Accounts Recovery Advisor - 12 month FTC

Unite Group; West of England; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 26,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Holiday allowance

Pension scheme

Wellbeing benefits

Family leave

ShareSave & discounts

Job summary

Unite Students is seeking two Accounts Recovery Advisors for a 12-month fixed-term contract at our Bristol Head Office. You will reduce rent arrears, support income performance and deliver a great experience for residents and guarantors.

The role sits across Property, Finance and Central Operations with a focus on arrears management and payments. Working in a supportive team, you’ll own cases, build relationships, and grow your credit control skills from day one.

Qualifications

• Customer service experience desirable.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• Confident handling inbound and outbound calls with sensitive payment conversations.
• Accurate and detail-focused when managing data and systems.
• Experience with Salesforce and SharePoint desirable.

Responsibilities

• Handling payments and arrears; resolving complaints; finding rooms for prospective customers and rebookers; welfare signposting and escalation; cancellation requests.
• Interacting with customers through phone, webchat, social media and email.
• Be a positive brand ambassador, representing the business with professionalism and empathy.
• Engage with residents and guarantors through phone, SMS, email and webchat.
• Escalate complex or higher-risk cases to resolution and keep accurate case notes.
• Follow policies and procedures while meeting activity and performance expectations.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Arrears handling

Credit control

Relationship building

Tools

Salesforce

SharePoint

Excel

Outlook

Word

Job description

The Role

We are looking for 2 people to join our Support Hub in our Bristol Head Office as an Accounts Recovery Advisoron 12 month fixed term contracts, to play a key role in reducing rent arrears, supporting income performance and delivering a great experience for our residents and guarantors.

Working across Property, Finance and Central Operations, you’ll own cases, help resolve outstanding balances, build strong relationships and make a real impact from day one.

With a supportive team and clear opportunities to develop your credit control skills, this is a great role for someone looking to grow, make a difference and challenge the ordinary.

This is an on-site role, Monday to Friday, with working hours scheduled between 8:00am and 8:00pm.

What You'll Be Doing

• Handling a wide range of customer queries, including:
  • Managing payments and arrears, handling & resolving complaints, finding the perfect room for prospective customers & rebookers, welfare signposting & escalation, cancellation requests
• Interacting with our customers through a variety of channels; including phone, webchat, social media and email
• Be a positive brand ambassador, representing the business with professionalism and empathy.
• Engage with residents and guarantors through phone, SMS, email and webchat.
• Have confident, empathetic conversations about arrears, understand individual circumstances and agree appropriate next steps.
• Proactively manage overdue balances, follow up on payment commitments and support residents in getting back on track.
• Identify potential payment issues early and take action to prevent future non-payment.
• Manage and prioritise your workload based on arrears age, value and risk.
• Keep accurate case notes, records and systems up to date, ensuring clear visibility of activity and outcomes.
• Escalate complex or higher-risk cases when appropriate, taking ownership through to resolution.
• Work closely with colleagues across the business to achieve shared outcomes and deliver a great customer experience.
• Follow policies and procedures while consistently meeting agreed activity and performance expectations.

What We're Looking for in You

• Customer-focused with a professional, empathetic approach.
• Strong communication, listening and relationship-building skills.
• Confident handling inbound and outbound calls, including sensitive payment conversations.
• Accurate and detail-focused when managing data, records and systems.
• Comfortable working with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Outlook and Word.
• Able to prioritise workload, take ownership and know when to escalation.
• Collaborative approach, working effectively with Property and internal teams.
• Customer service experience desirable.
• Experience with Salesforce and SharePoint desirable.
• Credit control, finance or arrears experience would be an advantage.

What You'll Get in Return

• A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company's success
• 25 days' paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service
• A generous pension scheme – employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save
• Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends
• Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
• Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more!

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is the UK`s largest provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 23 leading university towns and cities, with over 70,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.

Instinctive inclusion.We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.

People make Unite Students.Employees, students, and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.

Room for Everyone

We`re proud to be an employer thatembraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building ahome for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with passion. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.

We are US.