Job Description
Position Details
School or Department: Student Services
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Grade: 2
Positions available: 12
Hourly rate: £13.06 + holiday entitlement
Casual contract from: 20th October 2025
Closing date: 27th September 2025
This vacancy is only open for University of Birmingham students. Please be aware that the vacancy may be taken down early dependent on the number of applications received.
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do.
The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham
Background
As a Student Content Shaper, you will bring the UoB student experience to life by creating fun, engaging and helpful content about being a student here in Birmingham. From making a ‘day in the life’ video to writing a blog on your favourite study spots, in this role you will cover a range of topics and themes.
The role’s duration is a year, hence the need to be a continuing student, but we welcome students from a range of backgrounds; undergraduate, postgraduate, home, international, mature, distance learners etc.
Working alongside the Student Communications Team, you will have the opportunity to create different types of content from Instagram Reels, trending TikToks, YouTube vlogs and blogs for our student communication channels including social media.
Role Summary
This is a broad role, but we are particularly looking for students who can contribute in the following ways:
- Presenting/participating in videos and photoshoots
- Creating and editing videos for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
- Writing blogs for Student News.
Excellent communication skills are key, particularly those with an interest in being the focus of Instagram Reels, YouTube and Tik-Tok videos, whilst also being able to communicate effectively with other Content Shapers and the Student Communications Team.
This is a casual role, on a part-time basis to fit alongside your studies. There are no set weekly hours as you will form part of a pool of freelance content creators (Content Shapers) who will be rotated where best expertise suits a specific week’s content requirements. However, your weekly limit will be 15 hours.
You are in control of your hours, but you will be required to create a minimum of two pieces of content per assignment and attend meetings to discuss content you are working on.
Main Duties
- Create and edit video content to meet fixed deadlines and to an agreed brief.
- Help create written content for blogs and web pages.
- Present in videos, filmed by students or staff at UoB, to help promote university services or important information and initiatives.
- Contribute to content ideas through meetings and chats.
- Support the Student Communications Team with student communications, providing feedback and recommendations for improvement.
- Provide in-person support during events such as Welcome, Christmas and UoB Xtra (social media and Stalls).
- Assist the Student Communications Team with other reasonable requests.
Person Specification
- Keen interest in current social media trends, as well as experience in the production of content for a variety of platforms.
- A clear and demonstrable understanding about the nature of the diverse student community at the University of Birmingham; showing an awareness of our student demographics and understanding of the requirements of the student community at the University of Birmingham.
- Positive attitude and approach to achieving results (finding and using relevant learning opportunities to improve results).
- Knowledge of emerging social media trends and experience of utilising these channels within a communications or marketing role.
- Ideally experience of graphical design packages and associated technologies (e.g., Canva)
- Experience of video production and editing using platforms such as CapCut.
- Experience of copywriting, proofreading and content editing.
- Excellent interpersonal, organisational, spoken, and written communication skills to deal effectively, confidently, and appropriately with students and staff at all levels.
- Ability to prioritise workload and anticipate problems, to progress work thoroughly and reliably sometimes under pressure and to tight deadlines.
- High levels of attention to detail.
- An effective team player who can demonstrate that they have not only worked successfully as part of a team, but that they are able to self-direct workload and priorities.
- Calm and focused under pressure.
- An understanding of the University aims and objectives.
- N.B. The broad variety of roles available means that candidates do not require all the above experience/qualities, rather fitting to one or more areas of the roles
