Student Casual – FBR Assistant – Food, Beverage and Retail – Grade 2 – 907081 / 907077 Full Time

Post title

FBR Assistant

College/Division

Campus Services

School/Department

Food, Beverage and Retail

Full time/Part time

Part time

Duration of the Post

Target start date w/c 25/05/2026 – ongoing role

Grade

2

Hourly rate

£13.24 per hour plus holiday entitlement

Number of positions available

15-20 + reserves

Closing Date

11/05/2026 at 23:55

Please note that this vacancy may be taken down early depending on the number of applications received. We advise you to submit your application promptly.

Our offer to you

At the University of Birmingham, Worklink is the dedicated student employment service which helps students to find flexible, well paid part-time roles that fit around your studies. Each year, the University invests more than £2.5 million to employ 3,000 of our own students in a wide range of roles, supporting our student community into part-time work. Roles available via Worklink include a range of positions, including administrative roles, support staff such as cleaners or baristas, research roles and many more.

Jobs through Worklink help you to gain work experience, develop skills relevant for your future career, and improve your soft and hard skills in a professional setting. Enhance your CV and get valuable experience ready for graduate roles and feel connected to your university and local community.

Our jobs are flexible and can be scheduled around your academic commitments, so you can focus on your studies first. Our team are passionate about supporting students into work. Worklink are based in a central location on campus which is easily accessible for students and can also be contacted online.

Find out more about working through Worklink here or via the student intranet .

Job context

Campus Services (CS) employs over 900 staff with a turnover exceeding £65m in the last financial year. CS plays a key role in the quality of the student, staff, and visitor experience, providing services across diverse areas such as the University’s sporting facilities, food and beverage, cleaning, conferencing, hotel operations, day nurseries, Portering, post, branded and own-brand retail outlets, visitor services and attractions (e.g., Winterbourne House & Gardens), student housing, transport, waste disposal and recycling. CS is a highly commercial organisation operating within the University context and has an ambitious strategic agenda, in terms of growing our service profile across both our Birmingham and Dubai campuses.

The Business and Operations department offers a variety of outlets to staff, students and visitors across campus and also in student accommodation from small coffee shops to large restaurants. We also provide hospitality services for conferences and events held on campus and further afield.

Job Summary

You will be responsible for providing excellent customer service in any one of those retail areas/outlets. This post will involve basic food preparation, the provision of a high quality retail service, cash handling, cleaning and stock control, together with any other duties required to ensure the smooth running of the business and operations service we offer to our diverse range of customers. In order to flexibly use resource you may be required to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.

Main duties

Customer Service

• Greet and serve customers in a professional, responsive courteous, friendly manner, including answering queries and dealing with situations that arise, to deliver the highest level of customer service.
• Building rapport with customers whenever possible and encouraging customer feedback.
• Maintain a professional working relationship with all colleagues.

Business Requirements

• Undertake basic retail/food and drink preparation, maintaining standards to deliver quality products to the customer.
• Ensure a correct standard of stock rotation is followed whilst maintaining adequate stock levels, adjusting orders as required and making sure that retail products are used prior to the best before date. Ensuring merchandising standards are met.
• Report any equipment failures and hazards to the Supervisor/Manager/Supplier in a timely manner.
• Ensure all merchandising standards are adhered to as directed by the Supervisor/Manager and in line with Operations Manuals.
• Maintain control on all retail wastage and record as required.
• Ensure that all Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) hygiene and allergen recording systems and retail receipt procedures are carried out and correctly recorded.
• Conform and adhere to all Health and Safety Codes of Practice and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) regulations at all times.
• Assist with the transportation of stock and equipment from one location to another as required, following hygiene and health and safety protocols.
• Operate electronic point of sale (EPOS) terminals and handle cash effectively, including opening and end of day procedures, cashing up and ensuring the security of all monies; if required in secure areas.
• Perform cleaning tasks to a high standard at all times, following standard operating procedures, ensuring the regularly removal of rubbish as necessary and ensuring a clean environment.
• Ensure the thorough cleaning of all equipment, retail fixtures and fittings, walls, fridges, tables and accompaniments and all work areas and surfaces and to ensure they are sanitised before the end of each shift.
• On occasion, you may be required to place orders for food and stock, and/or undertake stock takes as directed by your manager.
• If serving restricted items, ensure compliance with the relevant licensing laws.

