Meet Kim
Meet Kim, The Operations Manager for Unilife.
I am still to this day, passionate and excited about making every single student feel as welcome as I felt that day.
What is your current role?
I am Unilife’s Operations Manager.
What does a typical day look like?
There is no “typical day”, each day is different which is exciting! Usually we do a morning meeting with the team to catch up about recent events and everyone updates one another about their most important activities and student relations.
This includes move-ins and move-outs, studio renovations, cleaning and new confirmed bookings so we can schedule in the arrival and arrange for the student to be greeted in person by a member of the Unilife team.
I mainly oversee the Sales and work closely with Alex and Frank to coordinate viewings and assist students throughout the booking process. This includes showing potential students and parents around our buildings in Southampton, Winchester and Guildford. I will also accommodate any online and in person enquiries coming through the website, phone and online chat. I am also present on University Open Days and available to answer any questions specifically first year students are curious about. Reassuring parents that their child is taken care of when living at one of our Unilife Studios is my top priority on those days.
I also work with students towards planning their initial arrival to the building. In the run up until September we are the busiest, and it’s the most challenging and fun time of the year. Challenging because we have to say goodbye to some long-term residents who graduate and leave University after several years. Each student massively contributes towards what the Unilife community is all about which is inclusivity and feeling comfortable at your home away from home. We help students reach a big milestone in their lives with graduating from their undergraduate and postgraduate courses and starting their own life. The fun part comes only a few days later when we welcome new students starting their university journey here at Unilife which is super exciting – an absolute rollercoaster of emotions!
I also work closely with the Marketing team to ensure we have plenty of events and activities planned for the students each month and that these events run smoothly, starting with the welcome event during the arrival period. When I am not travelling between our buildings, I love being based at the reception and chat with our residents while having a cup of tea or coffee (not only the students love our free coffee machine!)
What has been your favourite moment at Unilife?
My favourite moment will always be moving in to my Studio at Unilife in Southampton in September 2015. I arrived with a friend from Germany in a huge van packed with all our items we brought from home to succeed at our final year of our undergraduate course at Solent University. After almost 600 miles and 10 hours of driving we arrived at Unilife around 9pm in the evening and were so relieved to be welcomed in person by the team! We got help moving every single box upstairs and found a fully stocked fridge which was much welcome and gave us the opportunity to turn on the oven in our kitchenette for the very first time, not needing to leave for a food shop after such a long journey.
On this evening, I had no idea I would stay on for much longer than just one year. I am still to this day, passionate and excited about making every single student feel as welcome as I felt that day, starting on the first day you contact us through the website, online chat, phone or on an Open Day. You can learn more about my personal Unilife experience here, I made this video when I had just graduated and was due to return home – little did I know I could use my love for Unilife and newly gained Marketing degree to give more students the opportunity to experience the ultimate student living!
What do you enjoy doing away from Unilife?
I balance action-filled power workouts with quietness and time to myself. I love spending time on the phone or FaceTime to my family as they are back in Germany, which will easily take up an entire day as I catch up with two younger sisters, my mom, dad, grandma and extended family at least once per week, usually on a Sunday. I am not a party-person and love a cozy night in with a good movie or book and a cup of tea.
If you were a superhero, what powers would you want and why?
I would love to be able to fly. It would save me so much time, and I imagine it must be so calming to float. Going anywhere I like at anytime would give me such a sense of freedom. No more trains and buying expensive tickets, no cycling up the hills and maintaining the bike, or waiting in traffic and unaffordable fuel prices while doing damage to the environment. I would just open the window and go for a quick evening flight – also: wings look super cool, don’t they?!
