Business Support Officer London, England
Job description
Key information
About the role
Reports to: Senior Executive Support Manager & Head of Comms and Strategy
An exciting position has arisen for a hands-on administrative role within the development industry. This is a great opportunity for a reliable, proactive, and well-organised individual to gain experience working on a large-scale public-sector regeneration project.
Supporting Executive Directors and the CEO’s Senior Managers, you will gain experience with central government departments, the GLA, community organisations, public bodies and leading consultancies in the property, planning and architecture sectors.
You can expect to:
- Provide wide-ranging administrative support, including extensive meeting, inbox and diary organisation to Executive Directors
- Support the Head of Comms with internal and external events, industry-wide engagements and participate in coordinating key stakeholder engagements
- Gain exposure to the statutory administration and governance of projects.
Principal accountabilities
- Provide a full range of administrative support, including the maintenance and coordination of diaries, arranging meetings, workshops and events with internal and external stakeholders alike.
- Prepare agendas and paperwork, ensuring the timely circulation of documents in advance of all meetings.
- Process, prioritise, circulate, and respond as appropriate to incoming mail and requests for information, in particular keeping a watching brief on the Senior Management Team mailboxes, taking a proactive role where appropriate, including researching and drafting replies as required and progress chasing as appropriate.
- Provide support to the planning and organisation of a range of internal and external events, conferences, seminars, and meetings, including coordinating requirements and diaries, and organising logistics as required.
- Support the Head of Communications & Strategy to assist the Communications & Engagement team to plan and prepare for industry, corporate and stakeholder events; assist with OPDC’s Public Liaison Unit, including managing inboxes and responding to external enquiries; and maintain communications and engagement trackers and reporting.
- Contribute to the development of effective information management systems with staff in all Directorates to support the Senior Management Team in fulfilling their roles.
- Processing expenses and ensuring timely compliance of documents in line with governance requirements and statutory processes.
- Working with internal invoicing systems to assist teams with the processing of invoices and supplier payments.
- Provide cover for the Senior Executive Support Manager where necessary, working flexibly to cover unpredictable workloads, and absence.
- Realise the benefits of London's diversity by promoting and enabling equality of opportunities and promoting the diverse needs and aspirations of London's communities.
Person specification
Technical requirements/experience/qualifications
- The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience working as a Team Assistant/PA and proven ability to work as part of a team in a busy role, prioritising and responding to multiple demands.
- A high level of competence in the operation of standard office information, arranging hybrid meetings and communications technology applications including standard Microsoft Office packages. MS Word and Outlook must be at an advanced level and Excel, SharePoint/OneDrive and PowerPoint intermediate level.
- First-rate verbal and written skills, along with proficient, confident and skilled organisational, administrative and prioritisation skills.
- Successful experience of developing and implementing systems and processes to deliver administrative management and confidential information storage and retrieval systems.
Behavioural competencies
Building and managing relationships
is developing rapport and working effectively with a diverse range of people, sharing knowledge and skills to deliver shared goals.
Level 1 indicators of effective performance
- Builds rapport quickly with people at all levels and from different backgrounds
- Actively listens to others and is open to their ideas
- Identifies and resolves conflict between self and others
- Makes others feel comfortable and respected by being positive and friendly
- Shares information openly with colleagues within and outside own team.
Managing and developing performance
is setting high standards for oneself and others, guiding, motivating and developing them, to achieve high performance and meet the OPDC’s objectives and statutory obligations
Level 1 indicators of effective performance
- keeps up to date with new processes and information in own role
- seeks opportunities to develop, taking responsibility for own personal development plan
- take a methodical and consistent approach to completing work in line with personal objectives
- seeks clarity on objectives, ensuring a good understanding of expectations
- openly shares constructive feedback, supporting the delivery of own and others’ work
Planning and organising
is thinking ahead, managing time, priorities and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time and to a high standard
Level 1 indicators of effective performance
- plans and prioritises own workload to meet agreed deadlines
- advises colleagues or manager early of obstacles to work delivery
- perseveres and follows work through to completion
- checks for errors to ensure work is delivered to a high standard first time
- effectively juggles priorities
Problem solving
is analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions
Level 1 indicators of effective performance
- breaks down work issues, seeking further information if necessary
- provides workable solutions to solve immediate work problems
- makes suggestions and implements improvements to personal work processes
- actively supports new initiatives and tries different ways of doing things
- learns from others’ experience
Responding to pressure and change
is being flexible and adapting positively, to sustain performance when the situation changes, workload increases, tensions rise or priorities shift.
Level 1 indicators of effective performance
- stays calm in pressurised and demanding situations
- responds flexibly to changing circumstances
- recognises when unable to cope and asks others for help
- demonstrates openness to changing work priorities and deadlines
- maintains personal well-being and achieves a balance between work and home life
Organisational awareness
is understanding and being sensitive to organisational dynamics, culture and politics across and beyond the OPDC and shaping our approach accordingly
Level 1 indicators of effective performance
- understands the structure and statutory responsibilities of the OPDC
- understands how own role and work contributes to team and organisational objectives
- understands the role of the OPDC, the Mayor and partner organisations in relation to the work of the OPDC
- is sensitive to the culture and political context of the OPDC and uses it to work effectively
- treats OPDC information as sensitive and confidential
Application & Additional information
If you have a question about the role or would like to discuss it informally, please feel free to contact Shalini at [email protected]
Benefits
In addition to a good salary package, we offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.
Please note all applications for this vacancy must be submitted via our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs alone for this role. Please upload a personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words to the ‘Additional Documents’ section of the form, ensuring you address the following technical requirements and competencies in your personal statement. Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and cover letter are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g. “CV – applicant name - 012345)
The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework
This role is based at Brent Civic Centre, 32 Engineers Way, HA9 0FJ
OPDC staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.
London's diversity is its biggest asset and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.
We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements.
Application closing date: Monday 26 June 2023 at 23:59
We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.
We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.
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