Advice Intern (Student Finance)
Who are we?
We are Manchester Students’ Union, the biggest SU in the country, supporting over 48,000 students throughout their time at university. We help to make student life the best it can be by supporting students to campaign for change, creating opportunities to meet new people, providing employment opportunities, providing advice and support and being a safe place on campus.
We are a values-centred organisation that employs around 90 permanent, full-time members of staff. We recruit a wide range of roles throughout the year within all our departments from our Commercial team operating Manchester Academy Venues, 13 Media, Bar 532 & Kitchen and Corridor Coffee to our Student Activities, Student Engagement, Marketing and Communications, Finance, HR and Facilities teams. Our team of around 400 part-time, studying staff are instrumental in providing to support to all departments as well as leading major projects like Student Angels. When you join UMSU, you’ll be immersed in an environment that empowers staff to make great things happen and we're always on the lookout for innovative, passionate, and proactive people to join us.
Our values are really important to us and shape the work that we do every day. As part of our recruitment process, we want you to demonstrate how your experiences, behaviours and skills align with our values. You can find more detailed explanations of our values on our website.
About the role
Are you passionate about helping others, solving problems and making a positive difference to students’ lives? Are you interested in developing a career in advice and supporting people to understand their rights, options and available support?
We’re looking for an enthusiastic and empathetic Advice Intern (Student Finance) to join the Advice Service at the University of Manchester Students’ Union (UMSU).
This is an exciting opportunity for a graduate looking to develop their knowledge and skills in professional advice. You’ll receive training, supervision and support from experienced advisers while gaining practical, hands-on experience of providing advice to students.
As an Advice Intern, you’ll be providing free, independent and confidential advice to students at the University of Manchester. You’ll have a particular focus on student finance and money advice, administering our emergency loan, developing your knowledge of funding options, Student Finance, tuition fees, financial support and other money-related issues. With the rising cost of living, you’ll play a key role in helping students access the financial support they need and empower them to make informed decisions. Alongside this, you’ll develop your ability to advise students on a range of other issues, including academic matters and regulations, housing and wider student life issues.
You’ll enjoy this role if you’re curious, willing to learn and interested in understanding how advice can help students navigate difficult or complex situations. You’ll need excellent communication skills and the ability to listen, remain calm and respond with empathy when students are experiencing difficult or sensitive circumstances. You’ll also learn how to recognise when a student needs additional support and when it is appropriate to signpost or refer them to specialist services.
A key part of the role will be learning through doing. You’ll take part in training, supervision and discussions about cases, using feedback and learning opportunities to develop your advice skills, knowledge and confidence. As you develop, you’ll have opportunities to take on increasing responsibility for advice enquiries.
Alongside one to one advice, the Advice Service delivers supported self-help resources, preventative campaigns and outreach activities to help students access information before problems escalate. If you enjoy engaging with people, you’ll have opportunities to contribute to website and social media content and support the team with presentations and workshops and promotional events.
You’ll be part of a small, supportive and dedicated team, working in a busy and varied environment where student wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do. This role offers an excellent opportunity to gain practical experience of professional advice work, develop specialist knowledge in student finance and build transferable skills for a career in advice, student services, welfare or related areas.
You don’t need to have previous experience of providing professional advice. We’re looking for someone with strong communication and interpersonal skills, a willingness to learn and a genuine commitment to supporting students. Experience in advice, welfare, support work, professional student services or other settings would be useful, but we’re particularly interested in your potential to develop and your approach to supporting others.
Please read the full role profile before applying, as well as our guide to recruitment.
Details
Salary: £25,360-£27,553 per year
Contract: Fixed-Term for 12 months
Hours: 35 hours per week
Our Reward Package
You'll get access to our reward package which you can see here.
Recruitment Guide
We have a guide that explains our full recruitment process. We recommend reading through this before beginning an application.
If you are invited to interview with us, we will share our interview questions in advance so you can prepare your responses. We’re more interested in hearing about your experiences and ideas than in testing your memory, and so we want you to feel as prepared as possible.
AI Use
GenAI tools, like ChatGPT, are revolutionising how we approach a whole host of tasks at work. As a future-focused employer, we believe in embracing, not banning, these tools. However, as with all tech, some ways of using it are better than others. You can use GenAI to refine and articulate your ideas. It’s a tool to help structure your thoughts and improve clarity, not to replace your unique voice and experiences. Please don’t just copy and paste what AI tells you to write.
We recommend you read our guide on how to approach the use of AI within our recruitment process:
Inclusivity and Accessibility
We are committed to equality of opportunity, and we work hard to ensure we appoint based on skill and values.
We particularly encourage applications from Disabled or Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African candidates as these groups are currently underrepresented in our staff team.
If you have any accessibility requirements or require adjustments to support you to apply to work with us, please get in touch. We can offer reasonable adjustments at all stages of our recruitment process.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. Under this scheme, we aim to offer an interview to candidates who declare a disability and meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. Minimum criteria are marked with an asterisk on the person specification. However, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or peak recruitment times (i.e. July, August and September), it may not always be possible to guarantee an interview for every eligible candidate. In such cases, we will take steps to ensure that the process remains fair, consistent, and inclusive.
Recruitment Timeline
Applications opened: 04/09/2026
Applications close: 11/09/2026 23:59pm
Interviews: 30/09/2026
Role Commencing: 12/10/2026
We may close applications early if we receive a high volume of applications. We recommend that you apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Once the vacancy has closed, we’re unable to accept late applications to ensure a fair process for all candidates.
Once you have submitted your application, you will not be able to make any further changes. Please ensure you are happy with your responses before submitting.
Contact
People Team:
You can contact the People Team with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.
Email: jobs.su@manchester.ac.uk
Phone: 0161 306 3279
Hiring Manager:
You can contact the hiring manager with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.
Email: declan.katwala@manchester.ac.uk