HOMERTON COLLEGE
CAMBRIDGE CB2 8PH
Telephone 01223 747041
E-mail
personnel@homerton.cam.ac.uk
www.homerton.cam.ac.uk
April 2015
Thank you for your interest shown in the vacancy for a full time Alumni Relations Officer.
Please find below full details of this post, including the person specification and key tasks of
the role.
To apply for this role you must complete the College Application Form; you may supply any
other documentation that you feel will assist your application.
Normal hours of work are 9.00am to 5.00pm on weekdays, with one unpaid hour for
lunch. The ability and willingness to adopt a flexible approach to working hours and duties
will be required, since some events for which the post-holder is responsible will take place
during the evening and at weekends. Time off in lieu will be given for significant additional
hours worked, such as weekend events.
The salary will be up to £23,387 based upon skills and experience.
The College offers 25 days holiday entitlement plus 8 public holidays and a contributory
defined benefit pension scheme. One free meal per day in Hall is also offered to all staff
whilst on duty and staff may join the College gym at a very competitive rate. There is ample
free parking for staff on site.
All applications should be sent to personnel@homerton.cam.ac.uk or by post to Amanda
Drummond, Personnel Officer, Homerton College, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PH.
Applications should be received by the Personnel Office no later than midday Wednesday 29
April 2015. It is expected that interviews will be held during the week beginning Monday 11
May 2015.
The College pursues a policy of Equal Opportunities.
Amanda Drummond
Personnel Officer
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Alumni Relations Officer
Job Description – Further Particulars
The College
Homerton College is the biggest College of the University of Cambridge by student numbers,
and the newest. Although it has a long history as an independent institution – first as a
training college for religious ministry and more recently as a renowned teacher-training
institution – it became a full College of the University only recently, in 2010.
The College currently has about 60 academic staff (Fellows), 600 undergraduate students,
and 800 graduate students. Students are admitted in a broad range of subjects.
Homerton College was founded in London in 1768 and moved to Cambridge in 1894; in 2018
the College will celebrate its 250th Anniversary. The College is located on a large and leafy
campus in South Cambridge, close to Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the railway station.
Alumni Relations and Development at Homerton
Homerton has an alumni constituency of over 15,000.
The Development Office consists of five team members: the Director of External Relations
and Development; the Deputy Director of Development; the Alumni Relations Officer (this
post); a half-time database assistant; and a communications intern. While each member has
specific responsibilities, considerable teamwork is required.
The Office uses PCs running MS Windows, and its alumni database is currently Blackbaud’s
Raiser’s Edge (RE) which is shared with Cambridge University Development and Alumni
Relations (CUDAR), although a replacement for the current installation of RE is envisaged.
The College’s alumni events and communications programme is designed to foster and
deepen relationships between the College and its former students and staff, for the benefit of
past, present and future students of Homerton. The College aims to increase and encourage
donations from alumni.
The Alumni Relations Officer will play an important role in the upcoming 250 th Anniversary
celebrations.
Key Duties and Responsibilities
The Alumni Relations Officer will report to the Director of External Relations and
Development.
Alumni relations
 Develop an engagement and communication strategy for alumni relations, with the
Director of External Relations and Development
 Develop a mentoring link scheme for current students to connect to alumni who are
established in their chosen career
 Support volunteer alumni who act as Year Group leaders and Branch Co-ordinators
 Assist at students’ graduation ceremonies
 Act as primary point of contact for alumni, take bookings and processing payment for
events and accommodation
 Deal with day-to-day enquiries from alumni, donors, prospects, and friends of the
College in a welcoming, friendly and efficient manner
 Manage, as secretary, the Alumni Relations Committee (Roll Committee)
 Other administrative duties as required to support the general work of the
Development Office including helping to support fundraising objectives where
appropriate
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Publications
 Manage the production and distribution of alumni publications including the
Homertonian and the Annual Review
 Write articles, news and features for those publications, and commission material
from others. This might include, for example, interviewing Fellows of the College and
writing an article on their research
 Write and distribute termly email news bulletins to alumni
 Manage and update the alumni section of the College website
(www.homerton.cam.ac.uk) Together with the communications intern, post on behalf
of the College to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Events
The role-holder will manage the Alumni Relations events programme, including planning,
executing and follow-up of events; and negotiating with external and internal suppliers of
goods and services. At present this includes the following events, though the role-holder will
be expected to add to the current offering:
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Parents’ dinner
Leavers’ dinner (March)
MA Congregation (March)
London drinks reception (April)
Alumni Garden Party (June)
Reunion Weekend (late September)
Subject- and society-based reunions
Person Specification
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate that they have:
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Excellent written and oral communication skills, ideally to degree standard or
equivalent
A confident and friendly approach, enthusiasm, professional maturity and the ability
to build relationships with people at all levels, both internally (Fellows, staff and
students) and externally (alumni, parents and friends)
The ability to represent the College externally in a variety of situations , such as
showing alumni around the College and attending meetings of regional branches
The ability to work calmly under pressure; to manage several projects at any one
time; to prioritise work and meet tight deadlines
Strong organisational skills, with experience of event organisation and a high level of
attention to detail
A high level of comfort with entering and extracting data from databases (although
training on Raiser’s Edge specifically will be provided)
Excellent general IT skills, including word-processing, desktop publishing,
spreadsheets, and willingness to learn new applications as required
The ability to work independently and flexibly as a member of a small team
A professional telephone manner with excellent interpersonal skills
Good numeracy skills
A willingness and ability to work out of regular hours and to undertake some travel
Preference may be given to candidates with relevant experience of:
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Alumni relations
Event management and/or publishing
Working in a similar organisation
Using contact management databases
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