Personal Assistant

Personal Assistant

UK Defence Academy

Shrivenham, SN6 8LA

Full Time, Permanent (37 hours)

£24,984 per annum plus benefits

Serco have an exciting opportunity for a Personal Assistant to join our team based at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Swindon. This role will provide a personal and confidential high level administration service to one or two 1* Officer(s), a 2*/3* Officer and/or senior civil servant(s). You will be the frontline point of contact ensuring the efficient running of their office and meeting all the requirements for personal secretarial support.

The Personal Assistant will be responsible for the prioritisation of all incoming work as directed by the customer and the provision of induction and general housekeeping training for the customer as required. We may rotate PAs between posts in order opt broaden their knowledge base and adopt best practice in their workplace. This will enhance our ability to provide a high level of service delivery during times of high workload, or absence/gapped posts where we will be able to call on staff to assist colleagues.

The hours of work are 37 hours per week on shift patterns between 0800 and 1800 hours, local arrangements may be in place but may change due to customer requirements.

Serco at the Defence Academy provides Facilities Management across all aspects of the site including Estates, Logistics, various Supporting Services, together with Cleaning, Catering and Waste Management through ESS.  

Duties for the role:

• Actively engage with induction processes to ensure the successful completion of own and colleague's probationary periods, supporting colleague development.
• Assist Lead Administrators and Specialist Coordinators or other departmental staff to undertake all required admin tasks, focusing on delivering service excellence.
• Take a pro-active role within the department to liaise with colleagues and customer and be fully conversant with the workload.
• Carry out information administration duties on behalf of senior personnel, ensuring compliance with internal policy and processes and relevant legislation including the Data Protection 2018 and Public Records Act.
• Coordination and control of electronic diary, making sensible judgements based on knowledge and experience.
• Develop and understanding of the business direction in relation to the Defence Academy and/or component needs.
• Build and maintain an effective working relationship with the Military Assistant ensuring open communication and awareness of each other workloads.
• Arranging travel and preparing itineraries as appropriate.
• Process and control all incoming and outgoing correspondence. Dealing with service correspondence and ensuring copies are available.
• Screening all telephone calls to senior officer; making calls on behalf of senior officer; making sensible decisions on the importance of calls received; recording messages and forwarding them as required.

What you need to do the job:

• Good level of general education, with GCSE's (A-C) or equivalent in English and Maths.
• Excellent communication using a variety of communication methods (spoken, written, behaviour).
• Self-motivated and ability to work unsupervised and contribute to team effectiveness.
• Proven organisation skills and ability to prioritise conflicting demands of the customer.
• Flexible and adaptable.
• Excellent customer service skills and ability to build and maintain relationships.
• PC literate with a good level of experience in MS Office.
• Previous high level administration experience.
• Ability to demonstrate electronic calendar management.
• Ability to achieve SC clearance within the first 3 months.

The Defence Academy sits within a beautiful and secure site which hosts 2 lakes and is surrounded by acres of scenic woodland. The Academy trains the future commanders and staff officers of all three UK Armed Services and those from many countries around the world. Other benefits of working on this site include:

• Free, secure onsite parking.
• Opportunity to join many sports and activity clubs (heavily subsidised subscription costs).
• Gym membership, the site boasting 2 fully equipped gymnasiums.
• Site also has a heated outdoor swimming pool (open May-Sep).
• 18-hole golf course (annual membership circa £375).
• Fully equipped riding stables, with the opportunity for lessons.
• Other sporting facilities include tennis courts, Astro-turf football pitches and much more.

What we offer:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and the chance to purchase additional days.
• Serco discounts which include cinema, entertainment and online shopping discounts, cycle to work scheme and discounts on mobile phone plans and leisure centre memberships.
• We are constantly challenging ourselves and each other to deliver brilliantly, and you will too, working in a company passionate about diversity and inclusion. 
• A wealth of career development training to suit your future aspirations. These range from role specific training, leadership coaching, apprenticeships, formal study and much more to support you to build your career with Serco.

To discover more about our careers in Defence, meet our team, and to find out more about what we offer, please follow this Link. We're also a signatory of the UK Governments Women in Defence Charter, to find out more please click here.

Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens, we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment. 

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. As a proud Disability Confident Leader and holder of the Silver Inclusive Employer Standard, disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview. 

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