International Sales Advisor (Mandarin speaking)

Purpose of the Job

To form part of the international sales team, delivering high‑quality customer service, working collaboratively with colleagues and students. The focus on B2B or B2C varies depending on business needs. The role includes contacting international students (email & phone calls) to assist them with bookings and explain our policies, and supporting international agents who refer students to us with bookings and all enquiry types. The role also offers customer service to international customers on various channels (calls, WeChat, emails, etc.).

Summary of the Role

Contact: 12 months (end day March 2027)
Salary: £28,860
Location: Hybrid – mainly working from home with occasional visits to our London office for training and meetings; occasional travel within the UK required.

Working Hours and Shift Pattern

Monday – Sunday, 5‑day working week including some weekends and Bank Holidays.
7.5 hours a day between 6 am – 8 pm. Early shift starts at 6 am. Late shift usually ends at 6 pm, occasionally till 8 pm.
37.5 hours a week. Your specific weekly pattern will be discussed and arranged with you by your line manager. We reserve the right to change your pattern of work from time to time depending on business needs.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

Customer Focus

• Assisting agents and customers in a professional and courteous manner and providing information regarding our properties and services across the UK.
• Conducting sales conversations with Chinese agents and students via various channels including WeChat, Webchat, calls, and emails.
• Answering agent and student enquiries.
• Following up on any customer‑related issues requiring action in a timely manner, engaging with other teams when necessary.
• Providing a decisive and effective response to complaints, assisting in and resolving customer disputes and escalating where necessary.
• Maintaining positive relationships with agents, colleagues and students.

Administration

• Maintaining Unite Students’ information systems including the booking system and MS Excel spreadsheets, ensuring customer data is accurate, secure and compliant with the Data Protection Act and GDPR.
• Undertaking general administration duties, including processing bookings and payments, debt chasing, managing no‑shows and absconders.
• Providing financial administration support, escalating customer arrears issues; assisting with international agent commission checks and monitoring the commission budget.
• Promoting to agents and students ad hoc and cyclical sales & marketing campaigns.
• Undertaking additional duties and tasks as requested by line management.

Teamwork

• Demonstrating a flexible approach to work and a willingness to undertake all reasonable duties at the request of the team manager.
• Providing support to city‑based teams and other support teams when required.
• Working collaboratively to support the overall business development team to deliver its business plan and broader objectives.
• Enhancing sales opportunities and performance, including gathering and sharing market information, agent and student feedback, and competition activities.
• Working in a collegiate and supportive manner with colleagues, ensuring opportunities to share best practice are utilised.
• Developing and maintaining productive working relationships with support functions and third‑party suppliers.
• Attending regular meetings with colleagues, communicating outstanding issues and requests.
• Embracing change and supporting the business and colleagues through transformation.

Compliance

• Ensuring that Health and Safety legislation is adhered to at all times.
• Maintaining awareness of current legislation concerning Data Protection and compliance.
• Conducting all duties in line with Unite Students’ policy and procedure.
• Ensuring management is informed of any serious issues.
• Fulfilling varied administration requirements.

Performance and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Ensuring all work is completed within required standards and KPI targets set by the business.
• Maintaining the highest level of productivity at all times.
• Contributing to the delivery of the KPIs within the team, including measures for:
  
  • Sales & conversion rate
  • Business‑to‑Business and Business‑to‑Consumer channels performance
  • Agents / third‑party satisfaction
• Contributing suggestions for areas of improvement to benefit the business.
• Reflecting Unite Students’ mission, vision and values in all activities.

Essential Requirements

• Chinese native speaker; written and spoken fluency in Mandarin.
• Ability to work outside regular office hours to communicate with customers based in China when needed.
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written, with an objective, professional and calm approach when handling difficult situations.
• Ability to build relationships internally and with third‑party suppliers.
• Computer literacy with ability to use Microsoft Office.
• Able to work at pace while maintaining high accuracy and attention to detail.
• Self‑management skills, prioritising tasks, multitasking and meeting deadlines.
• Previous experience in a sales environment with administrative tasks.
• Highly skilled in advising and delivering against customer needs.
• Positive and collegiate attitude, adaptability and willingness to undertake challenging tasks to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Self‑motivated and capable of working on own initiative.

Desirable

Previous experience in the accommodation, hospitality or education sectors.

What You’ll Get in Return

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

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is the UK’s leading provider of purpose‑built student accommodation. We operate in 23 leading university towns and cities, with 70,000 students calling US home. We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to building diverse and inclusive teams.

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 that embraces individuality and we’re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be yourself, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We are rated Gold Investors in People and strive to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people.

We are US.