Executive Officer – Personal Assistant

Job content

Location

Birmingham

Summary

About the job

About OPSS

Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Is your passion to empower consumers to make good and informed choices and can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you!

We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action. Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency.

Since early 2019 we have been building a positive and creative team that enjoys a position of influence and respect within an organisation that continues to grow, most recently with the addition of the regulation of construction products planned for 2022.

Our mission: To be a trusted product regulator for the UK.
Our goal: To be a leader of good regulatory practice and a champion of local regulation.

Further Information Can Be Found On Our Website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-for-product-safety-and-standards

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles. We embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

We are Inclusive

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 recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

About The Team

Job description

We are looking for a motivated and collaborative Executive Officer to join OPSS as a Personal Assistant. The PA will support the work of our Deputy Directors, helping them to coordinate their responsibilities, so that they are able to effectively lead large teams delivering national and international programmes. The OPSS Leadership Support Team work alongside friendly, inclusive and diverse teams based across several locations in the UK.

About The Role

The key accountabilities of the role are outlined below. However, please note this is an overview of the role and is not exhaustive.

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be responsible for

Providing administrative support, including diary and inbox management, to ensure the most efficient use of Deputy Directors’ time in-line with their preferred working style. This will require excellent prioritisation, attention to detail and anticipating future diary pressures and advising as appropriate.

Providing general administrative support to the team, by assisting with contacts, stationary, IT queries and locker allocation. This may involve serving as an information manager which involves maintaining SharePoint sites, supporting on recruitment logistics, updating team organograms, ensuring that distribution lists are up to date.

Assisting to build a positive team identity working with the Deputy Director(s) and rest of the team, via ways of working etiquette, team meetings, away days, workshops, social events.

Arranging travel crucial to delivery of programmes for the Deputy Director(s) by booking transportation and accommodation, processing expense claims within a timely manner, and ensuring that a process is in place to handle workloads when the Deputy Director(s) is away.

Supporting the team with preparing documentation for sign-off by Deputy Director(s) (for example programme papers, submissions to Ministers, promissory notes).

Arranging meetings related to programme delivery for the Deputy Director(s) and other team members, both in terms of logistics (meeting rooms etc) and supporting team members on papers etc as requested.

Supporting programme teams to arrange and deliver high-profile partner engagement events related to achieving programme aims.

ResponsibilitiesPerson Specification

Essential

An excellent communicator, able to adapt your communication skills to suit both the situation and individual:

You are

Organised and a good multi-tasker, with the ability to work independently, keep calm under pressure and to handle more than one set of diary arrangements if needed.

Personable and able to build positive relationships with colleagues.

Good written and verbal communication.

Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Teams (with additional training available to further knowledge of these programmes)

Flexible and adaptable to an evolving work environment. Able to prioritise and keep daily tasks flowing while quickly adjusting plans.

Able to collaborate effectively and in a positive manner with colleagues.

Confident at handling sensitive information with discretion.

Effective at working at pace and handling a reactive workload.

Able to provide a high level of service, flagging any concerns and making sure that relevant colleagues are updated on plans and any changes.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Benefits

BEIS offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking 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.

Candidates will be sifted on behavioural statements.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour (Managing a Quality Service).

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

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift Dates: w/c 19th July 2021
Interview dates: w/c 9th August 2021
Interview Location: MS Teams.

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

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.