Join the ResLife team

The main role the ResLife Advisors have is to work as part of your hall team to operate an on-call duty rota 365 days a year; yes thats including Christmas and summer. 

As part of this rota you are responsible for being on call for your assigned halls of residence from 18:00 - 08:00 Monday to Friday and 24 hours at weekends and University closure days. You'll average one duty shift per week and shift swaps are allowed as we appreciate you may have other committments as well as this role. 

You'll have to answer the phone and provide the best service possible to our residents, which may mean you're woken up by a call at 3am but we're here to help. You'll also have colleagues in Campus Support and Security on hand 24/7 in University owned halls, but each of our leased halls have their own security too so you're never alone. 

You'll be trained on all aspects of the role so don't let this put you off. 

In addition to arranging an initial flat meeting at the beginning of the year to introduce yourself, you'll need to have regular 1-2-1 meetings with the students in your allocated flats to check up on them and make sure they're settling in well.

At times, ResLife Advisors may need to call a flat meeting to discuss an issue with all flatmates at once, for example, if there has been damage to a flat or if there are persistent kitchen cleanliness issues.

You'll lead one event and assist with one larger event per semester; these contribute towards your ResLife programme.

Not all events need to cater to everyone, and you can host events that target smaller groups, such as postgraduates or international students.

However, your event must fit within at least one of the Six Ways to Wellbeing:

• be active;
• be healthy;
• connect;
• give;
• learn/discover;
• take notice.

Previous events have included film nights, plant giveaways, revision brunches and pumpkin carving.

Although workloads vary throughout the year, a typical week as an RLA could look like this:

Monday

Respond to an email from one of the residents struggling with exams, offer to meet with them and send information on academic support.

Tuesday

On duty from 6pm–8am, respond to callouts from residents in halls.

Wednesday

Attend a flat meeting to help create a cleaning rota.

Undertake 1-2-1 visits to check how the residents are doing.

Thursday

No duties.

Friday

While doing laundry, you meet a student in the hall who says they need help with their studies. You signpost them to relevant services and notify the RLC.

Saturday

On duty 24 hours for callouts.

Sunday

Host an event supporting student wellbeing (such as creating a relaxing space with face masks and snacks) and then clean up afterwards.

Fairness, equality and inclusion

Promoting the inclusion of all residents in the hall community to make sure that no individual, regardless of background, nationality or religion, feels excluded.

Foster individual and social responsibility

Encouraging individuals to look after themselves and others to aid in their personal development and wellbeing.

Promote University life

Promoting University life will help residents feel more settled and aid in the development of the hall communities.

Establish and maintain the halls community

Establishing a halls community will help promote wellbeing and allow residents to feel more settled and form friendships.

You must be one of the following to apply to be a ResLife Advisor:

• a member of University of Manchester staff on either a fixed term or permanent contract;
• a postgraduate student; studying towards a masters or a PhDat the University of Manchester (short courses not allowed)
• a mature undergraduate applicant (aged 21 or over when beginning your course)
• be able to give us at least 12 months service and hold either staff or student status throughout your time as an RLA

Email reslife@manchester.ac.uk for further eligibility information.

If you have been unsuccessful in the last round, you are not eligible to apply. 

If you're on a Tier 4 visa, the ResLife Advisor role can be your only work commitment within the University except for the Graduate Teaching Assistant or Demonstrator roles, which can be undertaken for up to six hours per week. Email reslife@manchester.ac.uk for more information.

We have a team of 142 ResLife Advisor here in Manchester so recruitment is a large undertaking in itself. In order to ensure we have enough team members we have two main intakes per year, one for an August/September start and one for a January start.

For the August/September intake we split it into two separate recruitment rounds when required:

August/September recruitment timeline (recruitment round 1): Applications open in February and close in early April - outcomes given in mid-April but no hall allocations given.

August/September recruitment timeline (recruitment round 2): Applications open in May and close in July - outcomes given in July and successful candidates from both rounds will be allocated a halls of residence at this point. This is because any outgoing RLAs have vacated allowing us to allocate into those rooms. 

January intake recruitment timeline: - Applications open at the end of October and close in mid November - outcomes, including hall allocation given before Christmas closure. 

Please note that there will not be a second recruitment round during the summer 2024. Sorry for any disappointment.

In order to successfully assess your skills and experience we have split the recruitment process into three stages.

Stage 1: You will submit an application form found via the link below (note. link is only live during recruitment windows)

Stage 2: All eligible applicants are invited to the the assessment day which take place in person in Manchester; details of which will be specified during the recruitment window

Stage 3: If you pass the assessment day you'll be invited to a formal interview which is held online during office hours.

You'll be informed if you've been successful after each stage. 

You must be available for all dates of recruitment and training to be considered for the role. The dates will be stated below during application windows.  

Where do you have vacancies?

We require ResLife Advisors across all campus areas, - Fallowfield, City and Victoria Park, and which vacancies we have is different for each recruitment round. There are times when the number of successful applications are less than the level of vacancies we have and we will always priortise those teams with the smaller numbers. It's more important to us to recruit the right people than to just fill the vacancies. 

I want to be allocated to a hall close to my lectures, is this possible?

Sorry, we cannot assign successful applicants based on preference of location or facilities, we allocate based purely on the needs of the service. Some of our vacancies will be in halls with shared facilities, so you are not guaranteed to have an en-suite.

I have a specific medical need when it comes to accomodation, can these be considered when allocating me?

We will of course try our best to accomodate your medical needs, but it's worth noting that if there is not a vacancy in a hall that caters for your needs we cannot proceed with the application. In this instance we would put you on the reserve list should a suitable vacancy arise.

Will I have the choice of catered or non-catered? 

We allocate to all halls as above. This means that you may be placed in catered accommodation and it's expected that our ResLife Advisors attend meals in the dining hall and are available to our residents and catering staff. You will have to pay for catering as part of this agreement, however it is heavily discounted compared to what our residents pay, and remember that all other bills are included as part of your contract. There are two rates this year for RLAs, depending on whether or not it's 5-day or 7-day catering in your allocated hall - £644.00 per year (5-day catering), £888.00 per year (7-day catering), and this will be paid in installments across the year. For this you will receive breakfast and dinner, plus there are formal dinners across the year at no extra cost. 

You will only find out your allocation once you've successfully interviewed for the role. You'll receive an email from the ResLife Admin team with your allocation once it's been decided.

If any of the above is not suitable, please seriously consider whether this is the role for you before applying. 

Your training will be split across four areas:

Pre-arrival training - This is an online element, of which you'll gain access once appointed. You'll learn about ResLife and our place within the University, performance expectations, what your year in ResLife will look like and how to conduct various aspects of your role including being on duty and supporting our residents. 

In-person training - During the in-person element of training you'll learn alongside your fellow recruits and undertake various workshops in order to enhance your skills for the role. These include a session around student welfare and responding to incidents, conflict resolution, conducting student visits and ResLife events to name a few

Local induction - This is when you'll learn about the finer details of being a ResLife Advisor in the hall you live in. You'll cover things like the rota, annual leave, meeting the team, getting to know your local amenities and procedure of where the duty phone and keys are kept. This is conducted by either your ResLife Coordinator or the Senior ResLife Advisor. 

Continuous personal development - We want to ensure that you get the most out of your time here with us, and we offer opportunities for you to gain additional qualifications or learn new skills. Some of which we wouldn't expect you to use within your role (first aid for example is the responsibility of security), but we want to provide opportunities for you to develop. Most won't be compulsory but there may be occasions when you must complete additional compulsory learning.