DCMS UK Jobs – Executive Assistant

About the job

Location

Belfast, Darlington, London, Manchester

Job Summary

About the job

DCMS is looking for a proactive Band C to fill an Executive Assistant role within the Finance and Commercial team. The post will be to support 3 of our Deputy Director’s as an Executive Assistant within Finance and Commercial.

Working closely with the F&C Senior Leadership Team, you will be responsible for the diary and inbox management for our 3 Deputy Director’s, helping to ensure the smooth running and management of their time. You will provide support and help to maximise their time, ensuring that activities stay on track.

Job Description

Working closely with the F&C Senior Leadership Team, you will be responsible for the diary and inbox management for our 3 Deputy Director’s, helping to ensure the smooth running and management of their time. You will provide support and help to maximise their time, ensuring that activities stay on track.

You will liaise with the Deputy Director’s on a frequent basis to ensure that they are aware of their priorities for each day, including upcoming meetings. You will ensure that their diary is up to date and that their inbox is well managed so that business runs smoothly. You will be responsible for managing each of the 3 Deputy Director’s diary and requests, including responding as necessary and appropriate on behalf of them; flagging urgent or important requests to the them. Each Deputy Director will work with you to discuss how they like to work.

This role will contribute significantly to the smooth functioning of the Directorate, and will appeal to anyone who enjoys working in a busy and fast-paced environment. This role also suits someone who can prioritise when there are competing demands and who can self-manage their tasks.

The Private office is a busy and exciting office to join, with great exposure to F&C senior leadership. You will join a close-knit team which is composed of F&C’s Business Manager, the Private Secretary and two Executive Assistants and will be expected to use your initiative to make decisions on behalf of the Director and to support your team.

You will also support the wider directorate with administrative duties to ensure the smooth running of internal processes; some of which may be delegated by the Deputy Director’s depending on their needs. You will help to raise Purchase Orders for the directorate; answer data requests and queries; be a Freedom of Information and Parliamentary Question point of contact to help coordinate where these must be distributed.

Your role will also include project work where you have capacity to do so. This project work will help to support wider projects being led by the Business Manager and this can be an interesting area of work with many different projects and work strands.

DCMS is a small but central Government Department, with a wide range of stakeholders across Government and industry. Inevitably, the work can sometimes be intense and so this role requires a candidate who is able to deliver at pace and be able to juggle multiple priorities.

Person specification

• Diary and inbox management to 3 Deputy Director’s including prioritisation of appointments, arranging meetings & travel, booking rooms, taking minutes, arranging hospitality;
• Responsible for supporting the Deputy Director’s as directed to ensure their time is well managed. Responsible for flagging anything urgent to the Deputy Director’s to ensure they can respond in a timely manner and by given deadlines.
• Responsible for tagging anything urgent in the inbox to ensure the smooth flowing of information; forwarded to relevant members of the team for action or information;
• Organise the right papers and obtain briefings ahead of meetings and other engagements, and following up on tasks; Meeting preparation, support and follow up
• Working closely with the Finance Governance team to ensure there is appropriate cover, in good time, for upcoming boards and committees;
• Being key part of the business support team and taking on team support or other corporate responsibilities to include some elements of budgetary management ; e.g. raising POs in a timely manner. Completion of coordination of purchase orders, requisitioning and other such important administrative actions as required. Ensuring invoices are paid and within 5 days, receipting invoices, review regular reports on prompt payment percentages and acting on these, ensuring we are 100% at all times by working with the team.
• Freedom of Information (FOI) and Parliamentary Question (PQ) point of contact for the F&C directorate. FOIs are delivered to the Business Support Team who will then redirect the FOI or PQ to the relevant appointed single-point-of-contact;
• Ensure that any commissions and requests which come into the Deputy Director’s inbox get to the right members of the team as quickly as possible;
• Maintaining key documents which ensure the Deputy Director’s are able to run their teams effectively;
• Ad hoc administrative duties as delegated by the Deputy Director;
• Building strong working relationships with key internal contacts and external stakeholders;
• Ad hoc data requests;
• Ad hoc project work when the opportunity arises and dependent on capacity, e.g. creating organograms;
• Diary and telephone cover for absent EAs during periods of team absence.
• You will be proactive in diary management, have a good understanding of what’s important, use judgement ensuring meetings happen at the right time engaging with other offices to deliver.

Behaviours

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

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

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

DCMS values its staff and offers a wide range of benefits to everyone who works here. We’re committed to developing talent, and supporting colleagues to have great careers in our department. To support with that, some of the benefits we offer include:

• Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working – DCMS staff work on a flexible basis with time spent in offices, and time spent working from home.
• 26.5 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 31.5 days after 5 years’ service.
• A with an average employer contribution of 27%
• 3 days of paid volunteering leave.
• Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay + generous paternity and adoption leave.
• Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year.
• Occupational sick pay.
• Active and engaged staff networks to join including the LGBT+, Ethnic Minorities, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Women’s Networks.
• Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day to day work.
• Season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme and much more!

Terms and conditions at SCS grades will vary. Those applying for SCS roles should refer to the candidate information pack for more information on terms and conditions.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than Monday 24th October, 23:55pm via the CS Jobs portal:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 500 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.
• A behaviour statement of 250 words on Delivering at Pace.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will only be sifted on the statement of suitability.

You may be invited to a second stage interview with a Deputy Director as part of the interview process.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to DCMS 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

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

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing

For further information on the Access NI confidential checking service telephone: the Access NI Helpline on 0300 200 7888 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email

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

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.

For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack.

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Information for Applicants’ document .

Interviews

In most cases interviews will take place remotely via Google Meet video call. However please refer to the Candidate Information Pack to confirm the interview approach.

Location

This role can be based in London, Manchester, Darlington or Belfast.The hub locations are displayed on the job advert. Not all hub locations have confirmed office space yet – successful applicants will be expected to work remotely until this becomes available.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In Order To Request An Adjustment, Please

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on 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 a verbal test rather than a written one.

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the ‘contact point for applicants’ section of the job advert.

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

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is

People working with government assets must complete

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
• 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

Working for the Civil Service

The

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

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.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : Sarah Nugent
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team :

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact ([email protected]) in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/civilservicerecruitmentcomplaints/