PA to the Strategic Director

Are you looking for a role where you can utilise your organisational skills and build effective relationships?

The role of PA to Strategic Director requires insight into the work of Education Scotland, involving regular contact with the most senior staff within the Agency. The main purpose of the post is to provide effective and high quality one-to-one support to one of the Agency’s Strategic Directors (SD) and support the work of our Leadership Team and undertake a variety of clerical, admin, and decision-making tasks.

•Monitoring and managing the SD’s mailbox, processing incoming and outgoing mail, prioritising information and filtering e-mails, ensuring that items are appropriately allocated, actioned and followed-up.
•Providing support for the SD and liaising with internal and external stakeholders at all levels on their behalf, to ensure that enquiries are managed and correctly routed within Education Scotland.
•Actively managing the SD’s calendar, making decisions on meeting requests as appropriate and providing logistical support, commissioning and organising relevant briefing packs/papers and ensuring daily meeting papers are correct.
•Proactive and forward planning of the SDs time, ensuring urgent matters are identified and highlighted as soon as possible.
•Co-ordinating all material and support (including travel), for meetings and visits offsite.
•Supporting another SD in the absence of their PA in addition to their own substantive responsibilities.
•Building and maintaining excellent working relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
•Supporting the wider team as required, including supporting the preparation and delivery of events in line with Education Scotland events protocol and guidance.

Competencies
Self Awareness
Communication & Engagement
Customer Services
Team work

No specific qualifications are required for this role.

Essential Criteria
1. Excellent organisational skills and ability to work using your own initiative.
2. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to build good working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders and collaborate effectively.
3. Experience of providing administration support to senior leaders.
4. Experience of working in a fast paced office environment, proficient in the use of Outlook.

Location:
These posts are based in Livingston, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow with hybrid working in line with current Scottish Government policies.

Interview and Assessment:
Dates to be confirmed

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.

Sponsorship Information: 

Changes to legislation concerning Skilled Worker Visa Sponsorship were implemented on 04/04/2024. If you think you may require Visa Sponsorship it is important that prior to applying you read the official Home Office guidance to confirm eligibility. Any applicants that are not eligible for sponsorship will be withdrawn at either application stage or the point of offer, with any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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:
You must discuss your intention to apply with your current line manager to help ensure early release.

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 Avril Hamilton at avril.hamilton@educationscotland.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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Personal information you provide in the recruitment process will be made available to Scottish Government and our additional data processors.