Teamwork

• Actively seek opportunities to increase sales by upselling products and make recommendations as directed by your manager.
• Participate in any training and development activities as required.
• Be supportive to colleagues.
• Attend all team briefs/training and departmental meetings as required.
• Be actively involved in an annual personal development review with your line manager/supervisor.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties or requests (other than those stated in the job description) as requested by a senior member of staff including driving UoB vehicles when required (if you hold a clean driving license).
• Treats everyone with dignity and respect, supporting equality and valuing diversity.

Operational requirements

• This roles working hours are inclusive of weekdays, weekends, bank holidays and closed days on a rota basis, including evening work activities. Operational windows will vary by business unit/activity.
• The postholder will primarily focus on one area – front of house, back of house or logistics. The postholder may be required to work in other areas of the business occasionally subject to business need.
• To undertake works activities across all UoB campuses as requested that are commensurate with the grade and role activities to support the Division and wider UoB activities.
• Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience

• Experience and knowledge of working in a busy, customer facing role, with previous experience of working in a retail environment being an advantage
• A commitment to providing a quality service
• Positive communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work on own initiative or as part of a team
• Ability to maintain a high standard of personal appearance – some parts of a uniform is provided for this purpose
• Work patterns may vary so a flexible approach to working hours and days is essential
• Ability to learn and understand how diversity considerations affect own area (e.g. customer preferences/dress code)

Further details

• This role will involve students working in two large groups and rotating between 2 main roles – Retail Assistant and Food & Beverage Assistant. This is to ensure that students gain experience in a range of environments and can manage a diverse set of responsibilities.
• Within term time students are limited to a maximum of 20 hours per week, however outside of term time there may be a requirement for students to work more hours than this. This is subject to course type, availability and Visa requirements.
• This role ideally requires some customer experience, either in retail/food & drink environments or in similar roles. Please detail this experience in your application, including any of the transferrable skills included in the person specification.
• This role is ongoing, meaning the successful candidate may continue working up until their graduation. As a result, due to the investment in training we are ideally looking to employ students who have at least a year left on their course (graduating in July 2027 or later). Please note that this is not an essential requirement in order to apply, however this may be a factor when shortlisting/interviewing.
• While this role continues all year round, during this round of recruitment we are specifically seeking students who will be available to work over the summer break period and therefore live locally to campus. Please note that this is not an essential requirement in order to apply, however this may be a factor when shortlisting/interviewing.
• Interviews are planned for 20th and 21st of May – please state within your application if you are unavailable for one or both of these dates.

For any informal queries, please contact Jason Dixon or Faye Toye ( j.a.m.dixon@bham.ac.uk / f.toye@bham.ac.uk )

The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 20 hours per week during term time for a maximum of 13 consecutive weeks. If your application is successful and your course does not follow the usual academic term timetable (e.g.  PGT, PGR or PhD student), you and your supervisor must formally agree vacation periods if this role exceeds 20 hours per week. In addition to this, please be aware if you are an international student you will be required to apply to the Registry for the appropriate authorised absence.

You are only eligible to apply to this role if you are a current University of Birmingham student. If you are not a University of Birmingham student your application will not be considered.

To work you will need to carry out a right to work check. These checks will need to be completed prior to work commencing.

Regarding the use of AI in applications, we review hundreds of applications and shortlist candidates based on their unique perspective, motivations and potential. Cover letters generated through, or edited by, AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT or CoPilot) are easy to identify. They produce generic answers and will not score highly enough to progress. You may use AI tools for research, but all written content in your application must be your own work. Authenticity and originality are key to standing out in this process.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we’re unable to contact all applicants individually. You can check the progress of your application by logging into the Worklink jobs portal using the same email address you used to apply. If you haven’t heard back within six weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful.

Our Shared Values

Ambitious

We are confident in the University of Birmingham and project this globally. We are focused on our goals, are clear about our strengths, and pursue our own direction. We are bold and take intelligent risks.

Innovative

We enjoy being the first to do things. Inspired by our Birmingham heritage, we are resourceful, creative, grounded, and practical, and seek to make a real and positive difference to the world around us.

Open

We welcome colleagues, collaborators, and students from across the world to work and study with us. We are committed to academic freedom, freedom of speech, and equality of opportunity for all. We expect everyone to act with sensitivity, respect, and fairness.

Collaborative

The major challenges facing our city, nation, and the world cannot be solved if we act alone. We enhance our research and education by pursuing creative partnerships within and beyond the University.

Responsible

We operate with transparency, trust, and respect. We value our role as an anchor institution for Birmingham. We strive to be an excellent employer, to reduce inequalities in access to education, and to place sustainability at the heart of our work.