senior research associate

lecturer

research associate

cleaner

teacher

Lancaster-University

Its academia. It can be as challenging and rewarding as you want to make it. There are opportunities if you manage to gain a permanent contract, but otherwise - you will be expected to work on an ad-hoc basis, 'continuing' contracts that run out of money (so the same as being time-limited) or 'engagement' basis, which is worse than a zero-hours contract. 

In fact, there is no contract on engagement. You are offered the work on a promise or a favour, and are expected to jump through hoops for relatively little money. There is no job security, no financial security. Management expect the world from you but offer nothing in the way of support and they don't seem to care that their multi-million pound business runs on the labour of a massively causalised workforce who have no employment rights or benefits whatsoever. 

Go there, get your education and qualifications, then leave. Otherwise, they will take advantage of you if you try to make a career here. You will likely bounce from job to job until you realise that the permanent positions are not going to arrive - unless you can manage to push out a 'Nature' paper...

Somehow the management teams are able to create a relaxed and fun environment while working in a fast-paced, busy role. Being a tour guide was fun, even for a relatively shy person like me, and kick-started my attraction to job roles which involve working with local communities and the public. The hardest part of the job was managing tour group sizes, as it got very busy/popular during peak times in the day. However, with great team members, and being aware of and taking initiative to include all members of the team and encourage them to take on equal shares of work, we all managed very well, with feelings of success and satisfaction by the end of the working days. Working for the university really brought me out of my shell and in just a few days of working, I felt myself grow significantly in confidence and competence. It is really a great opportunity for students to get high quality, well-paid and convenient work experience.

Usually the most common enjoyable part I found within all the organisations was having the chance to work as a team with different employees to build team chemistry and also to make friends. Even though there were a lot of difficulties for some of the teams I worked for we still managed to get on perfectly and get tasks done efficiently by having the desire of learning new things. I reflected about team work as my university have also focused on how to build the perfect team as I believe that team work is not about getting more tasks down it's more about reducing the amount of mistakes done throughout the process of the task.

Responsibilities:
* My main role was to be a mediator between the students and the international student office. I had to help all the students with their enquiries regarding the University.
* My role also included designing a brochure and also creating a presentation slide, which was used by the admissions team to promote Lancaster University abroad.
* Helped in making the campus more student friendly by improving the environment according to the requirements of the students.

Skills Gained: I had a chance to improve my communication skills and my overall personality. It helped me with time management skills and encouraged me to take initiative

Not a pleasant place to work, although it does depend on the department! Some have a much better work culture than others.

Programme Coordinator roles are over-worked and under-paid for the level of responsibility and pressure.

Despite repeated requests for additional support, multiple people taking sick leave with stress, and high staff turnover, nothing was done to reduce workload or provide support. Employees are definitely made to feel as though they are less important than the 'customers' (the students).

Benefits simply not worth it for the level of stress and burn out.

Lancaster U is a good place to work. Compared to what I've seen of other British universities, Lancaster seems a little more organized regarding HR & things like that. My supervisor is flexible, and I think that is typical of Lancaster. The negative is that it's a small town with limited options for employment outside the university. My wife has not been able to find a job in nearly 2 years, so it's very unlikely that I will try to stay around here long term.

My typical day at work usually begins with email, answering queries from current students about aspects of their studies, or prospective students wanting to know more about programmes we offer.

My department is a very pleasant place to work and all the staff easy to work with, so it's easy to work as part of a team, but also easy when workloads are high to be left to get on.  The hardest part of the job is when deadlines are tight but they are always met.

Lancaster University, in my experience as a student working in part-time, freelance roles to support my studies, is a supportive working environment. Whilst I have not worked full-time, I note from my own experiences and others' that many of the roles are either zero-hours or split into various part-time contracts. This suits students, but for graduates such as myself and those looking for a career, this proves problematic for stability and a living wage.

I worked in the Politics, Philosophy and Religion department as a teaching associate. I was doing the work of a lecturer, despite being paid 7000 per annum less. When the HoD changed, there were massive cuts and I was transferred from a full time contract to a zero hour contract. The culture of this department is oppressive, unsupportive, and driven only by recruitment figures. Do not work here.

I only worked there for a short time, as a student ambassador for the Psychology department. However, these few months were the best months of my time at Lancaster University. There was a friendly ethos, and I knew that if I ever misunderstood my role, I was able to talk to my superiors in a relatively informal way, so that they could help me understand better.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Senior research associate 51 salaries reported	£42,740 per year
Lecturer 22 salaries reported	£51,427 per year
Research associate 28 salaries reported	£37,152 per year
Cleaner 5 salaries reported	£12.24 per hour
Teacher 4 salaries reported	£29,323 per year

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