application should clearly address the essential and desirable requirements of the Person Specification, this is how your application is scored. You should provide clear evidence and examples in your application which back-up any assertions you make in relation to each criterion. Applicants must be able to demonstrate all essential requirements as listed in the job profile. The University of Kent has a multi-cultural and diverse environment and is committed to developing a working and learning culture that encompasses dignity, respect and consideration for all. All members of the University community have a responsibility to create an environment which is free from harassment, bullying, unlawful discrimination and victimisation.