Executive Assistant to the Deputy Vice Chancellor Candidate Information Pack
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Welcome.
It’s a pleasure to introduce the role of Executive Assistant to the Deputy Vice Chancellor to you. I’m seeking a new Executive Assistant, to support me being as effective as possible in my role at the University of Northampton. My work is very varied and my days are busy, so I’m looking for someone who can help me schedule my time effectively, support my meetings and activities, and communicate on my behalf with a very wide range of people inside and outside the university. The Office of the Vice Chancellor where my new EA will be located is a friendly team of staff who support each other as well as the senior university staff. The successful candidate will be an important addition to the team, and will find a stimulating, friendly environment, in which their development is also supported. I hope you find this candidate pack of interest and can see yourself working with me and the wider UPON team.
Warm regards
Professor Shân Wareing, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Northampton
Welcome About us The role Working at the University of Northampton How to apply
“Only when you
experience a place do you learn how to make it your own.”
About us.
The University of Northampton is one of the youngest universities in the UK, gaining full university status and research degree awaring powers in 2005. Whilst we may be a ‘new’ University, we have made our impact in the Higher Education sector. We are committed to doing things differently; for example, we were the first University in the UK to be named as a Changemaker Campus in 2012 and are dedicated to creating social impact in all that we do. Our overt focus on positive change was spearheaded by our relocation to Northampton town centre with the opening of our Waterside Campus for the 2018/2019 academic year. The impetus of this bold move was to create a
learning experience based on how our students want to learn, rather than how it is expected, whilst also securing the sustainable future of our University. Since 2018, we have embraced our purpose- built state-of-the-art campus, being witness to many day-to-day interactions/experiences of our University community within our new physical estate. Listening and learning from those experiences, has allowed us to identify further opportunities to evolve. Against a backdrop of sustained growth in student numbers, with 2022 marking our current record year, this is an exciting era for the University of Northampton. Our recent achievements can be viewed at northampton.ac.uk/about-us/our-achievements/
Becky Bradshaw, Chief Operating Officer
The role.
presentations. • Where appropriate, determine a yearly cycle of activities to be addressed, setting agendas, overseeing the preparation and distribution of supporting papers, recording the outcome of each meeting and tracking and ensuring agreed follow up actions are undertaken. • Supporting the Manager of the Office of the Vice Chancellor in providing a confidential, effective and professional support to the OVC, and providing cover for the Manager of the OVC and other OVC colleagues to ensure consistency of support. Document production and management • Preparing briefing documents of recent and relevant activity to inform discussion and networking when the DVC is meeting external stakeholders. • Preparing and drafting briefing papers, working documents and presentations for internal and external meetings. • Drafting and proof-reading correspondence with internal and external stakeholders. • Developing, reviewing and maintaining appropriate systems for all documentation and administrative processes including the management of information maintained on the shared drive and other filing systems.
General duties • Act as a point of contact and liaison for the DVC. This entails acting as a conduit for the flow of high level and sensitive information and can require initial negotiation and may require knowledge of emerging University priorities and anticipating their impact; supporting and creating networks both internally and externally. • Proactively managing the DVC’s diary, scheduling appointments and meetings accurately and confidentially whilst ensuring appropriate space for non- meeting related activity. This will require understanding and management of the DVC’s workload to ensure they meet deadlines, have sufficient planning, preparation, travel and meeting follow- up time and are fully prepared for all meetings. • Managing, planning and tracking the workload of the DVC, ensuring actions arising from meetings and committees are undertaken in a timely manner, whilst also monitoring the completion of actions issued by the DVC to staff line reports. • Management and co-ordination of the DVC’s emails and other correspondence including preparing correspondence and reports for, or on behalf of, the DVC. Proactively managing the email in-box of the DVC, flagging priorities and issues for escalation, and responding where appropriate. • Responding to routine queries from students, staff and third parties, in line with data protection and University requirements. • Summarising strategic documents to inform the DVC’s planning and preparation for key internal and external debates and presentations. Collate information and documentation required by the DVC: researching, producing, formatting and proof reading of reports, abstracts and
Job Title
Executive Assistant to the Deputy Vice Chancellor
Responsible to
Vice Chancellor
Overall purpose To provide executive support functions to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The post holder will be responsible for providing high level direct support to the Deputy Vice- Chancellor (DVC), using their own initiative to proactively maximise the use of the DVC’s time. The post holder will report to the Deputy Vice Chancellor, and will support the work of the Manager of the Office of the Vice Chancellor who is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the OVC.
Travel and hospitality planning • Making national and international travel arrangements for off-site
engagements, proactively organising these on behalf of the DVC, creating itineraries, applying for visas and maintaining business travel logs. • Processing travel and hospitality expenses,
purchase orders, invoices and annual leave requests in a timely fashion and utilising the relevant system. • Co-ordinating and managing hospitality arrangements where appropriate, undertaking visitor and guest management ahead of their arrival at UON, and arranging for them to be welcomed and met professionally. Servicing meetings and supporting projects • Providing support to ad hoc committees and working parties as required, including setting agendas, preparing documentation and following up outcomes. Ensuring decisions are recorded, disseminated and revised to produce delivery and completion. • Take and distribute minutes of meetings ensuring sensitivity and confidentiality is applied where necessary. • Providing administrative support for projects including researching, gathering and analysing data and information to produce reports. • Where appropriate, accompany the DVC to, and support, appropriate team meetings and ensure that the status of agreed actions for the DVC is recorded and actioned. Supporting staff recruitment and induction • Managing the recruitment process for staff reporting to the DVC, taking responsibility for organising recruiters, making shortlisting and long-listing arrangements, and coordinating interview activity. • Organising induction and orientation for staff reporting to the DVC, liaising with HR, and other individuals and teams to ensure a comprehensive, structured and well-organised induction for new staff. Generic Duties and Responsibilities • The post holder will be expected to undertake other responsibilities and tasks as reasonably requested by the Deputy Vice Chancellor. • The post holder will be responsible and accountable for ensuring all employment legislative requirements are adhered to including equality and diversity and health and safety issues. • The job description may be altered at any time in the future in line with the level of the post to meet changing institutional requirements, but only in full consultation with the post holder.
