Role Overview & Mandate
Executive Summary
Advert Administrative Assistant Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences is...
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Advert
Administrative Assistant
Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences is looking to recruit an Administrative Assistant to work in the Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in the field of Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) which is located in the School.
The successful candidate will provide support and guidance on the administration of research projects, ensure that the DECIPHer team is supported, and carry out key duties.
This role is eligible to be offered on a blended working basis, meaning that as well as spending time working on campus you can also choose to spend some time working from another location, e.g. your home. The University is committed to offering this flexibility, wherever the role and business need allows, supporting work-life balance.
As the biggest university in Wales – and a major employer, with more than 7,000 staff – we are an ambitious and innovative university located in a beautiful and thriving capital city. We can offer you the chance to work in a vibrant organisation, with great benefits and opportunities for progression.
This is a full-time position, 35 hours per week, available from 1 May 2023, for a fixed period until 31 March 2025.
Salary: £22,197 with annual increments up to £24,144 per annum (Grade 3)
For further information on this role please contact: Zoe Macdonald (MacdonaldZ@cardiff.ac.uk)
Date advert posted: Wednesday, 3 May 2023
Closing Date: Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Please be aware that Cardiff University reserves the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.
Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds who have the ambition to create a University which seeks to fulfil our social, cultural and economic obligation to Cardiff, Wales, and the world. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.
Job Description
Key Duties
- Deal with a range of enquires from internal (staff & students) and external (members of the public) customers in a professional manner, establishing their needs and adapting the standard responses accordingly.
- Work with others to make recommendations for the development and improvement of current University processes and procedures.
- Create good working relationships with key contacts to help improve service levels.
- Undertake a variety of administrative duties to support the team and department.
- Gather and review data to update administrative systems such as databases and spreadsheets, making sure the information is accurate, and highlighting to your line manager basic trends and patterns.
- Actively contribute to the success of the team and support the supervision and management of it.
Specific Duties
- Produce documentation, plan and organise meetings, take minutes/notes and ensure any travel arrangements are made.
- Provide the Deputy Director of DECIPHer with diary support and associated administrative duties.
- Ensure the maintenance of efficient and confidential filing systems, ensuring archived records are maintained in line with data protection regulations.
- Support the work of DECIPHer Professional Services, contributing to team meetings, developing good practice within the team and assisting colleagues in their work.
General Duties
- Abide by all University policies and undergo appropriate personal and professional development.
- Perform other duties which are not included above, but which will be consistent with the role.
- Uphold the Professional Services Values & Behaviours or local equivalent.
Please note: A Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check will be carried out for the successful candidate.
Person Specification
We are looking for a team player who will work with colleagues to provide a great service to staff and students. You don’t need to have worked for a University before; this is an opportunity to show your potential and start or continue your career at Cardiff University.
This role may be an opportunity for you to build on your experience from working in a previous administrative role or environment, showing your transferable skills and potential to be successful in the role. You should be enthusiastic about developing your knowledge and skills to become a valued member of the team.
Your application will be assessed against the following essential and desirable criteria for the role. Please copy and paste this section into a new document and give clear examples of how you can evidence meeting each criteria by writing under each one. You can draw on elements from any aspect of your life (e.g. work, home, education/qualifications or community life) as long as you focus on their relevance to the role.
Please save your supporting statement in a separate document with the title [YOURNAME-BR NUMBER-JOB TITLE] and attach it to your application in the recruitment system, available here.
Please note that these are also the criteria shortlisted applicants will be assessed against at interview and/or by other means (e.g. a skills test).
Essential Criteria
- Ability to carry out a variety of administrative tasks, including writing clearly and concisely.
- Experience of working in an administrative or office setting.
- Experience of using common office IT packages (e.g. MS Office, e-mail etc.).
- Ability to set up and maintain standard administrative systems and procedures, including using University systems to collate and record data online and in hard copy. (Training will be provided where required).
- Ability to communicate with a wide range of people effectively and courteously whilst maintaining professional standards, adapting your language and style of communication depending on who you are communicating with.
- Ability to work well with your team, knowing how to give advice, guidance and feedback (to colleagues and members of the public) as appropriate.
- Ability to deal with requests for information or service, resolving customer issues where appropriate, or being able to escalate where necessary.
- Ability to plan and organise your own workload within agreed timelines as set by your Line Manager.
- Ability to use your initiative to solve problems and respond to queries, finding and proposing the best solution.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of working in a Higher Education environment.
- Ability to speak/understand Welsh or a willingness to learn.
Additional Information
An exciting new opportunity has arisen for an Administrative Assistant to join Cardiff University School of Social Sciences to work within the Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity, and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) that is located within the School.
In this role you will support the work of projects within DECIPHer, providing an administrative service to the Principal Investigators and other key researchers, engaging and completing a range of routine tasks to meet operational and customer service requirements. To work as part of a Professional Services team to ensure an efficient, effective, and quality driven service.
Initially, the postholder would provide administrative support across two main research projects. The first project is the extension of the School Health Research Network into Primary Schools across Wales, which involves working with schools to collect information on wellbeing and feeding this back to inform actions to improve learner’s health and wellbeing. The second is a large multi-country consortium focusing on parenting and mental health in Eastern Europe. The postholder would also provide Personal Assistance to a Health & Care Research Wales funded Senior Research Leader who is an investigator on both of these projects, within DECIPHer.
Full time and part time working hours will be considered.
HOW WE WILL SUPPORT YOU IN PERFORMING THIS ROLE
We want to support and develop you in the role, using a combination of the following to help you reach your full potential.
- Regular one-to-one meetings with your team leader.
- An experienced and supportive team around you.
- Support to undertake job-relevant training and development, as identified by your Line Manager. This could be informal or could be an apprenticeship leading to a formal qualification, such as Business administration NVQ.
- A staff mentoring scheme.
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