QUT has opened applications for a HiQ Workforce Planning and Scheduling Coordinator, and if you have spent time on a university service desk, you know the roster does not manage itself.

Most applicants will read 'coordinator' and stop there. Do not. The title is the job: workforce planning and scheduling. Inside a student services operation the size of HiQ, that means forecasting demand, matching staff to peaks, and keeping service levels steady across two Brisbane campuses.

The position is live now on QUT's external recruitment portal. If you want the full selection criteria and application details, open the listing and read it before you write a single line of your response.

What HiQ actually does

HiQ is Queensland University of Technology's front-line student services operation. It is where students go for study support, IT help, library services and student administration. QUT runs HiQ across Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove, which means staff are spread across physical spaces, not one central office.

HiQ operates across two main campuses, which changes the planning problem. You are not rotating staff within one building; you are balancing coverage between a city-centre campus and an inner-north campus, sometimes within the same day.

That spread is exactly why scheduling matters. Demand is not even. O-Week hits hard, census date generates a flood of enrolment questions, and exam time pushes students into study support spaces. A workforce planning coordinator has to translate those patterns into a roster that does not leave a service desk understaffed at 10am on a Monday.

HiQ staff are often the first people a confused student speaks to. If the roster works, those conversations start well. If it does not, the queue grows while the same three people try to cover everything.

The real selection criteria

The job title names two skills. You will be asked to show you can do more than maintain a spreadsheet. Expect to demonstrate how you have forecast workload, managed leave coverage, interpreted rostering rules, and held a service team to its service levels.

HiQ mixes IT support, library borrowing, enrolment questions and study support. The roster you build has to cover those different demand patterns in the same shift. That is a different problem from scheduling a single contact centre team.

The selection panel will likely want evidence of both planning and operational judgement. Planning is the forecast; operational judgement is what you do when a staff member calls in sick at 7am and the first queue forms at 8.

QUT's current student pages outline how HiQ operates across its campuses, and they are worth a read before you write your response. You will pick up the language QUT uses for its service lines, which helps you match your examples to the role. QUT's HiQ pages are the obvious starting point.

The demand cycle inside HiQ

HiQ's workload follows QUT's teaching calendar more than a standard business month. Enrolment questions spike in the weeks before semester starts, IT password resets climb in the first week of classes, and exam period pushes students into study support and library services. The coordinator's job is to look at that calendar early and adjust the roster before the spike arrives.

The scheduling problem goes beyond full-time staff. HiQ student services often run on a mix of ongoing staff and casual or fixed-term workers, which makes the scheduling problem harder. You need enough trained people on shift, but you also need enough hours to give casual staff without creating unplanned overtime costs for the university.

The coordinator also has to plan training time into the roster. New staff cannot start answering complex enrolment questions without induction, and experienced staff cannot mentor them if every shift is already stretched to its limit.

The strongest candidates for this kind of role can explain how they have handled that balance. If you have managed a roster where demand swung from a quiet mid-semester Tuesday to an O-Week peak, your example belongs in the front half of your application.

How the QUT application works

The application link in this posting takes you straight to QUT's external careers portal. You will create an account or sign in, answer the application questions, and upload your resume along with any documents the advertisement requests. The position description and selection criteria are on the same page.

Before you start the form, open a blank document and answer each selection criterion in plain language. QUT's scoring process rewards specific examples. If you can say 'planned a 45-person roster across three sites and cut unplanned overtime by 12%', say that instead of 'responsible for rosters'.

• Read the position description twice: once for duties, once for the criteria you will be scored against.
• Map every response to a workforce planning outcome: headcount saved, roster gaps closed, leave peaks covered, service hours protected.
• Use numbers. A roster of 45 people, a 15% absence rate, a two-week peak, a 98% desk coverage rate. Concrete beats vague.
• Name the systems you have used. If the advertisement asks for rostering software or enterprise systems, say exactly which ones you have worked in.
• Submit through the portal linked in the posting, and keep a copy of your responses for the interview.

If a criterion does not match your experience, do not pad it. Address it honestly and use the closest parallel you have. Committees can tell the difference.

Why QUT is hiring for this now

Student services demand is one of the most predictable planning problems in higher education. Universities know exactly when O-Week starts, when census date falls, and when exams begin. The institutions that staff those peaks well are the ones that keep wait times low and student frustration down. A workforce planning coordinator turns that calendar into a roster ahead of time.

Hiring a dedicated coordinator rather than absorbing scheduling into a general administrative workload says QUT is treating HiQ's service levels as an operational priority. That is a good sign for the person who takes the role: it usually comes with real accountability and a clear remit, not a vague 'other duties as assigned' brief.

There is also a market angle. Brisbane's higher education sector is competitive for good professional staff, and workforce planning skills travel well. The experience you build at QUT translates to hospitals, local government, contact centres and any large service organisation.

You can see QUT's wider professional staff opportunities on the careers at QUT page, and the role you are reading about is live on the external portal now. If the role fits, apply before the closing date rather than waiting for the pool to grow weaker.

Do this before Friday

Open the position description and print the selection criteria. For each criterion, write one concrete example from your work history in three sentences or fewer. If you cannot fill one, that is the gap to address before you apply.

Then read your examples out loud. If they sound like generic admin summaries, add numbers and a specific outcome. That single pass will put you ahead of most applicants who write their cover letter from the job ad alone.