Vacancy -- Personal Assistant to Deputy CEO and Director of Strategy and Engagement

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

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

Vacancy Details

Education and Public Services
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
Team Support - £22,150 - £25,620
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Permanent
South East Wales
To be confirmed

Purpose of Post:

To provide secretarial and administrative support to the CEO’s Office.
To provide administrative support, when called upon, across HIW.

Key tasks:

Post-specific tasks

1. Manage their own and their senior manager’s emails, replying to the majority without recourse to their senior manager and ensuring that relevant staff are aware.
2. Manage their senior manager’s electronic diary making judgements on which meetings are essential for their senior manager to attend and those which other members of staff could deputise for their senior manager.
3. Arrange meetings, including the booking of venues, arranging catering and security bookings.
4. Arrange and book travel arrangements for senior manager, including hotel accommodation, rail tickets, flights and car hire where required. ,
5. Secretariat duties for weekly CEO and Senior manager’s meetings to include agenda setting, circulating relevant papers, attending meetings and taking notes and ensuring all action is followed up.
6. Draft acknowledgement letters, requests for briefing, etc on behalf of the senior manager.
7. Support the Director of Strategy and Engagement in his capacity as Senior Responsible Officer for the Merthyr Tydfil Office, to ensure arrangements are in place for emergency planning and to also be responsible for the writing of the Beacon’s Monthly Newsletter.
8. Operate an effective and efficient bring forward (B/F) system and ensure that the senior manager has sufficient briefing for each meeting, etc.
9. Log mail and pass to the senior manager or relevant member of staff for responses.
10. Deal with telephone calls, taking messages and redirect when appropriate.
11. Logging and saving record of electronic T&S receipts on behalf of senior managers.
12. Work as part of a team with the other EA within the Department to include attending meetings and providing cover when necessary.

Common tasks

1. To keep files up to date
2. To assist in meeting tasks such as:
• booking venues
• booking attendees
• printing and collating papers
• collecting visitors
• taking notes and writing minutes
• monitoring progress of actions after meetings
3. To continuously update existing databases and where necessary set up new systems to capture information.
4. To undertake general administrative duties such as photocopying, filing and answering the telephone.
5. To be the first point of contact for their manager.
6. To undertake ad hoc tasks as and when required.
7. To uphold HIW's mission, purpose, role and values.

Development opportunities:

This post offers an opportunity to work with HIW’s senior management team as part of their enlarged office.
This post will play a key role in helping senior managers plan and implement these changes.

Closing Date:

06/05/2019, 16:00

Eligibility

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

Equality and Diversity

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

Disability Confident

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competency behaviours required for the role

Leading and Communicating - Write clearly in plain simple language and check work for spelling and grammar, learning from previous inaccuracies
Collaborating and Partnering - Proactively contribute to the work of the whole team
Delivering at Pace - Work with energy and pace to get the job done
Building Capability for all – Find ways to learn and personally improve in the completion of day-to-day tasks

Job specific criteria

Experience of working as a PA desirable, preferably qualified to RSA equivalent level or willing to undertake a relevant qualification within 6 months of taking up the post, with excellent organisational skills and the ability to prioritise tasks so as to manage workload effectively, particularly under pressure.
Ability to make sound decisions being aware of sensitivities and maintaining the utmost degree of confidentiality at all times.  Complete discretion is particularly important for this post.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills at all levels, employing tact and diplomacy.  The ability to develop good working relationships, internally and externally.

Assessment Process

Other Information

  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
  • For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.
This post is being offered on a permanent basis across Welsh Government, starting with a minimum term of 12 months in Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) as a PA. If the PA role is not extended within HIW, there will be opportunities to transfer to another PA or Team Support role across Welsh Government once the initial 12 month period has finished.
Michelle Morris - 0300 025 7742

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have a disability which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to a disability in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Grievance and Complaints

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.

This vacancy is closed to applications.