Wedding & Events Co-ordinator

**Background**

St Chad’s is a distinctive, independent college within Durham University. A separate registered charity with its own governing body, its origins date back to 1904 when it was created as a Church of England foundation to enable the ordination of clergy. Today it is a vibrant progressive academic community, home to 600 students, including around 150 postgraduates. With a foundation rooted in the Anglican tradition, St Chad’s welcomes students of all faiths, cultures, nationalities and backgrounds. Its culture is friendly, traditional and contemporary. St Chad’s historic college buildings are situated on a World Heritage Site, adjacent to Durham Cathedral. Students and staff live and work side by side, sharing the life of a multigenerational and interdisciplinary scholarly community. The College has a strong tutorial system and is one of very few colleges to have academic research staff based within its community. St Chad’s students are high achievers, regularly securing the highest academic results among the Durham colleges. Outside undergraduate term‐time, St Chad’s runs commercial events, conferences and weddings.

**Scope of the Post**

The Wedding & Event Co-ordinator is part of the operational support team within St Chad’s College. The role has responsibility for the smooth co-ordination of our growing wedding business as well as providing support for large-scale student events held in the College. They will be expected to be responsible for internal and external communications, supporting the achievement of our strategic objectives.

The post-holder will support the work of the Hospitality & Conference Manager in the organisation and delivery of weddings. They will also be expected to support the effective delivery of conference bookings and will be expected to play a pivotal role in liaison with students and College Officers to ensure the safe and successful delivery of large-scale student events. The post-holder will be expected to build and maintain excellent working relationships with a range of people, including college staff, students, commercial clients, and relevant staff in the University.

**Specific Responsibilities**
- Acting as the conduit between client and the College operations team to deliver a successful event
- Working with prospective wedding couples and potential commercial and conference clients to identify needs and to visualise how their event will be delivered
- Working with the Hospitality & Conference Manager to produce a proposal for the client’s event, sending this to them in a timely manner.
- Working with the College & Conference Administrator to ensure successful co-ordination and delivery of conferences
- Working with the Finance & Operations Director to co-ordinate other events such as the annual Candlemas ball and Fashion Show
- Working with the Head of Alumni Relations and Development to support the delivery of alumni events in College and externally
- Working closely with the Finance Team to ensure that all client events are invoiced correctly
- Working closely with all College staff to ensure effective and excellent delivery of events
- Following an event, obtaining client feedback with the aim of securing repeat or new business
- Ensuring the delivery of the highest standards of customer care and service
- Making best use of technology across College facilities.
- Supporting effective communications and promotion of the College, including the use of various social media channels

This list is indicative and should not be considered complete. The post holder will be required to undertake such other duties as may from time to time be allocated by the Finance & Operations Director, commensurate with the level of responsibility of the role.

**Skills and Training Requirements**

All staff are expected to participate fully in training courses designed to develop their skills and help them perform their duties to the required standards

**Person Specification**

**Essential attributes**:

- Strong IT skills, with a confident working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
- The ability to prioritise work without supervision, making decisions accordingly.
- The ability to work independently, and as part of a team.
- Organised and able to work to strict deadlines.
- High level of accuracy and attention to detail.
- Ability to find effective solutions to complex problems and issues.
- A high level of trustworthiness and discretion.
- Proven ability to deal with confidential information, maintaining appropriate levels of confidentiality, in line with the Data Protection Act and University policies, at all times
- Maths and English GCSEs at Grade C or above
- Evidence of a good standard of written English.
- An engaging style of spoken English both in telephone and face-to-face conversations.
- Ability to communicate complex ideas both in written and verbal form, including the ability to summarise information accurately and concisely
- Ability to use so