Apprentice IT Support Assistant (Desktop support)

The apprenticeship is a customer facing entry level IT support opportunity within a 2nd line Desktop Support Team that forms part of End Users Services at the University of Birmingham's High Temperature Research Centre (HTRC) based close to Coventry.

The High Temperature Research Centre (HTRC) is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Rolls-Royce. The 5,800 sqm Centre is funded through a £40M investment by Rolls-Royce plc, matched by a £20M government grant through the Higher Education Funding Council for England's (HEFCE) UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF). The Centre enables production scale research and experimentation to deliver rapid high-quality product and process innovation and is a unique casting, design, simulation and advanced manufacturing research facility.

Apprenticeship Standard: Information Communications Technician
Training Provider: QA

During this apprenticeship you will learn the following duties:

- Providing IT support to staff, students and visitors. IT Support Assistants will typically spend 2 days a week dealing with face to face callers.
- Developing and maintaining a good knowledge of the organisational structure in your area so as to be able to triage calls appropriately and understand the organisational impact of reported faults.
- Where reported faults mean a member of staff is unable to work, reacting quickly to diagnose and fix faults if possible or passing on to the appropriate person for further support (both visit and remote tasks).
- Treating everyone with dignity and respect, supporting equality and valuing diversity.
- Installing any non-standard new PCs, servicing, imaging and redeploying existing PCs.
- Moving and reinstalling IT equipment for office moves.
- Obtaining quotations for staff IT equipment, under guidance, and processing orders where the quote is agreed.
- Tracking and chasing orders which are in progress.
- Ensuring office supplies are stocked.
- Working with 3rd party contractors to organise and deploy IT hardware and software.
- Implementing the tape changing process including managing the rotation of tape sets, between sites, libraries and fire safes.
- Ensuring the asset database is accurate by adding, removing and updating records.
- Checking and advising on the specification of equipment to feed into the rolling replacement programme.
- Managing the disposal of IT equipment with 3rd party suppliers.

You will be expected to engage fully with the University of Birmingham apprenticeship scheme, attending mandatory group days and contributing to the successful promotion of the scheme by representing your department in a positive manner.

This apprenticeship would suit someone looking to develop a career in IT support who can organise their own time, complete the tasks required of them, and enjoys providing excellent customer service.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications and Experience:

- 5 GCSEs at grade C/4 or above, including Mathematics and English (or equivalent level 2 vocational qualifications including demonstrable examples of the required level of literacy and numeracy).
- Experience of using core Microsoft Office products (e.g. Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
- Basic PC troubleshooting / support skills.
- A desire to provide excellent customer service, with a friendly and helpful personality.
- Able to learn excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Excellent time keeping.
- Able to learn how to prioritise competing demands.
- The ability to learn how to work effectively as a member of a team and unsupervised when required.
- Genuine enthusiasm for all things IT.
- A desire to continually learn and improve.
- Ability to learn and understand how diversity considerations affect own area.
- Experience of configuring mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
- Basic experience of IT troubleshooting, both hardware and software.

Benefits include: 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, pension scheme, access to three high quality subsidised day nurseries, state-of-the-art sports centre, and access to the Birmingham Professional development programme.

Career Pathway: On completion of this apprenticeship, you may be able to progress into the role of an IT Support Technician.

Eligibility: You must normally have been a resident in the UK for the last 3 years. The training is funded through the apprenticeship levy and is subject to UK Government funding rules for apprenticeships.