Person specification.
Qualifications Essential: • 5 GCSE (or equivalent) passes to include Eng- lish and Mathematics Desirable: • A level qualification or equivalent • A degree or equivalent Skills, knowledge and experience Essential: • Proven experience as an Executive or Person- al Assistant • Significant experience of working effective- ly for one or more senior leaders in a fast paced, complex organisation • Expertise in Microsoft Office, including the use of Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint etc • Experience of committee work, including scheduling, preparation, paper production and minute taking • Ability to undertake effective research on behalf of senior managers • Ability to analyse a breadth of information and anticipate issues and respond proac - tively, making recommendations to ensure effective service delivery. Desirable: • Experience of managing budgets/financial reconciliations • Experience of managing project work • Experience of working within HE sector
Personal qualities Essential: • Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills • Ability to look ahead and pre-empt requirements to ensure a proactive service is always delivered. • A proactive approach to problem solving with strong decision making skills. • Experience of effectively working to deadlines, with a positive attitude to working under pressure and the ability to remain calm. • Ability to approach confidential tasks with tact and diplomacy • Ability to deal calmly, professionally and effectively with a diverse group of people at all levels both within and outside the University • Ability to make timely decisions commensurate with level of responsibility. • Excellent organizational skills with commensurate attention to detail and the ability to prioritise for self and others and work on own initiative • Good team skills and the ability to network effectively. Desirable: • Ability to adapt to organisational change and technological advances in the workplace
• We have trained over 130 Mental Health First Aiders to ensure we have a network of staff who have the knowledge and confidence to recognise the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues and can signpost you towards the right support • We have a number of staff networks to support you including New Parents, LGBT+, GEM (Global Ethnic Majority) and Women • Our Employee Assistance Programme which is provided by our Occupational Health partner includes advice and counselling services to offer support through times of difficulty. Work - life balance/smarter working We want you to be able to carry out your work in a way that best supports UON and our students, but also you as an individual. We understand what that looks like will vary between different areas of the University as well as from one person to another. With Smarter Working you can work with increased flexibility, if you would like to, to facilitate greater freedom, autonomy and to better support each of us as individuals. Should you have family/caring responsibilities, we also have a whole package of family-friendly policies that provide for flexible working, maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave, and leave for family emergencies. Environment We have reaffirmed our commitment to combating climate change and have pledged to become net zero carbon by 2030. We have also retained our green accreditation in Investors in the Environment.
Pension scheme The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is the main scheme for professional services staff and is worked out every scheme year and added to your pension account. The pension added to your account is equal to a 49th of your pay in that year. At the end of every scheme year the value of the pension in your account is adjusted to take into account the cost of living (as currently measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). After you retire your pension will also keep pace with cost of living increases. It also includes immediate life cover and a pension for your husband, wife, civil partner or nominated cohabiting partner and eligible children in the event of your death and, if you ever become seriously ill, and you've paid in for at least 2 years, you could receive immediate ill-health benefits. Career development Since education is part of our core business, we care deeply about career and personal development. You’ll benefit from: • a structured induction programme for new starters, to make you feel welcome and part of our team • an annual performance and development review, to help identify your career aspirations and structure your individual development plan • access to an extensive programme of courses, designed by our in-house Staff Development team, for all career stages • access to LinkedIn Learning – a library of high quality training videos that cover a wide range of subjects. Employee wellbeing At the University of Northampton, we believe in the importance of health and wellbeing and we aim to ensure it underpins the staff and student experience at all stages. With this in mind we have introduced the Waterside Wellbeing Community, bringing together teams from across the University to support, improve and promote the wellbeing and physical and mental health of those living, studying and working here.
Working at the University of Northampton. Our mission is to transform lives and inspire change. We aim to ensure you have a positive experience of working with us by providing a supportive and caring environment. We also have a unique commitment to social impact which means we support our staff and students to
Generous benefits package
Our job opportunities all include an excellent benefits package that includes many features that are hard to find in the private sector: • Generous annual leave allowance, including Christmas/New Year closure - 25 days (rising to 30 days after 5 years) plus bank holidays and University closed days (approximately 5 per year) • Pension scheme membership to provide benefits for you and your family • Generous sick pay • Employee Assistance Programme with advice line and counselling • Learning and development opportunities; • Cycle to Work Scheme • Long service awards • Staff discounts on a range of products and local services including the ability to purchase a TOTUM student discount card which gives you access to over 350 student discounts.
For a confidential discussion to learn more about the role and opportunity, please contact the University of Northampton’s appointed recruitment partner Sian Gardiner of MRG University People: sian.gardiner@universitypeople.co.uk Applications should consist of a CV and covering letter and should be sent to northampton@universitypeople.co.uk Closing date for applications is Sunday 26th November 2023. The University of Northampton is committed to providing a vibrant, ethical and sustainable work, study and living environment that values equality, diversity and inclusion. This commitment, along with our legal and moral obligations, provides an inclusive environment for staff, students and the public who may be affected by our activities. Together @ UON confirms our commitment to equality and inclusion, underpinned by our belief in taking action. We are dedicated to creating an environment that celebrates equality and harnesses the power of diversity. Together @ UON demonstrates our pledge to our staff, students and partners to nurture and develop an environment where equality and inclusion can thrive whilst we Transform Lives and Inspire Change How to apply.
northampton.ac.uk
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