Have you got the qualities that we are looking for?

• Are you friendly, outgoing and confident?
• Do you enjoy meeting and talking to people?
• Are you a good listener as well as a good communicator?

Did you know that over 39 million visitors came to the UK in 2017?
• Did you know that travel from and to the UK has grown substantially over the past 40 years? Since 1980, visits abroad by UK residents have more than quadrupled from 17.5 million to 72.8 million in 2017. Visits to the UK by overseas residents in the same time have grown from 12.4 million to 39.2 million.
• Did you know that London is the most popular UK destination, with nearly 20 million visits in 2017 including at least one night in the city? The next most visited city is Edinburgh, followed by Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.
• Did you know that visitors to the UK spent an average of £86 per day during their visit? By comparison, UK residents travelling abroad spent an average of £60 per day.

These facts have been extracted from the International Passenger Survey (IPS). This survey collects information from three quarter of a million passengers that pass through a UK airport, sea port or Eurostar terminal each day. The data is widely used both within government and within the tourism industry to measure travel expenditure and its impact on the UK economy. It is also used to estimate details of migrants into and out of the UK and to provide information about international tourism and how it has changed over time.

Job description

You will be based at Gatwick Airport and this will be considered your normal place of work (your base site). As is normal with the IPS Interviewer positions, any contract awarded will include the requirement to work weekends when necessary.

As an IPS Interviewer, you will work as part of a small team using your friendly interpersonal skills to persuade a wide range of people to participate in this important interview. Some people take more persuading than others to take part, therefore you will need an adaptable interviewing style. Once the information has been gathered, you will enter it on to a tablet.

As the statistics are required daily, a key requirement of this role is that you have the flexibility to work allocated shifts on any day of the week. Shifts operate on a rota basis covering 7 days a week. Shift lengths are normally 6 to 8.5 hours, plus you are required to be at the workstation for 15 minutes before and after a shift time. As is normal with the IPS Interviewer positions, any contract awarded will include the requirement to work weekends when necessary.

You will be provided with a free uniform. Car parking is available on site if required.

The contract on offer is for an Annualised Hours contract of 1456 hours per annum. An Annualised Hours Contract states the agreed number of guaranteed hours the employee is contracted to work over a 12 month period. This is different from a standard weekly contract e.g. 38, 40 or 48 hour week – each week, every week. An Annualised Hours Contract allows the organisation to increase or reduce, in advance, the required number of hours to be worked at a given time. This is to match the needs of the business.

Your salary is paid monthly. The full-time equivalent (37 hours per week/1924 hours per annum) starting salary rate is £18,795.

The actual salary is paid pro-rata; for this job it is £14,223 per annum.
 

Responsibilities

Essential requirements for the IPS Interviewer role are:

• We will not be able to proceed with your application if you have had more than 4 jobs in the last 5 years. This is the ONS recruitment policy for IPS Interviewer posts only and exists as an objective business requirement because of the stringent rules imposed on recruiters by the referencing requirements of UK Airport and Port Authorities. This policy is applicable to everybody who applies for an IPS interviewer post with ONS.
• At home, you must have a wireless broadband connection as you will be provided with a tablet to access your work emails.
• You will need to be proficient in the use of a tablet or smartphone, as you will be issued with a tablet to use in your work.
• Flexibility in when you can work is a requirement of our business. Therefore, if you have any regular set commitments, on any day of the week, this will preclude you from applying. Work can be allocated on any day of the week (Monday to Sunday). There is no set shift pattern. IPS Interviewer shifts are not fixed – they rotate randomly over different days. Every effort is made to allocate shifts at least 6 weeks in advance.
• You must declare any unspent convictions and convictions pending (excluding parking offences). Do not give details of any conviction(s) that are spent under the ‘Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974’. Should you have any doubt as to whether or not a conviction is spent, you should seek advice from an appropriate person, e.g. a solicitor, the Clerk of the Court where you were convicted or a Citizens Advice Bureau.
• If your application is successful, you will need to apply for a Basic Disclosure Criminal Record Certificate (fee refundable). In addition, you will be subject to a comprehensive 5 year reference check. To fulfil the requirements of the relevant Airport/Port ID Security Unit, this post is subject to a security background check adhering to current Department for Transport regulation guidance for persons holding ID passes for UK Airports/Ports. You must pass this in order to commence employment (this can take several weeks to obtain).
• There should be no restrictions on your ability to travel to your place of work by whatever means required by the site (e.g. own car).
• You should understand the physical mandatory requirements of this role which will require the need to move through congested areas, negotiate flights of stairs and restricted areas with limited access, long walks at airports, and at quayside operation sites (where relevant to the post) to also negotiate busy car lanes.
• You will be required to operate a clicker machine and collect and enter data on a handheld tablet throughout the course of your shift.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check