Training Coordinator

This is a key role with the Social Research Association (SRA), a friendly educational charity and membership body.  As our Training Coordinator, you'll balance planning and organising skills with your people skills, to help our training programme thrive. Providing training is a vital part of our purpose, helping researchers gain the skills and knowledge they need.  We run around 150 training courses a year with our stable of expert trainers. 

You’ll be responsible for planning and organising our annual programme of short courses, working closely with trainers, attendees, the website manager and staff.  Candidates don’t need to know anything about research and a background in training is not essential either, as long as you can offer the skills, experience and dependability to coordinate a large scale programme of activities.

We’re a small and well-run organisation, with a friendly and busy team.

This exciting opportunity has arisen due to retirement of the existing team member, who has agreed to stay on for a considerable handover period.

Who we are

The Social Research Association (SRA) promotes excellence in social research.  It was founded in 1978 and has been a registered educational charity since 2008.

We are a growing organisation, small but ambitious, with a staff team of six providing membership and training (our two main income-generating services) to the UK social research community. Events, publications and guidance are devised by volunteer groups and staff, and a board of trustees ensures governance and oversight.  There are currently over 1500 individual SRA members from across the profession, in government, universities, research agencies, charities, and consultancies. 

Our ambitions are to support the sector to deliver the best research possible by sharing practical expertise, experience, resources and a community in which members of the social research sector can engage with one another. As a driving force in the social research sector, we want to create positive impact however we can. Recently, this has extended to commissioning and sharing insight about diversity and inclusion among researchers, and continuing that work to support greater inclusion amongst research organisations and in how research is conducted.

Summary:

Training Coordinator  - permanent contract

Hours:  full-time, 37 hours per week

Salary:  £26,000 – £30,000 depending on experience

Location:  home based, with occasional visits to London for meetings or events

Holidays:  28 days + 8 public holidays

Reports to:  Operations Manager

 

Role duties:

Organise training activities

·        Plan the future requirement for each course on a rolling basis

·        Assess the demand for each course and seek to match availability to this

·        Work with our freelance trainers and partners to arrange dates for their courses

·        Liaise with the website manager to make each course available for registration

·        Write publicity material, including marketing emails

·        Represent the SRA’s training programme as the first point of contact for attendees and trainers alike.

·        Update and liaise with trainers as course dates approach

·        Monitor course registrations and arrange additional publicity as needed

·        Generate attendance lists and other course materials

·        Maintain key records, follow up any late-payers

·        Gather and share feedback on courses for quality improvement purposes

Troubleshoot live courses

·        On course days, respond rapidly to queries from trainers and attendees

·        Work closely with the person providing tech support to ensure full attendance

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We're committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can reach their full potential.  We encourage applications irrespective of age, disability, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief. To ensure that everyone can apply and be part of our recruitment processes, where needed we will make reasonable adjustments to accommodate candidates.

Job-related experience and/or lived experience

Essential

·        Experience of coordinating the delivery of projects, activities, products or services

·        Experience of working in a fast-paced admin environment, with the ability to manage your own workload and balance priorities to meet deadlines

·        Able to work flexibly across varied activities

·        Experience of building relationships with internal and external stakeholders
 

You must be legally able to work in the UK, with a reliable internet connection at home and a quiet place to work.

Desirable

·        Experience of working in the UK charity sector

·        Experience of working in a small organisation

·        Experience and/or understanding of the social/market research sector

·        Experience of content management systems and email marketing software

 

Skills and abilities

Essential

·        Highly organised, detail-focused

·        Excellent at maintaining relationships with great interpersonal skills.

·        Resourceful and practical with excellent problem solving skills and initiative

·        Good communication skills

·        Collaborative and adaptable, able to work with a range of individuals

·        Good literacy and numeracy

·        Competent user of MS Office suite, particularly MS Excel.

 

Final deadline:  Wednesday 6th December 2023

You'll be asked for:

• your current CV, and
• a covering letter that focuses on answering these questions:

1. Why are you interested in this role?  (Up to 150 words)
2. How do your experience and skills make you a good fit for this role?  Please refer to the person specification. (Up to 500 words)

First interviews will be held by video conference on Weds 13th and Thurs 14th December, and you'll be notified if you have been invited to interview by close of play on Monday 11th.  Final interviews to be held in the week of 8th January.