An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Office Manager to join the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate) in the Oban Area Office.
Within the ARE Directorate, the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) are accountable for the strategic process that regulates and oversees the payment of Agricultural grants and subsidies and related inspection regimes totalling £700m/annum. In the current programme, this is split between direct aid to farmers and crofters totalling £500m and a further £200m under the banner of the Scottish Rural Development Programme. It is also responsible for other regulatory activity and expert technical advice.
RPID teams of professional agricultural, customer service and administrative staff are based in a network of 17 offices located around rural Scotland. These teams manage the implementation of agricultural, environmental, and rural policies, process applications for funding and provide high quality customer service.
This is a key post for local delivery of high quality customer service in the RPID Oban Area Office. The Office has five permanent administrative staff for whom the post holder would be the overall manager.
The Administrative Officer team undertake a wide variety of duties, including processing of claims and applications for a wide range of RPID administered schemes. The team are also the primary point of contact for farmers, crofters and the rural community in the area and are expected to provide a professional and helpful point of contact for all.
You will get to know our network of customers both internal and external, this can also include land agents, solicitors and colleagues from other government organisations.
The workloads will be varied at times. There will be a need to plan, organise and prioritise work to meet agreed deadlines, provide appropriate support to your administrative team while maintaining a high level of quality and accuracy. You should be able to work using your own initiative, have a positive attitude to change and be able to adapt to new procedures and priorities.
• Manage and develop a team of administrative staff ensuring they deliver high quality administrative support to a wide range of customers and colleagues.
• Oversight of the administrative work for the RPID Oban office including processing of applications, claims and correspondence for various agricultural and environmental schemes ensuring we meet set deadlines.
• Undertake the role of local Health and Safety officer, and act as point of contact for local accommodation issues, ensuring safe and efficient operation of the office.
• Work directly with the Principal Agricultural Officer to prepare and monitor budgets throughout the year to ensure procurement standards and procedures are followed and maintained in all activity.
• Lead for implementing / monitoring document retention and destruction policies for the office and document recording on eRDM (Scottish Government’s records management system)
• Process business and land change requests from customers, this will include interpreting mapping data and other forms of evidence to check eligibility of requests.
Competencies
Self-Awareness
People Management
Communication and Engagement
Analysis and Use of Evidence
No specific qualifications required for this post.
Essential Criteria
1. Good people management skills with the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with both colleagues and stakeholders
2. Proven planning and organisational skills with the ability to balance competing priorities and achieve set targets.
3. Good written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to produce clear and concise written material.
4. Proven and current experience using a wide range of IT Packages including Microsoft Office or equivalent.
Location
Cameron House, Albany Street, Oban, PA34 4AE
Interview and Assessment
Interviews are anticipated to take place in early June but may be subject to change.
Interviews will be held in person at the above location.
Minimum Time in Post
You will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of three years unless successful at gaining promotion to a higher Band or Grade.
In the event that further posts are required, a reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for up to 12 months.
HOW TO APPLY & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
How to Apply
To apply for this post, you will need to provide the information requested below via the online application process.
You must fully complete and submit an online application via the website before the closing date using evidence based examples to demonstrate your knowledge/skills (300 words). Remember, your answers should be clear, concise and reflect what actions you undertook. You may want to use the STAR(R) approach to respond to each criterion.
Additional Information
For further information, please download and review the “Person Specification” which you will find below.
The post is a full-time role, but staff with different working patterns are invited to apply, and we will assess proposed working patterns against the business requirements for this post.
For information regarding this post please contact Ross Dunsmore at ross.dunsmore@gov.scot
Scottish Government's ambition is to be a world leading, diverse employer where people can be themselves at work. We want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please let us know via scottishgovernmentrecruitment@gov.scot
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