Corporate Support / PA to Area Director: Cities and Local Growth Unit

Job content

Location

Nottingham

Summary

About the job

Knowledge and Information Manager / Personal Assistant CLGU East Midlands Team.

Managing the diary and day to day admin of an Area Director who is working in a rapidly evolving policy environment, and who must respond quickly to change.
Team support including updating and maintaining key databases, milestone information, managing team meetings and providing a link to the HR business partner.

Job Description

An opportunity to work in the Cities and Local Growth Unit (CLGU). At the heart of the Government’s economic agenda, reporting jointly into BEIS and MHCLG. We drive policy to boost growth across the UK.

We work with public and private partners to develop economic strategies to deliver plans which improve prosperity everywhere.

We lead on initiatives such as the Levelling Up Fund; local economic growth and business support; local economic intelligence; Covid response and recovery; support for towns deals and high streets; and devolution of powers and funding.

This is an exciting chance to work as a personal assistant and offer corporate support in a fast-paced and multifaceted role, with direct exposure to senior Government figures. We’ll provide you with excellent opportunities to develop project and programme management skills. As an organisation we pride ourselves on providing opportunities to get involved in activities to promote wellbeing and personal development.

The successful candidate(s) will join the East Midlands to work on two exciting elements:

I) Personal Assistant to the Area Director; involving managing their diary and inbox, arranging travel and producing meeting packs as well as having a good understanding of the rapidly evolving policy environment.

II) Knowledge Information Management/Corporate Support; involving developing and updating databases and key information, providing a secretarial role to the team, liaising with HR Business partners and estate management of Apex Court.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate(s) will be responsible for a wide range of tasks that will likely include but are not limited to

Providing a strong knowledge management support function including managing the team’s shared information drive; maintaining key information and providing reports as required.

Regularly updating key briefing documents and team information to ensure that briefing for ministers and senior leaders are of a high quality.

Providing a proactive and comprehensive support service to a deputy director including diary management, email management, travel, event and meeting arrangements.

Proactively screening the area director’s inbox for meeting requests / meeting papers etc. and ensure that they are dealt with efficiently and promptly.

Flagging emails and meeting requests by priority, ensuring the deputy director is aware of urgent or important correspondence, and identify urgent matters.

Arranging meetings, including room bookings, checking the availability of attendees, issuing appointments, arranging the dial-in details, booking meeting equipment, ordering refreshments, collecting visitors from reception and coordinating the process by which follow-up actions arising from the meetings are progressed and recorded.

Undertaking general administrative duties and tasks such as recruitment, inductions, responding to request for corporate and Learning and Development information.

ResponsibilitiesWe are looking for energy, enthusiasm and passion for making us a more effective team, and your dedication to the role.

You will need to have strong communication skills and be confident to tailor your communication styles to suit your audience in writing or conversation. Have the ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships with a variety of people – including with senior partners in a sometimes pressurised environment.

Be organised, comfortable working at pace, and handle competing priorities using good judgement and decision-making abilities.

Be able to see how your proactive work and the work of their team supports the wider objectives of the Unit and meets the needs of diverse partners.

Have excellent project management skills, including delivering at pace to deadlines.

Other Key Information

The Nottingham based team covers the East Midlands; and shares senior leadership with a parallel team covering the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and East Anglia, based in Cambridge.

This role will be predominantly based in the Nottingham office.

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities. Under the terms of the Equality Act 2010, we are legally required to consider making reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged in the recruitment and selection process. We are therefore committed to meeting, wherever possible, any needs you specify in your application. We will also consider any reasonable adjustments under the terms of the Act to enable any applicant with a disability (as defined under the Act) to meet the requirements of the post.

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

BEIS offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, home working and compressed hours.

Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.

An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.

Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Things you need to know

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please note - the CV is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Candidates will be sifted on behavioural statements.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour (Communicating and Influencing).

The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.

Expected Timeline subject to change

Expected Week of Sift : 26/7/21
Expected Week of Interviews: 9/8/21
Interview Location: Online

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

Reasonable adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via beisrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further Information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ’Contact point for applicants’ section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

Any move to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

BEIS does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Please note that BEIS does not hold a licence to sponsor visa applications.

BEIS wants to be accessible for all, and this includes offering assistance to attend interviews. The offer is targeted toward those from a lower socio-economic background, or who struggle to cover the cost of attending an interview. Please see the attached guidance document at the bottom of this Civil Service Jobs advert. Embedded in the document on page 5, are 2 documents that must be completed and returned to the email addresses listed on the forms to claim an expenses payment. If you have any issues accessing these documents please contact us at beisrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms directly. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality Requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.